Misplaced Pages

Bill Kenney

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
American football player and politician (born 1955) For the American football coach at Western Michigan University, see Bill Kenney (American football coach). For other people with similar names, see Bill Kenny.

Bill Kenney
Commissioner of the Missouri Public Service Commission
In office
January 24, 2013 – May 6, 2021
Succeeded byGlen Kolkmeyer
Majority Leader of the Missouri Senate
In office
January 2001 – January 2003
Member of the Missouri Senate
from the 8th district
In office
January 1995 – January 2003
Succeeded byMatt Bartle
Personal details
Born (1955-01-20) January 20, 1955 (age 69)
San Francisco, California
Political partyRepublican
EducationSaddleback College (AA)
University of Northern Colorado (BA)
American football player
American football career
No. 9
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:211 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High school:San Clemente
(San Clemente, California)
College:Northern Colorado
NFL draft:1978 / round: 12 / pick: 333
(By the Miami Dolphins)
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
TD–INT:105–86
Passing yards:17,277
QB Rating:77.0
Stats at Pro Football Reference

William Patrick Kenney (born January 20, 1955) is an American former quarterback who spent nine years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1980 to 1988 and a former politician who spent eight years as a Missouri State Senator. Kenney was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 12th round of the 1978 NFL draft.

High school/college

Kenney was born in San Francisco and graduated from San Clemente High School in 1973. He originally received a scholarship to play at Arizona State University but did not play his first year. He then transferred to small Saddleback College, where he played for one season. He spent the remainder of his college career at the University of Northern Colorado.

College statistics

Northern Colorado Bears
Season Passing Rushing
Comp Att Yards TD Int Att Yds TD
1976 18 40 232 2 2 31 58 0
1977 97 226 1264 7 10 79 -59
Career 115 266 1496 9 12 110 -1

NFL

Kenney was selected by the Miami Dolphins with the second to last pick of the 1978 NFL draft. He was cut from the Dolphins at the end of training camp, but he had more success two years later, when he made the Kansas City Chiefs roster as the backup to Steve Fuller. He ended up starting games late in the year because of an injury to Fuller and did exceptionally well. His late season performance helped him to take over the starting job for good in 1981.

After an average 1982 season, Kenney was in line to be replaced by Todd Blackledge, whom the Chiefs drafted as part of the vaunted Quarterback class of 1983. Kenney responded by having a breakout season, setting team records for passing yards (4,348) and completions (346) in a season; the latter was also good enough to lead the NFL. Kenney earned a Pro Bowl berth that season. At one point, he threw for over 300 yards in 4 games in a row, topping out at 417 yards in a loss to Seattle. Unfortunately for Kenney and the Chiefs, they would lose all four games.

He did not come close to matching his 4,000-yard output over the next four seasons, but he did enough to prevent Blackledge from starting when he was healthy (in 1984, he missed 7 weeks due to a thumb injury). He eventually gave up his starting job in 1988 when the Chiefs traded for Steve DeBerg. Kenney was released after failing to throw a touchdown pass in 114 attempts that season. He left the Chiefs as the second most prolific passer in team history behind Hall of Famer Len Dawson. He has been passed in most passing categories since then by Trent Green; Green also broke Kenney's single season record for passing yards in 2004.

In 1989, he signed with the Washington Redskins to be the third quarterback behind Mark Rypien and Doug Williams. He did not appear in any games with the 'Skins, however, and he retired after the season.

Politics

Kenney took up residency in Lee's Summit, Missouri after his retirement. He turned his attention to politics at this time, and in 1994, he successfully ran as a Republican to represent a portion of Kansas City and parts of suburban Jackson County in the Missouri State Senate. In 1996, Kenney ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Lieutenant Governor of Missouri.

In 2001, Bill Kenney became the majority floor leader of the Missouri Senate, and held the position for two years. He left the Senate afterwards due to term limits, and retired from politics altogether as a result.

Kenney was appointed to the Missouri Public Service Commission by Governor Jay Nixon on January 9, 2013. On January 24, 2013, he was confirmed by the Missouri Senate to a six-year term.

NFL career statistics

Legend
Led the league
Bold Career high

Regular season

Year Team Games Passing
GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Lng Rtg
1980 KC 3 3 2−1 37 69 53.6 542 7.9 5 2 75 91.6
1981 KC 13 13 8−5 147 274 53.6 1,983 7.2 9 16 64 63.6
1982 KC 7 6 3−3 95 169 56.2 1,192 7.1 7 6 51 77.3
1983 KC 16 16 6−10 346 603 57.4 4,348 7.2 24 18 53 80.8
1984 KC 9 8 4−4 151 282 53.5 2,098 7.4 15 10 65 80.7
1985 KC 16 10 3−7 181 338 53.6 2,536 7.5 17 9 84 83.6
1986 KC 15 8 5−3 161 308 52.3 1,922 6.2 13 11 53 70.8
1987 KC 11 8 3−5 154 273 56.4 2,107 7.7 15 9 81 85.8
1988 KC 16 5 0−5 58 114 50.9 549 4.8 0 5 25 46.3
Career 106 77 34−43 1,330 2,430 54.7 17,277 7.1 105 86 84 77.0

References

  1. "Bill Kenney". Pro Sports Transactions. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
  2. "William P Kenney | Missouri Public Service Commission". psc.mo.gov. Retrieved May 5, 2021.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded byMargaret B. Kelly Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Missouri
1996 		Succeeded byWendell Bailey
Miami Dolphins 1978 NFL draft selections
Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterbacks
Formerly the Dallas Texans (1960–1962)
Categories: