Steve King reflects on 9-year career as NFL linebacker

MCALESTER, Okla. (AP) - Steve King had an illustrious nine-year career as an NFL linebacker.

He spent all of his time playing for the New England Patriots and was eventually selected to the franchise’s all-decade team for the 1970s.

“I was very fortunate to not have any serious injuries,” King told the McAlester News-Capital (https://bit.ly/1FlmttJ ). “I had broken bones and sprains, but I was able to play through them and make a career.”

This incredible journey started in Quinton, a small, rural town outside of McAlester.

Undefeated Quinton and one-loss Keota battled back and forth for the 1967 conference championship.

King faked to running back Warren James and dropped back to pass.

James ran around the edge and curled toward the middle of the field. King let the ball fly, it fell right into James’ hands and he rumbled down near the goal line to set up the potential game-winning score.

“I still don’t know how I caught it because for a second or two there, the ball disappeared,” James said. “Two defenders jumped up and it was just a perfect pass.”

King punched in a quarterback sneak and Quinton finished the regular season 10-0 with a conference championship.

The play that set up the game-winning score wasn’t just a fluke though.

“It was very special to me that it ended that way,” James said. “We practiced that route every day and we had it down perfect.”

The Savages went on to beat Wetumka, 30-28, in the first round of the playoffs before falling to eventual state champion Marietta in the second round.

Quinton played in another game “for all the marbles” the following season - King’s senior year - against a heavily-favored Panama team.

The Savages won, 22-7, before finishing the year at 8-2-1 overall with another playoff appearance.

Even with so many memorable games and moments, James spoke longer about the journey.

“We stayed after practice every day,” James said. “He threw the football and I caught footballs and kicked them, and he punted them. It was a daily thing and we talked about everything we could possibly accomplish.”

But the duo talked about more than just their hopes of winning district titles.

“We talked about that possibility but we also talked about possibly going on to further our education,” James said.

King gained attention from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and Tulsa University.

“I would’ve went to OU if they had offered me a scholarship,” King said. “But they had won the Sugar Bowl and, being from a small school, they wanted to go with someone from a bigger school and a little more accomplished.”

Instead, he chose the Golden Hurricane and would settle in as a linebacker.

One of his teammates was Drew Pearson - who switched from quarterback to receiver while at Tulsa before going on to Hall of Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys.

Despite being part of just one winning season at Tulsa, King said he enjoyed his four seasons.

King played for Vince Dobbs and Claude “Hoot” Gibson - who had a five-year career in the NFL and was a defensive backs coach for the Boston Patriots prior to taking the helm at Tulsa from 1970 to 1972.

In King’s junior season, Tulsa came away with a 21-20 upset victory against then-seventh-ranked Arkansas.

Tulsa won the next two games before dropping six straight losses and finishing with a 4-7 record.

“Things looked like they were going to take off for us and then we stumbled,” King said. “We had some great potential and some great players, but we didn’t have the depth that some of the bigger colleges did.”

James went on to play at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where he was a four-year letterman in football.

“I think it was one of the greater times in my life, but it seems like it went real fast,” James said of college. “When I got to my junior year, it kind of flew by.”

James became a teacher and coach after college and had a 34-year career before being forced to retire following a staph infection.

He spent the majority of his career at Tahlequah Sequoyah, where he coached for 20 years.

“We won a district and bi-district championship at Talihina and that was probably the most memorable stretch in my (coaching) career,” James said. “We also went to the playoffs for the first time in 34 years.”

King was set to enter the 1971 NFL Draft, but was ruled ineligible because of a redshirt violation by his coach at Tulsa.

He waited for the supplemental draft and was picked by the New Orleans Saints, but he didn’t end up there.

“I was told I would’ve been drafted probably No. 3 or No. 4,” King said. “I was supposed to go into the supplemental draft, but Chuck Fairbanks was with the Patriots and he had been with Oklahoma so he knew who I was.

“He asked me to fly out to Tampa where they were having a veterans’ camp and they were testing (skills) and they offered me a two-year deal,” King continued. “But there was the supplemental draft and I had to put in an appeal letter to (then commissioner Pete) Rozelle to be a free agent.”

King spent the next nine years with New England.

He appeared in seven games for the Patriots during his rookie season, but he ended each of his next eight seasons with double digits in games played before he retired in 1981.

King played on two playoff teams (1976 and 1978) and helped New England win its first AFC East Division Championship in 1978.

In one game against the New York Jets, King said he sacked future Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath twice and intercepted one of his passes.

“It was interesting because my wife always joked about how good looking he was,” King laughed.

King married his wife Cathy in 1975 and the couple has since lived in the Boston area.

Their son, Tyler, was a four-year starting lineman at the University of Connecticut, saw some time on NFL practice squads, and is now a personal trainer and mixed martial arts fighter in the Boston area.

Their daughter, Annie, lives in Rhode Island.

Steve King’s mother moved to a farm in McAlester, Oklahoma, when she turned 91 years old. His father passed away in 1994.

His brother retired three years ago as a successful coach at Vian, Oklahoma.

King became vice president of health and welfare at Cleary Insurance in 2009, but still makes time to visit his hometown.

“He comes in every summer or spring and we’ll get together whenever he comes in,” James said.

King and James plan on going to the Indianapolis at New England game this year and catch up about their families and nagging old injuries.

___

Information from: McAlester News-Capital, https://www.mcalesternews.com