Ken Honea, who played fullback and linebacker for the University of Tennessee in the early 1960s, is photographed at the Life Care Center of East Ridge.
Ken HoneaTime has clouded a few of the memories from his life, but when Ken Honea talks about his years of playing football, the details become as clear as a sun-splashed autumn afternoon sky.
Clinching his jaw tighter around the plug of Red Man chewing tobacco, Honea raises a cup to his mouth and spits before recalling each new story from his time first as a two-way star at City High and the University of Tennessee, then as a linebacker for the New York Jets and later as a successful high school coach.
“I just played as hard as I could every day in practice and in games,” Honea said. “I ran a lot of extra sprints and lifted weights. I did whatever I could to be ready to play. I wasn’t real big, but I was strong and I think I was pretty tough. I had to be, because I played against a lot of guys who were a lot bigger than me.
“I still watch Tennessee’s games on TV. I wish they could get back to what they were so I could be proud. They’re so much bigger now, but they don’t seem to be as tough as when I played.”
Honea, now a resident at the Life Care Center in East Ridge, lived in Ider, Ala., until the third grade. The struggles of being a farmer didn’t provide the life Honea’s father wanted for his family, so he took a job at Combustion Engineering and moved his wife and son to Chattanooga.