"The Glove" Gets His Spot in Orlando Predators Ring Of Honor
Adam Markowitz
Sunday July 22, 2012
ORLANDO – The 2012 Orlando Predators have, without a shadow of a doubt, a team to forget. The squad will either finish with a 3-15 or a 4-14 record depending upon how Sunday afternoon's clash with the Milwaukee Mustangs goes. If there is a bright spot though, it is that the Preds are going to try to end this season having won three of their final four home games, and they are going to do so on the afternoon that Kenny McEntyre hung up his "gloves," once and for all.
This season will be the last for Rodney Filer, and it might be the last for some of the greats in the game's history like Mark Grieb and Aaron Garcia as well. We could have seen the last of John Dutton as well. There is no doubting the fact that Grieb and Garcia were amongst the best at their position in the history of the AFL, and Filer was most certainly one of the best fullbacks and one of the better ironmen at the FB/LB position ever as well. There is no doubt though, that McEntyre is the best defensive back to ever suit up in the Arena Football League.
McEntyre is now 41 years old, and he played all but one of his 14 seasons donning the black and red of the Predators. K-Mac has seen his Preds (and Kansas City Brigade in 2007) win 116 games against just 78 losses, and the team went 2-3 in the just five games that he missed in his career, making him 114-75 in his 189 career games played. He has played in 26 playoff games (15-11), going to three ArenaBowls, capturing titles in 1998 and 2000 along the way.
Along with Damon Mason, the "M &M Boys" were the most feared tandem of defensive backs that the league had to offer, and they manned the Orlando secondary together for a slew of years. Even when they were separated though, both still brought a ton to their respective teams, and they were always amongst the best that the league had to offer.
According to the 2012 AFL Fact and Record Book, McEntyre now has 98 INTs for his career, which is a whopping 48 more than Clevan Thomas and Durwood Roquemore, both of which retired with 50 picks to their name. The rest of the records that McEntyre holds in league history are off the charts. "The Glove" not only had all those interceptions, but he also had a lot of sparkling returns on those picks as well. McEntyre leads the league in all-time INT return yards with 1,173, over double the 572 of Thomas. His 18 career pick-sixes is the most all-time by eight, and he is still the only man to record four pick-sixes in a 16-game season when he did so in 2008. Kelvin Morris did tie that mark this year with the Chicago Rush. His 803.0 total tackles ranks second in AFL history behind Mason.
McEntyre is the only player to have at least 10 INTs in his career five times, and he had at least seven INTs in nine seasons. K-Mac is the only one to have at least three INTs returned for touchdowns in more than two separate seasons, and he did it four times (1999, 2003, 2007, 2008).
Think that this is a man that just got the job done in the regular season? Think again. His 13 career INTs in the playoffs is the most in league history and will be for quite some time. Barry Wagner had a dozen, but no one else aside from those two has more than six. His 192 INT return yards in the postseason is the best ever, and he is one of the six men in the history of the league to have two pick-sixes in his postseason career. "The Glove" also only trails Barry Wagner and Rashad Floyd for the most tackles in a career in the playoffs (102.0).
The ArenaBowl was a time for McEntyre to shine as well. He has three career INTs in the ArenaBowl, just one behind the great Wagner for the most all-time.
The accolades that McEntyre picked up in his career will go unmatched. He was First Team All-Arena seven times in his career, and he was named to the Second Team once as well. McEntyre earned Defensive Player of the Year honors three times, and he was voted this year at #13 on the list of the 25 Greatest Players in league history.
But on Sunday, McEntyre is set to get yet another distinction. He is going to be inducted in the Ring of Honor for the Predators, as his No. 28 will never be worn again by a player wearing the black and red. The Ring of Honor was formed in 1998 when McEntyre was just a rookie, and now he is going to become the eighth member of that ring, joining Perry Moss, Paul McGowan, Herkie Walls, Durwood Roquemore, Ben Bennett, Fran Papasedero, and the great Barry Wagner.