The former defensive back from Kentucky spent 11 seasons in the NFL with the Giants and Bears.
The 2024 Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame has inducted former University of Kentucky great defensive lineman Maurice Douglass, it was revealed Thursday night.
After attending Coffeyville Community College for two years, Douglass, a Muncie, Indiana native, transferred to Kentucky in 1984. In his first season at UK, he was selected for the starting lineup and helped the Wildcats to a 9-3 record, which included a Hall of Fame Bowl victory over Wisconsin. He also made two interceptions. Douglass recorded 41 tackles and three interceptions in his senior year of 1985. adding two more for loss. He participated in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game in Montgomery, Alabama, to cap out the season.
The Chicago Bears selected Douglass with the eighth-and-final choice in the 1986 NFL Draft. He was a player for the New York Giants for two years and the Bears for nine. His career stats included 274 tackles, 12 fumble recoveries, 6 interceptions, and 2.5 sacks in 139 games played.
Douglass transitioned into coaching after retirement and is the head coach at Springfield High School in Springfield, Ohio, at the moment.
Douglass made headlines lately when, 37 years after leaving for the NFL, he returned to the UK to complete his liberal studies degree at the age of 59.
Douglass is also a member of the Coffeyville Community College Hall of Fame.
The Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame will also honor senior outside linebacker J.J. Weaver of Louisville, Ky., and the Letcher County High School football team with the Ron Butler Award for Character in Adversity.
From July 2020 to August 2021, Weaver lost his father to homicide, sustained a season-ending knee injury and then lost his beloved high school football coach to cancer. Inspired by the help he received with counseling, Weaver become an outspoken advocate for mental health and counseling. In September of 2023 and with help from the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families, he started a peer-led grief counseling group on UK’s campus, the first of its kind.
Coach Matthews and his football team courageously assisted the people of Eastern Kentucky during the devastating floods of 2022.
Kentucky is the only state with its own pro football hall of fame. Its 109 current inductees include one woman, Phyllis George Brown who was the first female sportscaster for the NFL.
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