Steve Kiner, an All-American linebacker at the University of Tennessee who played for three N.F.L. teams and became well known for his candor about his drug use, died on April 24 in Palm Harbor, Fla. He was 77.
His wife, Carol (Smith) Kiner, said the cause of his death, in hospice care, was Alzheimer’s disease, which she said was most likely the result of concussions sustained during his playing days.
At 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, Kiner was undersized for a linebacker. But he played aggressively and fiercely at Tennessee, helping to anchor the Volunteers’ defense with Hacksaw Reynolds, a future star N.F.L. linebacker. Kiner was named the Southeastern Conference’s defensive player of the year in 1969.
In 1968, despite a broken wrist, Kiner had two interceptions and 12 tackles in Tennessee’s 31-0 victory over the University of Mississippi, led by the future N.F.L. quarterback Archie Manning. The favor was returned the next year: Two months after Kiner stirred up Ole Miss with a preseason description of the players as “a bunch of mules,” Mississippi won, 38-0.
After a 41-14 rout of the University of Alabama in 1969 — during which Kiner had eight unassisted tackles and an interception — Bear Bryant, the Alabama coach, told reporters, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen two finer linebackers on one team as Kiner and Reynolds.”
By then, Kiner said, he was already using drugs.
“I was doing acid every day, 365 days a year, or coke or mescaline, anything I could get my hands on,” he told The New York Times in 1974. “I didn’t care what people thought of me — if my hair was down to my butt, if my eyes were so glazed I couldn’t see two feet in front of me.”
Kiner was drafted in the third round of the 1970 N.F.L. draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He didn’t start for Dallas, but he made a strong impression.
“He was the team hippy — shaggy hair, groovy mustache, delighted grin belying the fact he was the headhunter on the Dallas kickoff team,” Gary Cartwright wrote in Texas Monthly in 1973, adding, “Kiner’s first act on moving to Dallas was to find a Black roommate.” He shared an apartment with the star running back Duane Thomas, an enigmatic personality who feuded with the team over his contract.
Thomas had called Tom Landry, the Cowboys’ stoic coach, a “plastic man,” and Tex Schramm, the team’s president, “sick and dishonest.” (Thomas died last year.)
Kiner backed Thomas. “Duane is beautiful,” he said, “because he’s only telling the truth.”
Dallas traded Kiner to the New England Patriots before the 1971 season; he started all 14 games that season and had four interceptions.
“He had a terrific first year, but the warning signs were there,” Upton Bell, the Patriots’ general manager, said in an interview. “I was aware that he had some trouble with drugs.” He added, “What has to be understood is that it was the era of drugs, and a lot of young people were experimenting with them.”
The Patriots traded Kiner to the Miami Dolphins in 1972, but they released him before the season. He was then signed by the Washington Redskins (now the Commanders), but he never played for them. He returned to the Patriots in 1973 and reclaimed his starting job, but he was dealt after the season to the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans).
By then, he said, he had been off drugs for a couple of years.
Steven Albert Kiner was born on June 12, 1947, in Sandstone, Minn., and later lived at Fort Benning, Ga., and in Tampa, Fla. His father, George, was captured by the Japanese during his Army service in World War II and survived the Bataan Death March; he later worked for Sears. His mother, Gertrude (Willie) Kiner, managed the home.
Steven played quarterback and safety at Hillsborough High School, but he was quickly converted to a linebacker by his coaches in college.
Following his time at Tennessee — which earned him induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999 — and three active seasons in the N.F.L., Kiner had his best years in Houston, after Bum Phillips was named head coach in 1975.
The Oilers had winning records in four of the five seasons Kiner played for Phillips (he was defensive coordinator the first season). At one point, Phillips said, “Steve Kiner has got to be the best the Houston Oilers ever got for a ninth-round choice.” Phillips also credited Kiner with helping turn the Oilers into winners.
Before an Oilers-Jets game in 1974, Kiner reflected on his past drug use — and how it had disappointed his younger brother, Kelly.
“He asked why I was doing drugs; is it fun? I didn’t have an answer for him,” he told The Times. “I thought about what he was saying. He was telling me the truth, and it was hard for me to swallow.”
When Kiner was released after the 1978 season, he was upset. He told The Knoxville News Sentinel that if the Oilers asked him to return, he would refuse, “unless they kiss me in front of a sellout crowd at the Astrodome.”
He soon began a career in health care. He had studied psychology in college and earned master’s degrees in clinical psychology from West Georgia College (now the University of West Georgia) in 1988 and 1990. He worked for a hospital run by HCA Healthcare in Atlanta and then became director of emergency psychiatric services at Emory University Hospital, also in Atlanta, where he helped ensure that individuals received the mental health care they needed.
In addition to his wife, Kiner is survived by his brother; three daughters, Stacey Buckley, Hailey Weiner and Christine Kiner; five grandchildren; and two sisters, Kathleen Ritch and Karla Newby.
For years, Kiner exhibited symptoms associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy — a brain disease that can be caused by repetitive head injuries — including memory loss and anger. In 2010, he told The Houston Chronicle that he had probably suffered a dozen concussions every season.
“As long as my skull wasn’t cracked, I figured it was OK to keep playing,” he said. “They’d stick some ammonia under your nose and ask, ‘How many fingers I’m holding up?’ If you guessed right, they’d send you back out for the next play.”
Richard Sandomir, an obituaries reporter, has been writing for The Times for more than three decades.
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