Chidi Obioma Ahanotu (born October 11, 1970) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL).[1] He played college football at California and was selected in the 1993 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for whom he would play in nine of his twelve professional seasons.
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| Position: | Defensive end | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | October 11, 1970 Modesto, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 285 lb (129 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Berkeley (CA) | ||||||||||||
| College: | California | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1993 / round: 6 / pick: 145 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Early life
editAhanotu was born in Modesto, California to Nigerian father and a mother from Alaska, and was the middle son of three boys.[2] His father was on the Nigeria national soccer team and taught him and his 2 brothers how to play the sport when they were 5 years old.[3] He also loved to cook.
Ahanotu grew up in Berkeley, California, and attended Berkeley High School, where he lettered in football and rugby. He was accepted into Columbia University, Hampton University, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.
College career
editAhanotu attended UC Berkeley and walked onto the football team. After his redshirt freshman year, Ahanotu began to play during his second season, following which he earned a full athletic scholarship and became the Golden Bears' starting left defensive end. He went on to be the starter for 3 more football seasons and earned 1st team All-Pac-10 honors as the best at his position in 1992. Ahanotu majored in Integrative Biology and originally intended to go to medical school to become a doctor before joining the NFL.
Professional career
editThe Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Ahanotu with the 145th pick of the 1993 NFL draft.[4] Ahanotu spent the first eight years of his career with the Buccaneers. He later played for the St. Louis Rams, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and Miami Dolphins for one season each before returning to the Buccaneers during the 2004 season. He recorded 46.5 total sacks in his 12-year NFL career,[5] and his 34.5 sacks as a Buccaneer rank fifth in franchise history.[6]
Ahanotu is regarded quite highly in the history of Buccaneer defenders. He was named the team's "Franchise Player" in 1999,[7] and in 2019, he was ranked 18th on a USA Today-published list of the 100 best Buccaneers players.[8]
While playing for the Bills in 2002, Ahanotu made the unusual decision to live in Toronto and commute two hours to Buffalo. He paid a driver $5,000 a month while fulfilling his desire to live outside the United States.[9]
Post-playing career
editAhanotu retired from the NFL in 2005. After retiring, he became the founder of Magellan Entertainment Inc., a talent management firm whose clients included Usain Bolt, Lennox Lewis, Lil Wayne, and Venus and Serena Williams.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Chidi Ahanotu player bio". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
- ^ "Chidi Ahanotu". chidiahanotu.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ http://nfl.com Archived November 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "1993 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
- ^ NFL.com - Official Site of the National Football League Archived January 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Tampa Bay Buccaneers | All Time Leaders: Top Ten Career Sacks". Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ "Articles about Ahanotu - tribunedigital-orlandosentinel". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ Liotta, Colin (August 13, 2019). "NFL 100: Best players in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history". Bucs Wire. USA Today. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
- ^ Miller, Ira (October 6, 2002). "First Down". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
- ^ "Welcome to Magellan Entertainment Sports Interactive Agency". Archived from the original on January 25, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2023.