From Bryan Station to the NFL: Dermontti Dawson’s football career started in KY
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Dermontti Dawson developed from a high school track athlete into an NFL star.
- Dawson played 13 NFL seasons with the Steelers, earning seven Pro Bowl selections.
- Post-retirement, Dawson supported education and served on Kentucky's board of trustees.
Dermontti Dawson didn’t start out high school playing football, but once he got started, he turned his love for the sport into a professional career.
Dawson was born in Lexington on June 17, 1965, and attended Bryan Station High School. After a bad experience in 9th grade football, he decided not to go out for his high school team the next year.
Instead, he went on to be nationally ranked in high school track and field in discus and shot put.
However, because of his size — 6 feet 2 inches tall and 272 pounds — he was recruited to join the football team his junior year and went on to become an all-state offensive tackle. In his senior year, he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Kentucky.
Between 1984 and 1987, Dawson played center and guard for the Wildcats, lettering each of his four years there. In his freshman year, the team defeated the University of Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl, and as a senior, he was named second-team All-SEC.
After UK, Dawson was picked in the second round of the 1988 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team he’d play for his entire professional career.
There he earned the nickname “Dirt” for the way he would grind defenders into the ground. Off-the-field, he earned the nickname “Ned Flanders” for his friendliness.
During his second season, Dawson moved up to starting center.
From 1992 to 1998, Dawson played in seven consecutive Pro Bowls, and was a six-time AP First Team All-Pro. In 1993, he was named co-AFC Offensive Lineman of the Year by the NFL Players Association, and in 1996, he was named the NFL Alumni’s Offensive Lineman of the Year.
He played in 170 consecutive games, the second-most in Steelers history, until he was sidelined by hamstring injuries. Dawson was released during the 2000 season due to his injuries and due to salary caps.
He decided to retire instead of playing for another team. That same year, his Pittsburgh teammates voted him the recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award.
After retiring, Dawson returned to Lexington, where he spent several years as a real estate developer. In 2010, In 2010, he filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving Lexington and moving to San Diego, where he now works as a sales executive.
In 2001, Dawson and his then-wife Regina, established the Dermontti F. and Regina M. Dawson Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Education scholarship at UK. Dawson was appointed to UK’s board of trustees by Ky. Gov. Ernie Fletcher in 2005.
Dawson is also a member of UK’s College of Education Alumni Hall of Fame and the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni, as well as a charter member of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.
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