Ronnie Caveness

Ronald Glen Caveness (March 6, 1943 – May 10, 2014) was an American football linebacker for the American Football League (AFL)'s Houston Oilers and Kansas City Chiefs from 1965 to 1968.

Ronnie Caveness

No. 50, 51, 55(college)
Position:	Linebacker
Personal information
Born:	(1943-03-06)March 6, 1943 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Died:	May 10, 2014(2014-05-10) (aged 71)
Career information
High school:	Houston (TX) M.B. Smiley
College:	Arkansas
NFL draft:	1965 / round: 9 / pick: 121 (by the Los Angeles Rams)[1]
AFL draft:	1965 / round: 2 / pick: 16 (by the Kansas City Chiefs)[2]
Career history
Kansas City Chiefs (1965) Houston Oilers (1966–1968)
Career highlights and awards
National champion (1964) 2× First-team All-American (1963, 1964) First-team All-SWC (1964) Second-team All-SWC (1963)
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 46 Interceptions: 1 Stats at Pro Football Reference
College Football Hall of Fame

Caveness played college football for the University of Arkansas where he was a Football News first-team All-American in 1963. In his senior season in 1964, he was selected first-team All-America by the American Football Coaches Association, the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, the Newspaper Enterprise Association and The Sporting News.^[3]

Caveness led the Razorbacks to an undefeated season in 1964 (11–0), winning the Southwest Conference championship, and defeated Nebraska in the 1965 Cotton Bowl, 10–7. Caveness was the Defensive MVP of the Cotton Bowl. Arkansas was the only undefeated team left after the bowl games, and was named the 1964 national champions by seven different selectors. Alabama was awarded the AP Poll and UPI Coaches Poll national titles, but only because, at that time, both polls gave out their championships before the bowl games. Alabama lost in the Orange Bowl to the Texas Longhorns, a team Arkansas beat.

Caveness also spent the 1973 season as a linebacker coach for the Houston Oilers. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

He died of melanoma at the age of 71 on 10 May 2014.^[4] After death he was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.^[5] He was one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease, which is caused by repeated hits to the head.^[6][7]

See also

• List of American Football League players

References

1. "1965 Los Angeles Rams". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. "1965 AFL Draft". Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Arkansas Razorbacks Media Guide
4. Caveness, Former Arkansas Great, Dies at 71
5. "110 N.F.L. Brains". New York Times. July 25, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
6. "The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)". Concussion Legacy Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
7. Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller (June 20, 2023). "Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2023.