Erron Kinney

Tight end

There was always something about being a firefighter that appealed to Erron Kinney as a child in Ashland, Va. So when he was at UF, he volunteered to be one.

“I always loved it,” Kinney said. “I was a junior firefighter and a cadet.”

Kinney worked as a volunteer for the Archer firefighters while he was a student at Florida before being drafted by the Tennessee Titans. After seven seasons in the NFL, he settled in Nashville and continued his work as a firefighter.

He was on the State Fire Commission in Nashville and rose to be the Fire Chief before stepping down in 2014.

“I wanted to keep fighting fires without the huge responsibility,” he said.

He remains committed to fighting fires in the Nashville area, where he lives with his wife and four children.

“I have a daughter who I’m hoping becomes a Gator,” he said. “She’s 14 and is already 6-foot-1, playing for a travel team and her high school team.”