Ken Ellis

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 2000

University: Southern

Induction Year: 2000

By Joseph Schiefelbein
The Advocate, Baton Rouge

The circumstances that change a life are delicate.

A Southern University yearbook. A holdout of a star player. A friend sharing your same circumstances.

Through these, Ken Ellis wove his childhood dream – playing professional football. “I tell young kids all the time not many people get to live out their dream,” Ellis said. “I’m grateful.”

Ellis’ pro career began and ended with his team losing. But you don’t start in any better place – at hallowed Lambeau Field. And you don’t end in any better place -in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl.

Along the way, the defensive back earned entrance into the Halls of Fame of the Green Bay Packers, Southern University and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. On June 24 in Shreveport, Ellis will be enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

And along the way, Ellis found his calling, becoming an ordained minister and an associate pastor at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, where he serves today.

That’s quite a journey for a kid from tiny Woodbine in the southeast corner of Georgia.

Ellis came to SU because of pictures of campus life in the Jaguars’ yearbook, which was as good a recruiting tool as SU coach Robert Smith had in the mid-1960s.

And so Ellis, who had never been in Louisiana, came to Baton Rouge. At SU, he starred as a flanker, halfback and punt returner – leading the nation with a 33-yard return average in 1968.

“It was very special those days,” said Ellis, who does color commentary on SU’s local cable broadcasts. “I remember when black athletes didn’t have the choices they have today. Back then, the SWAC was loaded.”

SU had just one winning season from 1967-68. Even so, Pro Football Hall of Fame member Mel Blount, a defensive back, and Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll member Harold Carmichael, a 6-foot-8 wide receiver, and Ellis were all on a 3-7 team in 1968.

The Packers picked Ellis in the fourth round in 1970 and had him at wideout as training camp began. But with five-time All-NFL defensive back Herb Adderley holding out and second-round pick Al Matthews at the college all-star game, Green Bay coach Phil Bengtsen called Ellis into his office two weeks into camp.

“I remember him saying: ‘We think you’ll be a great asset to our team, but we don’t think it’s going to be on the offensive side of the ball,'” Ellis said. “‘Here are your choices: If you stay on offense, more than likely you’ll be a back-up. If you move to defense, there’s a possibility you can start.'”

Ellis, who had brought all his belongings with him in his car from Baton Rouge to Green Bay, despite having no guarantee he’d make the team, decided he’d make the position change. And he hadn’t backpedaled since high school.

“(Safeties) Willie Wood and Doug Hart and (cornerback) Bob Jeter took me under their wing,” Ellis said. “They said: You’re going to be all right, rookie. Just do what we tell you to do.’ They saw something in me I didn’t see in myself.”

Adderley got traded to Dallas that fall. Meanwhile, Ellis never missed a start in 84 games with Green Bay, going on to become a three-time all-pro selection (1972-74) and two-time Pro Bowl player (1974 and 1976). He led the team in interceptions three times, making 20 and returning three for touchdowns. He also had a 1971 TD when he went 100 yards after a missed field goal.

“That was in the era of the bump-and-run,” Ellis said. “They put me on the wide receiver and told me not to worry about anything else. Wherever that receiver goes, that’s where you go.

“As the years progressed, I got a grasp of the position and how to play it, how to read the routes, how to study opponents and read the receivers. I think it’s the hardest position on the field to play.”

Ellis also led the NFL in punt return average (15.4 yards) in 1972, a mark that stands as third best in team history. Among that was an 80-yard TD return.

His best Packer memory? Walking in to sold-out Lambeau (56,263) for his first pro game and knowing he was a starter.

“Just walking in, the enthusiasm and atmosphere,” Ellis said. “You almost have to pinch yourself and ask if this is real. This is what you’d been working for, looking forward to, since you can remember. All the wind sprints, the times of lifting weights, the injuries, being corrected by coaches. You say to yourself: ‘This is all worth it.'”

Despite the game ending as a 40-0 loss to Detroit, that memory is still the best to Ellis. It’s even better than the time the Packers secondary shut down Joe Namath’s New York Jets in the 1973 opening win. It’s better, too, than that Thanksgiving game as a rookie when he caught Dallas Cowboy speedster Bob Hayes from behind.

Yet more than maturing as a defensive back, Ellis matured as a person and nurtured a friendship with fellow rookie Mike McCoy, a defensive tackle from Notre Dame who was the Packers’ first-round pick in 1970. (McCoy presented Ellis when Ellis was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1998.)

“I began to see people like Mike McCoy, the Bart Starrs, and the (wide receiver) Cal Dales, the way they carried themselves,” Ellis said. “Mike told me about his relationship with the Lord and how it had changed his life, and he invited me to a conference in Dallas.

“It was that time I came face to face with the knowledge I didn’t really know God. Once I came into this relationship with the Lord, God began to change my life.”

Through the police athletic league to Sports World Ministries to Bethany, Ellis came to realize he could make a difference by telling others, especially youngsters, of his beliefs.

“It’s a tremendous impact, and tremendous responsibility,” said Ellis, who earned his master’s degree from SU in 1976. “Even today, kids who never saw me play will listen to me because I was in the NFL.

“Football was just a platform in my life to get me where I am today.”

Ellis and quarterback John Hadl were traded to the Houston Oilers in 1976 for quarterback Lynn Dickey.

Ellis went on to play for Cleveland, Miami and Detroit before ending his career in 1980 when the improbable Los Angeles Rams went from a 9-7 season to almost winning the Super Bowl. The Rams led 19-17 heading into the fourth quarter before the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied to win 31-17.

“That was what it’s all about it,” Ellis said. “That was the ultimate. To be there, I was living out a dream. That’s where every NFL player wants to be before he ends his career.”