KC Chiefs’ newest Hall of Honor member, added Saturday, made most of a position switch
Newest Chiefs Hall of Honor member Kimble Anders provides a lesson for many players taken in the NFL Draft:
Career paths can take detours. Find a way to adjust.
Most of Anders’ production over his 10-year NFL career — all with the Chiefs — came as a fullback. That position didn’t exist at Houston, where he played on the same college team as Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware.
He had been a running back at Galveston Ball High School in Galveston, Texas, and stayed with that position during his early college years at Houston, which ran Bill Yeoman’s Veer Offense. Anders later played as an inside receiver in the run-n-shoot, where he caught passes for the first time.
But with running backs like Christian Okyoe and Barry Word on the roster in Kansas City, that’s not what the Chiefs needed.
“I wasn’t going to get on the field with those guys,” Anders, 55, said. “Then the West Coast offense came in, and it was a perfect fit. I had never blocked straight ahead in my life, or been a lead blocker.”
With the Chiefs, Anders became one of the best. He produced Pro Bowl seasons for some very good Chiefs teams from 1995-97 in Kansas City’s West Coast scheme.
“It was a perfect fit for me,” he said.
Anders was originally signed as an undrafted free agent in 1990 by the Pittsbugh Steelers. He never played in a game for them and signed a free-agent deal with the Chiefs in 1991.
In his 10-season NFL career, Anders rushed for 2,261 yards on 495 carries with nine touchdowns and added 2,829 receiving yards and nine more touchdowns. He’s one of only eight running backs or fullbacks in franchise history with more than 5,000 career scrimmage yards.
One of Anders’ most productive games, a career-high 142 rushing yards in a September 1999 showdown against the Denver Broncos, was bittersweet. He suffered a torn ACL that day.
Since retiring from pro football, Anders has remained involved in football by coaching in the Kansas City area and back in his home state of Texas. He served on the coaching staffs at Fort Osage and Center high schools before becoming the head coach at Northeast High.
He later served on staffs at Avila University and Mid-America Nazarene before completing coaching internships with the Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He said would like to return to coaching at the NFL level.