09/04/2026
Our FINAL VFL autograph in the 2026 Countdown to Kickoff Giveaway is Steve Kiner! 🍊🏈
Steve was a ferocious linebacker for the Vols, earning All-SEC honors in 1968 & 1969, All-America honors both years, and being named the 1969 SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Dallas selected him in the 3rd round of the 1970 NFL Draft. He spent nine seasons in the NFL, seeing time with New England, Washington and Miami before playing for the Houston Oilers from 1974-78. Oilers coach Bum Phillips credited Steve with helping “turn the Oilers into winners.”
But this giveaway is a little more personal for me.
I was blessed to sit with Steve for the second half of the Tennessee-UMass game in 2017. It wasn't exactly a classic—the Vols somehow escaped with a 17-12 win 😂—but getting to sit there and watch a Tennessee football game with a legitimate Vol legend is something I'll never forget.
I stayed in touch with Steve through Facebook afterward. In 2020, I mailed him several cards, and he graciously signed them for me to use in these giveaways.
This is the last card that I have.
Steve passed away in April 2025 after battling Alzheimer's disease. He was 77 years old.
And his accomplishments didn't end when he left the football field. Steve earned two master's degrees from West Georgia College and went on to a career in health care, including managing emergency psychiatric services for Emory Healthcare at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
So it feels fitting that the final autograph of this year's Countdown to Kickoff Giveaway comes from someone who was not only one of Tennessee's great football players, but someone I was fortunate enough to meet and get to know a little along the way.
Winner will be drawn Sunday afternoon
