NFL history is chock full of stories about how players overcame financial and physical adversity to become great pros.
For Ken Harvey, his journey to the league started by overcoming a comment leveled by his high school football coach.
He dropped out of school and flipped burgers before deciding to believe in himself.
Thankfully, a complete stranger also believed in Harvey and extended a lifeline.
Harvey took it and excelled, eventually attending college, becoming a first-round NFL Draft pick and developing into one of the best linebackers in the league.
56 days till Week 1: Remembering No. 56 Ken Harvey https://t.co/oGAQzf8SNo pic.twitter.com/Bn9dNxkAAV
— Zesty NFL Cardinals (@zesty_cardinals) July 15, 2018
During his 11-year career, Harvey played for the Phoenix Cardinals and Washington Redskins and tallied 89 sacks and four Pro Bowls.
Years after his retirement, Harvey would be selected as one of the 80 Greatest Redskins while also wildly succeeding as a businessman, writer and author.
This is the incredible story of Ken Harvey.
A Comment Leaves Harvey Decimated
Kenneth Ray Harvey was born on May 6, 1965, in Austin, Texas.
Happy birthday to former #Cardinals LB Ken Harvey (56)! He was a 4x Pro Bowler but he didn't get recognized for his play until he joined the #Redskins in '94. He had a then career high 10 sacks after the '90 season when he was added to #TecmoSuperBowl. Happy birthday Ken! pic.twitter.com/yBK84VZbEH
— SBlueman (@SBluemanTecmo) May 6, 2021
By all accounts, he should have blossomed into a very good football player in a state that obsesses over the sport.
In his first two years of high school ball, Harvey was built like a bulldozer and was a beast at fullback.
Unfortunately, by his own admission, Harvey didn’t feel challenged enough at Lanier High School and started cutting classes.
He forged notes from his parents that enabled him to be absent and those absences eventually led to poor grades.
Finally, at one point during his junior year, Harvey’s exasperated football coach leveled him with a hurtful label.
“My football coach told me I was a loser and that I’d been a loser my whole life,” Harvey recalled in 2003.
That was it for Harvey.
Already tanking in the classroom, his coach’s comment left him with little hope.
Harvey then decided he wanted to try and strike out on his own and dropped out of school.
Real life can be a better educator than even the best teachers and the young kid soon realized his options were extremely limited.
With no high school diploma, Harvey could have joined the military or worked a menial job.
He chose the job route and picked up a spatula as a line cook at a Fuddruckers.
Harvey Returns to School
It didn’t take long before Harvey realized the error of his ways.
Making $3.25 an hour wasn’t cutting it and he was too stubborn to ask for help.
“Everyone thinks there’s success overnight,” Harvey said in 2011. “I went days where I was starving, where I was trying to live on the street just to try to make it.”
Then, a conversation with a janitor caused Harvey to rethink his decisions.
As fate would have it, the custodian had been a former high school football star but let poor life decisions cut short his future.
The man told Harvey that he had partied too much and didn’t listen to his coaches, believing that his talent would overcome anything.
Something about the conversation changed the course of Harvey’s life.
“So at that moment, looking at it, a seed was planted. It didn’t hit me right away and make me say ‘wow, I’ve got to just change my life!’ But it was a seed that was planted and I always remembered it. I thought, ‘I don’t want to do that with myself,’ so that’s why I started moving on to the direction I was moving,” recalled Harvey.
Swallowing his pride, Harvey returned to high school and worked hard to graduate, although he didn’t play football.
A Lifeline
Harvey also used his time productively to lift weights and was bench pressing over 400 pounds when sports agent Joe Martin noticed him one day in a local gym.
While watching Harvey dominate the weight he was lifting, Martin commented that Harvey should be playing college football.
It just so happened that the agent was tapped into the football pipeline and knew some coaches, specifically the head coach at Laney Junior College in Oakland, California.
Intrigued, Harvey reached out to the coach and was invited to walk on to the team.
When Harvey arrived in California, the coach looked at the raw specimen, who was over six feet tall and well over 200 pounds, and saw a linebacker.
Although the Laney team wasn’t that great, coaches at nearby Cal Berkeley liked what they saw.
Harvey had speed and power and was talented at blitzing the quarterback.
Traits like that are not as common as one might think and the staff at Cal envisioned him sacking quarterbacks for them.
They offered Harvey a scholarship and the former high school dropout happily accepted.
“I don’t want to sound silly, but the whole time I always felt like this was destiny,” he said. “When I was a kid, I had a dream that I was going to move to California. And then it works out that I do move to California. So even just being in Oakland, I felt I was living a dream.”
Star with the Golden Bears
Just like he experienced at Laney, Harvey’s football team at Cal wasn’t very competitive.
The 1986 squad was led by Joe Kapp, a former Golden Bears quarterback who played the position in the NFL and CFL.
In Kapp’s first year at the helm in 1982 the team won seven games but regressed quickly.
Seven wins led to five victories in 1983, two in 1984 followed by a slight uptick to four wins in 1985.
Harvey joined the program in 1986 but there wasn’t much to write home about.
Cal’s lackluster roster nearly hid the talent of two future NFL stars in Harvey and fellow linebacker Hardy Nickerson.
That year, the team won only its second and last games on the way to a 2-9 record.
Next in our countdown of Top 50 Cal Pros: A productive 11-year NFL linebackerhttps://t.co/mFaqqDAcLn
— Jeff Faraudo (@JeffFaraudo) June 16, 2025
Despite the woeful season, Harvey was just excited to be playing major college football and used his opportunity wisely.
From his linebacker position, number 49 assaulted ball carriers and quarterbacks alike with his incredible speed and tackling ability.
During his senior season in 1987, the Golden Bears won three times under new head coach Bruce Snyder.
The losses may have continued to pile up but so did Harvey’s sack total.
Thankfully, conference voters noticed him and selected Harvey as a first-team All-Pac-12 member.
Following the year, he participated in the Senior Bowl and made a huge impression on NFL personnel when he was named the MVP of the contest.
First Round Pick
Only a few years earlier, Harvey was a high school dropout who had little life opportunities ahead of him.
Now, it was 1988 and the NFL Draft loomed and it looked like big things were about to happen.
An MVP award in the Senior Bowl and a plethora of sacks and tackles in college turned the heads of plenty of pro scouts in Harvey’s direction.
With the 12th overall selection in the first round of the draft, the Phoenix Cardinals picked the linebacker from Cal.
4/24/88 – Seven picks before former #ASU star Randall McDaniel (MINN), with their first-ever #NFL Draft pick as the Phoenix Cardinals, PHX selected LB Ken Harvey with the 12th overall pick, from Cal. Said Mel Kiper: "the most impressive physical specimen in the draft." #RedSea pic.twitter.com/746IdDfACs
— Arizona Sports History (@AZSportsHistory) April 24, 2021
The franchise had just relocated from St. Louis to the desert and the organization wanted Harvey to terrorize pro quarterbacks.
As a rookie, he didn’t start any games but still saw enough playing time to net six sacks, 36 tackles and a safety for the 7-9 Cards.
Then, in his second season, Harvey was in the starting lineup for all 16 games.
Even though Phoenix could only muster five wins in 1989, number 56 grabbed seven sacks and tallied 120 total tackles.
1990: Cardinals Week- #NYGiants found themselves now trailing the Cardinals 13-10 in 3Q. Ken Harvey, a long time NYG killer in his career, came around Eric Moore & nailed Hoss for a sack/fumble recovered by Rod Sadler at NYG 30 yard line. Not good #TogetherBlue pic.twitter.com/rJDGjLIudq
— BigBlueVCR (@BigBlueVCR) September 11, 2023
Joe Bugel took over the team in 1990 and also went 5-11.
Losing didn’t matter to Harvey who responded with 99 tackles and 10 sacks.
More Sacks and More Losing
In the next two seasons, the Cardinals won a total of eight games, four each in 1991 and 1992.
It didn’t matter who the organization brought in to play, winning just seemed to elude Phoenix.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Harvey continued to play hard.
Following 16 starts in ‘91, injuries limited him to only 10 starts in ‘92.
Even with the limited reps, Harvey hauled down quarterbacks 15 times combined over those two years.
1994 SkyBox Premium #156 Ken Harvey #ArizonaCardinals #Cardinals Prime Movers Variation
$2.00 OBO #football #footballcards #NFL @HobbyRetweet_ #Thehobby#sportscards #sportscardsforsale@JakeMc945 @CardHobbyRTs @ILOVECOLLECTIN1 @sports_sell @CardboardEchoes pic.twitter.com/CfJtnXSQJ3
— GotdemCards (@GotdemCards) November 4, 2022
Then, in 1993, things got better for the Cards.
While the offense improved to ninth in the league after finishing 24th the previous year, the defense improved as well.
In 1992, the unit ranked 20th in the NFL.
One season later, the group led by the likes of Harvey, Eric Hill, Freddie Joe Nunn, Chuck Cecil, Dave Duerson and Aeneas Williams, ranked seventh overall.
Once again, Harvey was limited by injuries yet still packed enough punch to rack up 9.5 sacks.
Harvey Signs With Washington
Beginning with the 1989 NFL season through 1993, Harvey either led the Cardinals in sacks or tied for the team lead.
So, one would think that a defensive-minded coach like Buddy Ryan would want the linebacker on his team.
In 1994, the organization rebranded itself as the Arizona Cardinals and also shopped for a new head coach.
Buddy Ryan had made a name for himself as the defensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears before a stint as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach.
He then went to Houston to run the Oilers’ defense before getting hired by Arizona.
In a surprising move, Ryan decided not to keep Harvey.
Suddenly, following six years in the desert, Harvey was one of the most notable free agents in the NFL.
The great Ken Harvey. A free agent gem picked up from the Cardinals, he went to the Pro Bowl every year he was a Redskin. I am not a jersey guy, but I have his, and got him to sign it one day. A great player and a really good guy.
Shown here manhandling Ricky Watters. pic.twitter.com/J3XX9LVmLn— John Tayman (@BangRadioHour) January 29, 2020
Not even two days later the Washington Redskins signed him to a sweet deal at four years, $11 million.
Even sweeter, Harvey would get to go ballistic against his former team twice a year as Arizona was part of the NFC East at the time.
“It’s a little revenge,” Harvey told Sports Illustrated in 1995. “But I’m not vengeful. I used to be, but I’m not anymore.”
The linebacker was even more excited to be playing for a team with a then-recent history of winning.
“There was that attitude where you walked in the locker room and walked in the building and you saw those trophies and you knew you were part of a winning tradition,” said Harvey. “That, to me, was the coolest thing.”
Pro Bowler At Last
Now wearing number 57, Harvey endeared himself to the Washington faithful by picking up 13.5 sacks in 1994.
That was the first time a Redskins player led the NFC in sacks (he actually co-led the conference with Minnesota’s John Randle).
RT to wish #Redskins great LB Ken Harvey (@transition57) a happy birthday! #HTTR pic.twitter.com/89fG1MaHq4
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) May 6, 2018
At long last, he was recognized by his peers and voted to his first Pro Bowl while also getting named a second-team All-Pro.
In 1995, Harvey had 84 tackles and 7.5 sacks, which led the team.
Once again, he was voted a second-team All-Pro and selected for Pro Bowl number two.
During his first two years with the ‘Skins, the team managed just nine victories under coach Norv Turner.
The 1996 squad won nine times but did not qualify for the postseason.
NOW! #Redskins legend Ken Harvey joins @RickDocWalker for some Skins defense talk, impressions so far this preseason and more! pic.twitter.com/OVoxJGFfBo
— The Team 980 (@team980) August 22, 2018
Harvey was second on the team with nine sacks, snagged his only career interception and totaled 93 tackles on the way to another Pro Bowl.
Washington then went 8-7-1 in 1997 while Harvey once again led the franchise in sacks with 9.5 while getting selected for his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl.
Harvey Retires
During Harvey’s tenure in the Nation’s Capital, the Redskins couldn’t quite get over the hump.
In 1998, the team regressed again to six wins and number 57 was limited by injuries to 11 games and nine starts.
That led to a career-low two sacks and 45 total tackles.
Happy birthday to Redskins great Ken Harvey pic.twitter.com/IzOr9hdKrn
— Calvin Pickeral (@Time2Bowl77) May 6, 2023
When the season ended, Harvey decided to call it quits.
Unfortunately, in 11 years of play in the NFL, the linebacker never did get to experience a playoff game.
As (bad) luck would have it, Washington qualified for the postseason in 1999, the year after Harvey retired.
“That’s kind of been the story of my life,” he said in 2003. “My high school wasn’t a winner, my junior college didn’t win, Cal didn’t win, the Cardinals didn’t win, and the Redskins didn’t win. When you look back, people think I should have just hung on for one more year.”
Regardless, he led his teams in sacks nearly every season he played and he was consistently one of the best linebackers in the business.
Ken Harvey (1994-1998)
74 Games, 71 Starts
41.5 Sacks, 1 Int, 13 Fumbles Forced
4x Pro-Bowl
Named to 70 Greatest Redskins
Inducted to Ring of Fame in 2002#HTTR #Redskins #TrickorTreat #HappyHalloween pic.twitter.com/VLsB3nb8Y3— Every Redskin Ever (@EveryRedskin) October 31, 2022
During his career, Harvey had 828 combined tackles including one safety, 89 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries and one interception.
He was a two-time, second-team All-Pro and a four-time Pro Bowler.
Harvey was eventually selected as one of the 80 Greatest Redskins and placed in the Washington Commanders’ Ring of Fame.
Busy in Retirement
Although he made millions as a pro football player, Harvey didn’t sit around enjoying the good life after hanging up his cleats.
Over the past few decades, he has been extremely busy.
Harvey spent time as a writer and video journalist with the Washington Post and has also authored several children’s books.
In 2010, the Redskins hired Harvey as its Director of Responsibility, a role intended to help the local community in education and advocacy initiatives.
As if that wasn’t enough, the ex-linebacker is a motivational speaker and successful businessman and entrepreneur.
“We’re fighting two battles. One is of flesh and blood, but the other is the one you don’t see. … the one you don’t see is the one that’s most dangerous …," said Ken Harvey, who played for the Phoenix Cardinals & Washington Redskins, 1988 to 1999.. https://t.co/GBf2nGgBnr pic.twitter.com/xugascMHiP
— Defense Logistics (@DLAMIL) February 26, 2018
Partnering with a friend and fellow entrepreneur in 2008, Harvey helped to develop online interactive games for kids that mimic “Float Ball” physics that astronauts use in outer space.
Harvey and his wife, Janice, lost their first son to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome several years ago but have two grown, healthy sons Anthony and Marcus.
Now 60 years old, Harvey and his wife live in the Washington D.C. area.
References
https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com
https://northernvirginiamag.com
https://www.theinsightfulplayer.com
https://www.pro-football-reference.com
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