CULTURETECHLENSKellen Winslow
VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)
Combined Graph record U-07912 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7040.
Kellen Boswell Winslow Sr. (born November 5, 1957) played college football at the University of Missouri, where he was a consensus All-American in 1978, before the San Diego Chargers selected him 13th overall in the first round of the 1979 NFL draft. He played his entire nine-season NFL career (1979–1987) with San Diego in coach Don Coryell's 'Air Coryell' offense and, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's words, brought in a new era of tight ends, combining a blocker's size and toughness with the speed and receiving ability to stretch a defense. He led the NFL in receptions in 1980 and 1981 — the first tight end to lead the league in receptions in back-to-back seasons — and his most remembered game came in the 1981 playoffs at Miami, where he caught 13 passes and blocked a field goal in the Chargers' overtime win. He finished with 541 receptions for 6,741 yards and 45 touchdowns, five Pro Bowl selections, and consensus All-Pro honors in 1980, 1981 and 1982. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
Kellen Boswell Winslow Sr. (born November 5, 1957) played college football at the University of Missouri, where he was a consensus All-American in 1978, before the San Diego Chargers selected him 13th overall in the first round of the 1979 NFL draft.
The record
- Also known as: Kellen Winslow Sr., Kellen Boswell Winslow
Notes
Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0395. Firsts disposition: ASSERTED as sourced — first tight end to lead the NFL in receptions in back-to-back seasons (1980, 1981), per Wikipedia's account of the Air Coryell years, with the underlying receptions titles confirmed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Winslow did not stretch the tight end position so much as re-found it — after him, the position's ceiling was a receiver's ceiling. Photo: CLEARED — 'Kellen Winslow 1980.jpg' (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; identity verified from the file's own Commons description/categories, license verified from file-level extmetadata, 2026-11-03).
Sources
- Pro Football Hall of Fame. "NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1980s — Offense." Pro Football Hall of Fame. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
- Wikipedia. "Kellen Winslow." Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
Photograph · rights-cleared record, CultureTechLens Photo Rights Log
Kellen Winslow of the San Diego Chargers scores the first touchdown of a 22-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on November 30, 1980
Kellen Winslow of the San Diego Chargers scores the first touchdown of a 22-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on November 30, 1980 — Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: CultureTechLens · view at source
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Record CTL-E-7040 · Combined Graph record U-07912 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
Cite this record
Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Kellen Winslow (CTL-E-7040).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-7040/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Kellen Winslow (CTL-E-7040) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-7040/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Kellen Winslow (CTL-E-7040).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-7040/
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