The Colquitts
The unique family that holds a special place in sports history
Colquitt, punter and kick-holder for the Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City Chiefs and a recent Walter Payton “NFL Man of the Year” nominee, completed a unique trifecta after what his younger brother, Britton Colquitt, and their father, Craig Colquitt, already accomplished: it put this family in a rare — if not unprecedented — place in history as three immediate family members each winning at least one Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals or Stanley Cup (National Hockey League) championship.
With a 21-0 fourth quarter rally last February in Miami, beating San Francisco 31-20, “Much later in the night, before we got going with some of the Super Bowl parties — I put the little kids down (to bed), they were exhausted about being up all day and watching the game — outside of the room I got to talk to Britton and my dad, and just kind of be in that inner circle,” Dustin said.
“I finally got to tell a Super Bowl experience, as opposed to just listening to theirs, which I enjoyed,” he added about the trio, all honing their NFL skills as First-Team All-SEC punters for the Tennessee Volunteers.
“Just seeing my dad and just how excited he was.”
“I was so excited,” said Craig, a two-time First Team All-SEC punter at UT groomed by legends Johnny Majors, head coach, and special teams guru George Cafego before being part of an all-time great NFL team. He earned back-to-back
Super Bowl rings (XIII and XIV) as a rookie and second-year punter for the “Steel Curtain” Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1978 and 1979
seasons.
Doubting Colquitts
However, judging by fourth quarter nerves, there was lots of doubting Colquitts in Miami.
Described as “digging his nails into his legs” in terms of intensity whenever his dad’s Chiefs are playing, then 11-year-old Colston Colquitt was quite upset while witnessing a late–game turnover in Super Bowl LIV.
Already tied in knots emotionally with his dad’s Chiefs trailing the 49ers 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, a Patrick Mahomes interception killing a promising Kansas City drive sent Colston racing out of his stadium seat.
“He literally stood up and started walking out … he went straight to the concourse and threw up in a trash can,” Dustin said. “He was absolutely sick about it. He was devastated.”
Perhaps taking after his grandfather — Craig admitted leaving his stadium seat to nervously walk around the concourse when things looked bad early in the fourth quarter — Colston couldn’t bear to go back to his seat and watch.
Hearing a crowd roar without seeing what happened, he thought San Francisco scored “and it was 27-10, and it might as well be over,” the two-time Pro Bowler said. “When he talked himself to walking back down the (stadium) stairs, Colston realized they punted back to us, and we had the ball back and we were about to score” and cut the 49ers’ lead to 20-17.
As for the senior Colquitt, “I was a nervous wreck in Super Bowl 50 for Britton, but more so for Dustin in Super Bowl LIV because he was further along in his career,” Craig said.
After Mahomes’ fourth-quarter interception with the Chief trailing by 10, “I got up and started walking around the perimeter of the indoor of the stadium,” Craig said, adding he followed the game on concourse TV monitors “while I was walking.”
However, when the comeback was complete, “We went nuts. We were like little children,” he added.
On field with family
With Dustin and wife, Christia Colquitt, gathered with Colston and the couple’s other four children in celebration on the field after the game, “I think we almost broke each other’s teeth out kissing,” said Dustin, finishing his 15th season in Kansas City after earning 2003 All-American and Ray Guy Award finalist (top college punter in the nation) honors for the Vols. His sports notoriety began as a football and soccer star at Bearden High School (Class of 2000).
“Brinkley almost tackled me,” he added about the reaction of his oldest child, 13.
Britton, his advice
Also at Super Bowl LIV was Britton — who helped UT fan favorite Peyton Manning end his NFL Hall of Fame career by going out on top (see photo) — as punter and kick-holder for the Super Bowl 50 champion Denver Broncos. A First-Team All-SEC punter at UT in 2006, he also was a soccer and football star at BHS (Class of 2003).
Seeking family advise on what to expect when playing in Super Bowl LIV, Dustin said Britton shared valuable advice when recalling his own experience.
Britton was so wound up about being part of the biggest TV event in the world, with more than a billion estimated viewers, “He said, like, ‘I blacked out during and after every punt. … There was a couple of times I didn’t know what happened,’” Dustin said. “He said it was a so surreal feeling.”
With Super Bowl 50 foe Carolina having one of the league’s top punt returners in Ted Ginn Jr., Dustin said Britton told him, “‘I have to play an almost perfect game. I
can’t mis-hit any balls. They’re asking me to (punt) the ball out of bounds’ on at least four of five of his eight or nine punts” to avoid Ginn.
But Britton’s successful punting, big brother added, “Hardly allowed any return yards” from Ginn, with Britton attributing his success, despite the blackouts, “‘probably to muscle memory.’”
As a result of Britton’s experience, “I just made sure I was really focusing,” Dustin said about his two punts for a whopping 50-yard average. “I wanted to be very much in the moment.”
Steelers Super Bowls
Recalling “so much media” coverage for his two Super Bowl experiences, Craig added, “It was constant, but it was fun, high energy.”
Now in his mid-60s, helping improve the punting and kicking skills of a select number of high school top talents in Nashville, Craig described his gameday as “an out-of-body experience because it is The Super Bowl.
“It was an adrenalin rush the whole time.”
(Repeated attempts to contact Britton Colquitt for this story were unsuccessful).
