YJHTL intention for featuring Deron Cherry is his service to humanity. He shares the joy of growing up in his small city of Riverside, New Jersey and the incredible friends and family that shaped his life. Deron’s work ethic and commitment to excellence, be it professional football or community service is nothing short of inspiring. We gladly share more of Deron’s history.

Deron Cherry played exclusively for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1981 to 1991. He attended Rutgers University and graduated as a biology major. He played football there as a starting free safety and punter. In 1979, he was named the team's MVP. In 1979 and 1980, Cherry earned the Associcated Press All-state honors.

Deron is regarded as one of the best free safeties to have ever played the game. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection from 1983 to 1988, starting five of them in his 11 years with the Chiefs. Few other Chiefs players have been selected to this number of Pro Bowls. He had six 100 tackle seasons in his 11 years as a member of the Chiefs, with a career total of 927 tackles.

In 1987, he won the Byron “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year award. This award annually recognizes one player who goes above and beyond to perform community service in his hometown and team city. Other recipients include Bart Starr, Gayle Sayers, Floyd Little, Archie Manning, Roger Staubach, Franco Harris, Gene Upshaw, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Prior to receiving this award, he was the Chiefs NFL Man of the Year selection in 1987. This is the most prestigious award given by the NFL Players Association. Deron also was awarded the NFL’s 1980’s All-Decade team and in is also in the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame.

Deron is actively involved in several civic organizations, including Special Olympics, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Project Warmth, Score 1 for Health, Camp Quality USA, and the United Negro College Fund. For the past 25 years, Cherry has hosted his Celebrity Invitational. This tournament has raised over $3 million to support the children of the Kansas City area. Cherry is a frequent guest speaker at civic, charitable, and corporate events throughout the country.

In 1995, Deron became a limited ownership partner in one of the NFL's then-new expansion teams, the Jacksonville Jaguars. This made him the first minority owner of an NFL franchise in the league's history. Cherry is also a managing general partner with United Beverage, a local Anheuser-Busch distributor in Kansas City.

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