Vonnie Holliday: No Holiday For Opposing Offenses

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Vonnie Holliday: No Holiday For Opposing Offenses

June 25, 2008
   
By Andy Kent
Special for MiamiDolphins.com

Throughout his football career, Miami Dolphins defensive end Vonnie Holliday has played for some of the toughest coaches and alongside some of the toughest and most influential players, but none of them were as tough on him as the people he identifies as being the most influential in his life – and they all just happen to be women.

Holliday, 32, grew up in South Carolina in the state's oldest inland city, Camden, and he was the only boy among five women. So whether it was his mother, grandmother, aunt or two sisters barking in his ear, the message always was the same and carried the same amount of weight.

“Their mission was that I was going to be a man, and fortunately they got it right,” said Holliday, who is entering his 11th season in the NFL and fourth with the Dolphins. “That's what they wanted, they wanted me to be a man and everything that entails, which is being responsible, being an upstanding citizen and to be honest and to make a difference.”

Taking those lessons to heart, Holliday applied the strong worth ethic and desire he honed from his childhood to the football field in Pop Warner and later in high school at Camden High, college at the University of North Carolina and ultimately in the professional ranks. He also worked hard in the classroom and at helping people in the community, whether it was his hometown, the city of Chapel Hill where the Tar Heels called home or any of the three NFL cities in which he played – Green Bay, Kansas City and Miami.

Besides those five strong women in his life, Holliday also credits his uncle, Ike Holliday, who owns a heating and air conditioning company called Holliday Heating and Cooling.

“I saw him work and put all of his blood, sweat and tears into his job in trying to make a living for his family,” Holliday said. “I had an opportunity to work side by side with him at a young age and I learned a lot from him. He's old school and he's still working just as hard today, and I've tried to talk him into slowing down and turning it over to some young guys, but he believes in doing all the work himself and keeping that mom and pop business going, even though he's well into his 60s now.”

Vonnie had no qualms about accepting help and advice from any of his coaches or teammates, and he is just as eager to pass on what he knows to Miami's incoming rookie class and the number of new players acquired through free agency or via trade. He was taught at a young age to listen closely to those who were teaching or coaching him, and in his case that happened to be his youth baseball coach because his mother wouldn't let him play football at first. She was afraid he was going to get hurt, but as he got bigger and stronger, the gridiron came calling.

By the time he graduated high school, Holliday lettered in football, basketball and baseball and earned all-conference honors as a defensive end, defensive tackle, linebacker and tight end in football and all-conference honors in basketball. On the baseball field, he was a pitcher, catcher, first baseman and third baseman, but North Carolina saw more potential in Holliday as a defensive lineman and in 1994 he was one of only three true freshmen to play.

True to form, Holliday just kept getting better at his position and was named team co-captain as a senior, the same year that he was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection after finishing with 64 tackles and five sacks. The Packers selected him in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft with the 19th overall pick and Hall-of-Famer Reggie White immediately took him under his wing.

“All of those guys I played with in Green Bay had an impact on the type of player I have become, from Reggie to Brett Favre, Santana Dotson and Mark Chmura, but Reggie was unbelievable,” said Holliday, who finished second to Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 1998. “Reggie was a very spiritual guy but to me, I was struck by how professional he was both on and off the field and he was a great guy who took time to talk to me and get me through things.”

White died tragically in his sleep at the age of 43 on December 26, 2004 and Holliday was already in this second season with the Kansas City Chiefs after signing with them as an unrestricted free agent following the 2002 season. White's death hit him hard because he was still used to fielding regular phone calls from White during which the ordained pastor offered him advice on fatherhood and being a good husband as well as being a good citizen.

When the funeral service for White took place, Holliday was taken aback by the sheer amount of people that showed up and the heaping words of praise spoken at the pulpit as White's family listened on intently. Not only did it serve as a wake-up call to how fragile life is in general, but it also awakened inside Holliday the importance of making a difference in a number of different ways, not just as a football player.

“It made you realize a lot of things, like not taking life itself for granted,” Holliday said. “As football players we are very athletic, strong and well-built guys who almost feel invincible. When it comes to things that Reggie did on the field, he was Superman and he could toss aside a 350-pound man like he was nothing. So for me, when I sat at that funeral and heard person after person come up and talk about Reggie and the kind of person he was and the things that he did, it dawned on me that when it's my time, what are people going to say about me and what is my legacy going to be?”

Seeing Holliday return to Camden each year to host his annual Vonnie Holliday Bulldog Football Camp at his old high school or head to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami to visit sick patients makes it even more clear how well he was paying attention not only to the lessons taught to him by White, but by every other influential person in his life.

As for his exploits on the field, Holliday still would like to win a Super Bowl and experience the feeling of being crowned a champion. He also hopes to earn his first Pro Bowl berth, something he has missed out on despite posting impressive numbers in 2001 with Green Bay (81 tackles, seven sacks and three fumble recoveries), 2003 with the Chiefs (81 tackles, 5.5 sacks) and 2006 in Miami (66 tackles, seven sacks). In fact, he finished tied for third with Oakland's Warren Sapp and Detroit's Cory Redding in 2006 for most sacks by an interior lineman, and with yet another new regime now in place, Holliday appears to be re-energized for the 2008 season.

“This is my 11th year and I've had seven head coaches and eight defensive coordinators, so I know about change and going into a camp having to learn a new playbook and a new scheme,” said Holliday, who is looking forward to working alongside 12th-year nose tackle Jason Ferguson. “Fortunately for us now, we have the OTAs and the minicamp. The offseason over the last six years has changed so much because now you spend so much time around your teammates and the coaches and in the classroom, so probably 85-90 percent of our playbook is already in.

“Normally as a veteran player, you don't like hanging around your job in the offseason, but in this case it's been beneficial to me and a plus in terms of learning the playbook and getting familiar with the coaching staff and how they're going to approach the season. I'm excited about it and although training camp is in the dog days of summer and you don't look forward to the heat, I certainly look forward to getting into the season and rebounding from a 1-15 season, and I plan to lead more by example and let my work ethic and how I prepare impact the younger players.”

That's how Reggie White impacted Vonnie Holliday, and now the man who has become an exemplary husband, father and contributing citizen to society is ready to make yet another difference for an organization steeped in tradition.