Heralded as one of the quickest defensive linemen of his era, Curley Culp anchored some of the fiercest d-line units during the late 60s and 1970s. Culp was born and raised in Yuma, Arizona, one of thirteen children, where he won two state wrestling championships in high school. After graduating, Culp opted to remain in his home and attend Arizona State over UCLA because ASU Football coach Frank Cush agreed to let Culp wrestle while also playing football.
At the collegiate level, Culp found success in both sports. Culp amassed an 84-11-1 record in wrestling, winning three Western Athletic Conference championships. In 1967, Culp became the NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, winning the Gorriaran Award for scoring the most pins at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. In football, Culp lined up at nose tackle in Frank Cush’s defense and was an absolute tank on the gridiron as he was on the mat. In 1967, Culp was part of a Sun Devil defense that allowed opponents to gain an average of just 79.8 yards per game. ASU finished the ’67 football season with an 8-2 record, placing second in the WAC conference, and Culp earned All-American honors.
In 1968, Culp was drafted in the second round of the AFL Draft by the Denver Broncos but never played a down for the club when the experiment to play him along the offensive line failed. Later that season, Denver traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he flourished in Hank Stram’s punishing defense.
Alongside teammate and Hall of Famer Buck Buchanan, Culp anchored the middle of the Chiefs’ defensive line for the next seven seasons. In his second season with the club, Culp played all twelve games, collecting 8.5 sacks, and was named to the first of six Pro Bowls in his career. During the 1969 AFL Championship, Culp registered four tackles, two assists, and a sack as the Chiefs pounded the Raiders, 17-7, in a defensive slugfest to advance to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl IV, Culp contributed three tackles and an assist that helped Kansas City win 23-7 over Minnesota to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship.
In 1974, Culp was traded to the Houston Oilers, where he continued his reputation for being a physically dominant nose tackle under head coach Sid Gillman and defensive coordinator Bum Phillips. As Culp stepped onto the field, the Oilers were instantly transformed from losers to contenders. In his first full season with the Oilers, Culp set a new career high with 11.5 sacks and was voted the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year following the 1975 season. From the middle of Houston’s D-line, the Oilers spent the ’75 campaign at the top of the league in run defense and ranked among the top five in the NFL as the Oilers finished with a 10-4 record – the club’s first winning season in eight seasons.
That level of dominance and leadership continued into the late 70s when the Oilers made back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship following the 1978 and ’79 campaigns. At the turn of the decade, Culp was sent to the Detroit Lions in a late-season trade in 1980. He spent one full season with the Lions, appearing in just two games, before retiring after the 1981 season.
In total, Culp played in 179 games and was named to one AFL All-Star game (1969), five Pro Bowls (1971 and 1975-78), and five All-Pro awards (1971, 1977, 1978, and 1979). In 2008, Culp was inducted into the Chiefs’ Hall of Honor and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
On November 27, 2021, Culp passed at 74 years old due to Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, per a family announcement.
