Calvin Bird

James Calvin Bird (February 11, 1938 – June 19, 2013) was an American football halfback who played college football for the Kentucky Wildcats and spent an off-season in the American Football League (AFL) with the New York Jets as a wide receiver.

Early life Bird grew up in Corbin, Kentucky and played football and basketball and ran track at Corbin High School. He was one of four brothers, all of whom played sports at Corbin and later in college. In football, he led his team to the state championship as a junior and was selected All-State as a junior and senior. He also set the state scoring record his junior year and the national scoring record his senior year, the latter in which he scored 264 points. He was a second-team All-SEC selection in 1959 and a first-team All-SEC selection as a senior in 1960. He played in three all-star games following his senior season and was the most valuable player of the All-American All-Star Game. He joined the New York Jets in the summer of 1963 as a wide receiver, but was cut by the team before the season and did not see any playing time. He married while a senior at Kentucky to Okeh Jean in 1960, and they remained together until his death 53 years later on June 19, 2013. Billy played football at Kentucky in the early 1960s. His jersey was also retired by Kentucky.