Super Bowl 58 features football player from Manatee-Sarasota. Here’s a list of others

If you’re from the area and undecided on who to root for in Sunday’s Super Bowl, then you might choose the Kansas City Chiefs for a connection to the 941.

Richie James, a kick and punt returner for the Chiefs, played high school football in Sarasota at Riverview High. Lakewood Ranch alum Austin Reiter is on the Chiefs’ practice squad, too.

It’s not the first time the area has seen someone playing in the Super Bowl.

The NFL’s biggest game usually features a Manatee or Sarasota County native on either Super Bowl participating team’s roster.

In fact, this year marks the seventh time in the last eight Super Bowls that someone with a connection to the 941 area is in the Big Game.

There was a stretch between 2006 and 2012 where the Super Bowl featured a local in it, except for one year.

Not bad when you consider the combined population between Manatee and Sarasota counties is roughly 833,000, according to the United States Census Bureau’s latest estimate.

High school football players have a 6.5% chance of playing in college and those college players have a 1.6% chance to make it to the NFL, according to a 2013 NCAA study.

That’s just to play in the NFL, let alone the slimmer odds of playing on a team that makes it to the Super Bowl.

Here’s a look at those from the area who have played on the pro football’s grandest stage:

Super Bowl 1

Manatee High’s Bill Anderson won the inaugural Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers under legendary head coach Vince Lombardi. It was Anderson’s final NFL season. He died in April 2017.

Super Bowls 11, 15, 18

Henry Lawrence, who played at Palmetto’s Lincoln High before integration and then attended Manatee High, won three Super Bowls with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders.

Super Bowl 26

Manatee High’s Alvoid Mays, a defensive back, had a sack and strip for a forced fumble to seal the Washington Redskins’ victory over the Buffalo Bills. Sarasota High’s Tim Johnson also had a standout game in leading Washington’s defense to Super Bowl glory that season.

Super Bowl 31

Manatee High alumnus Tyrone Williams, a defensive back with the Green Bay Packers, won a Super Bowl ring in 1997 when the Packers defeated the New England Patriots.

Super Bowl 40

One of college football’s greatest players, Southeast High’s Peter Warrick, was on the losing end of the 2006 Super Bowl as his Seattle Seahawks fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Super Bowl 41

Sarasota Riverview’s Todd Johnson played in the secondary for the Chicago Bears, who lost to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.

Super Bowl 43

Lakewood Ranch High’s Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was the defensive back trying to thwart Santonio Holmes from squeezing the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl 43 in Tampa. DRC, who played for the Arizona Cardinals, couldn’t stop Holmes from making the catch that led to Pittsburgh’s sixth Super Bowl title.

Super Bowl 44

Southeast High’s Rod Harper didn’t play for the New Orleans Saints in their Super Bowl triumph, but he was on the roster as an injured player.

Super Bowl 45

Sarasota Booker’s Sam Shields claimed a Super Bowl ring when the Green Bay Packers edged the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Super Bowl 46

Sarasota Riverview’s David Baas played offensive line for the New York Giants’ last Super Bowl victory, which came at New England’s expense. The Giants are the only team to defeat Tom Brady twice in the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 51

Continuing the long defensive back tradition, Southeast High’s Brian Poole and Braden River High’s Sharrod Neasman were this close to winning a Super Bowl ring as rookies in 2017. Neasman fought his way onto the roster from the practice squad, while Poole overcame not getting drafted to signing and breaking training camp as a can’t-miss defensive player.

The Falcons led 28-3 late in the third quarter before Brady willed the Patriots to a fifth Super Bowl title with an overtime victory.

Super Bowl 52

From south Sarasota County, Venice’s Trey Burton was part of a spoiler to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, while being part of one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history. The “Philly Special,” play saw Burton, who played quarterback at Venice and the University of Florida, throw a touchdown to quarterback Nick Foles after taking a lateral.

Super Bowl 53

Shields, who was on the winning side in Super Bowl 45, played special teams for the Los Angeles Rams in a 13-3 loss to the Patriots in 2019.

Super Bowls 54, 55, 57

Lakewood Ranch’s Austin Reiter is on the Chiefs’ practice squad for Super Bowl 57 and this year’s Super Bowl 58, but he played in Super Bowls 54 and 55. Reiter was the starting center on the losing end of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ victory in Tampa in 2021 but on the winning side when the Chiefs beat the 49ers in 2020.

Richie James was on the losing side of the Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl in 2020, but he has a second chance at earning his first ring this year for a Chiefs team led by Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones.

Super Bowl 57

Last year’s Super Bowl saw the Chiefs beat the Eagles, 38-35. And Reiter wasn’t the only one with a local connection on the Chiefs’ roster. Defensive end Joshua Kaindoh, who played multiple seasons at IMG Academy in Bradenton before a college career at Florida State, was on the practice squad with Reiter last year.

Other local winners

Though not an alumnus of a local high school, Sarasota resident John Neidert, who coached at Riverview, won Super Bowl 3 with the New York Jets and Joe Namath. The game, which is considered one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, saw the Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts.