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November is a special month around the NFL. The NFL honors all military personnel, veterans, and their families with Salute to Service throughout the month. Each team nominates one member of the organization for the Salute-to-Service award, which will be announced at the NFL Honors show in February.
Head coach Ron Rivera is Washington’s nominee for the award.
With Veteran’s Day on Thursday, USAA recently released a video featuring Washington assistant running backs coach Jennifer King and Tampa Bay assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and two women from the United States military — Yencris Baez and Vanessa Thomas.
Check it out.
For #VeteransDay & #SaluteToService, Military Veterans Yencris Baez and Vanessa Thomas, join @NFL Coaches @CoachLoLoc & @JenniferKing5 to talk about what it means to be Women of First in the #military and the NFL. #HonorThroughAction #SeeHer pic.twitter.com/bO7zaNRHyB
— USAA (@USAA) November 9, 2021
Washington Wire recently had the opportunity to speak with Coach King about her inspiring journey, and she discussed the filming of that video for the USAA.
“That was an awesome day,” King said. “Being with Coach Locust and spending the day with Yencris and Vanessa and hearing their stories was amazing.”
King believes her story and story of Locust, Baez, and Thomas can inspire the next generation of girls to become successful at anything they choose.
King has quite the story herself.
Not only did she become the first-ever Black woman to become a full-time NFL coach, but King also had a long list of accomplishments before coming to Washington. Before becoming a full-time NFL coach, King spent two years as a head basketball coach at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In King’s first season, her team finished with a record of 15-6. In her second season as coach, she led Johnson & Wales to a 22-4 record. It was during that time, she met Rivera.
“Our facilities were actually next door to theirs,” King said of Rivera and the Panthers. A mutual acquaintance introduced King and Rivera, and it wasn’t long after she was an intern with the Panthers. Rivera was so impressed with King; he brought her back again in 2019 as an intern with the running backs.
When Rivera took over as Washington’s coach in 2020, he brought King with him.
King described what it was like working with Rivera.
“Coach Rivera is amazing,” King said.
Believe it or not, growing up in Reidsville, North Carolina, King was a fan of the Washington Football Team as a child.
“I actually grew up a Washington fan,” King said. “But when I was a kid, the Panthers came to North Carolina, and I kind of gravitated toward them.”
King offered plenty of hope for Washington fans in the second half of the season.
“We went on a run last year and made the playoffs,” King said. “We feel good about our team this year and believe we can go on another run in the final nine games. We have the talent.”
King noted how Rivera is a good second-half coach.
If you get the chance, please watch the video from USAA. It features the story of four inspirational and talented women, just in time for Veteran’s Day.