A Titan Comes Home: Alexandria to Dedicate Keith Burns Field Friday

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Before Keith Burns won two Super Bowl rings, he was a sophomore helping T.C. Williams win a state football championship. Before NFL coaches trusted him to lead their special teams, Alexandria recreation coaches helped him learn the game.

On Friday, October 16, the city’s public school community will celebrate that journey with the dedication of Keith Burns Field at Parker-Gray Memorial Stadium. The ceremony begins at approximately 6:30 p.m. at Alexandria City High School’s King Street campus, before the Titans host Fairfax High School at 7 p.m.

For Burns, a 1990 T.C. Williams graduate, success on football’s biggest stage was something to share with home. “The Denver Broncos didn’t just win a Super Bowl, but the City of Alexandria did too,” Burns said in an archival Connection Newspapers profile by Rich Sanders.

The young Titan before the NFL

Born in South Carolina, Burns grew up in Alexandria as the youngest of four children raised by his mother, Tracy, according to Sanders’ profile. His early football teachers included Richard Howell, Chick Armstrong and Henry Stancil, followed by T.C. Williams coach Glenn Furman.

In the 1987 state championship game, sophomore Burns scored the Titans’ lone touchdown and forced a fumble that set up a field goal. T.C. Williams defeated Hampton 10-6, finishing an undefeated season. He played running back and linebacker, then graduated in 1990.

His athletic life extended across the school year. The Broncos’ 2005 media guide credits him with three football letters, two in basketball and one in baseball at T.C. Williams. Alexandria appears by name in that biography and in Washington’s later announcement of his hiring as a coach.

A route through Texas and Oklahoma

Burns’ path to the NFL took him first to Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas. He earned junior college All-America recognition in 1991 before moving to Oklahoma State, according to the Denver biography. At Oklahoma State, he recorded 233 tackles over two seasons. He earned the Big Eight’s Defensive Newcomer of the Year honor in 1992 and all-conference recognition in both 1992 and 1993, achievements also documented by Oklahoma State Athletics.

Denver selected him in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL draft, 210th overall. From that late-round opportunity, Burns built a 13-season playing career, including 11 seasons with the Broncos and stops in Chicago and Tampa Bay. His specialty was a demanding part of football that seldom dominates the highlights: special teams, the units responsible for kickoffs, punts and other kicking plays. He led or shared Denver’s team lead in special teams tackles in seven seasons and helped the Broncos win Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII.

“Special teams is pretty much where I hung my hat,” Burns told DenverBroncos.com in a July 2012 interview.

From player to teacher

Burns joined Denver’s coaching staff in 2007. Six seasons later, Washington hired him as special teams coordinator, reuniting him with his former Broncos head coach, Mike Shanahan. “Keith was an excellent special teams player and a strong influence in the locker room for two Super Bowl championship teams,” Shanahan said in the team’s February 2013 announcement.

Coaching brought another reunion, too. In Denver, Burns worked alongside Richard Smith, who had coached him when he entered the league. The former rookie was now a colleague, teaching a new generation. “He coaches hard and the players respect him,” Smith said in a 2012 Broncos feature.

What he brought home

Burns also created opportunities away from professional football. He established the Keith Burns Foundation in 1997. According to ACPS’ biography of its naming honorees, the foundation has supplied backpacks, holiday presents, children’s coats and more than 5,000 Thanksgiving baskets for local families. That service is part of what ACPS says Friday’s dedication will honor. The School Board approved the field’s name on December 18, 2025; the ceremony celebrates that decision at the stadium where today’s Titans play.

The school division’s October 13 advisory lists Burns, School Board members, Acting Superintendent Dr. Grace Taylor, city leaders, students and families among the participants. Burns will be available for media interviews immediately afterward.

The next generation will take the field at 7 p.m., with the name of a former Titan whose career began in Alexandria now part of the place they call home.