Former Daleville star turns his passion for football into motivation

“Warhawks! Warhawks! Warhawks!”

It’s a very simple chant but in the two or three seconds after former Daleville football star Robert Kilow started the chant along with current Daleville Warhawks players, the entire team was screaming the “war chant” and were motivated to play right then and there.

Motivation is something that Kilow, a former player in both the NFL and Arena Football, is passionate about these days.

“A big thing right now is motivation,” Kilow said. “The kids in high school now need to be motivated and understand that they’re not just playing for themselves but for their community. When I played I was playing for my school, my mom, my family and my fans.”

Kilow was both an all-state running back and wide receiver at Daleville and helped lift the Warhawks to their first and only state championship in school history in 1992.

“Winning the state championship was a memory I’ll never forget,” Kilow said about his time at Daleville. “I can’t really narrow it down to one or two memories that mean the most to me, though.”

Kilow said that he bounced around between quarterback, running back and receiver until he got a chance to play with legendary Warhawk quarterback Jake Vest.

“Playing with Jake Vest was one of the best things that ever could have happened to me as far as my football career goes,” Kilow said of Vest. “I never knew what position I really wanted to play until I played with him.

“He was the best quarterback – even to this day after playing on many different levels – that I ever could have been with. He just knew the game so well and playing with him just got me to a place were I was comfortable.”

Kilow rushed for 1,269 yards and 13 touchdowns at running back before switching to receiver and catching 72 passes for 1,000 yards and 18 touchdowns at Daleville.

After a stint in junior college, Kilow transferred to Arkansas State where he went on to catch 72 passes for 1,002 yards and three touchdowns as a senior. Kilow ranks third all-time at Arkansas State in both receptions and yards and in 2014 he was named to Arkansas State’s All Centennial Team.

According to Kilow, Arkansas State is where he learned to motivate himself.

“I learned a lot about life,” Kilow said about his days at Arkansas State. “I was on my own and didn’t have anybody to push me or motivate me. I had to do it myself.

“It made a big difference in my life because I knew I had to do it and do it myself. I had my daughter after I graduated high school and I wanted to be something for her more than anything.”

Following his college career, Kilow bounced around the NFL playing for teams like the St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before starting a career in the Arena Football League (AFL).

“It was a great experience that I wish everyone that plays football could have,” Kilow said about playing in the NFL. “I learned some things about myself and how to be humble and look at things differently in my life.

“I always looked at football like my talent and what I could do on the field was all that mattered, but when you get to the NFL sometimes it’s about who you know or who really wants you and who doesn’t. It’s not always about what you can do on the field.”

Kilow truly enjoyed his time in the AFL and continued to learn life lessons thanks to football.

“Arena Football was so amazing,” Kilow said. “I loved it. It was a different type of football and I was able to interact more with people and I think that’s really what got me to where I am today.”

Kilow played for more than a decade in the AFL and AF2 for the Arkansas Twisters, Iowa Barnstormers and Chicago Rush.

“You have to clear your mind on what you’re supposed to do as a receiver and kick returner,” Kilow said of the transition from outdoor football to indoor football. “You have to realize the field is so much smaller and when you’re running your routes you have to bring them in from 50 yards wide to 25 yards wide.

“Everything has to be different about the way you play and run your routes. The first couple of weeks were tough but after that I learned my own style of running different routes and settled in.”

Kilow said that the AFL also gave him a chance to interact with fans more and develop relationships with people more.

“The things that I do like working with kids or even my job – I own a lawn care business – is all about interacting with people,” he said. “I’d catch a touchdown pass and then jump into the stands and give a kid the football.”

“It was fun and I felt like I was helping people while I was there instead of just playing football. They loved me so much in the places I went to and interacting with kids was really something that pushed me towards what I’m doing now.”

Along with his lawn care business, Kilow speaks to kids, coach’s youth football, runs his own summer football camp and every week gives a motivational speech to Daleville’s football team during the season.

Kilow said that it’s very important to him to get children motivated to play football.

“That’s really important to me,” Kilow said. “Football is about life, its really teaching discipline.”

Kilow got a chance to speak to the Wiregrass youth at this past summer’s Wiregrass Punt, Pass and Kick competition and hopes to continue to do things like that.

“That was something I enjoy doing,” Kilow said about speaking to children. “I feel like that it takes that one time that a kid could be going in the wrong direction and you talk to them and it may spark them and give them exactly what they need to move forward and do something right, instead.”