Michael Barry (Mike) Reid (born May 24, 1947 in Altoona, Pennsylvania) is a retired professional American football defensive lineman, Grammy Award-winning country music singer-songwriter, and composer of musicals and operas. After several years playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, Reid retired from football and began his work as a singer-songwriter, penning several hit singles for country music artists, including Ronnie Milsap's "Stranger in My House", which won a Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1984.

Reid later embarked on a solo recording career, releasing two studio albums for Columbia Records (then known as CBS Records). He charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts as a singer.

College career

Reid was named All-America in 1969 while playing at Penn State under coach Joe Paterno. In 1969, he won the Outland Trophy for being the best interior lineman in college football and the Maxwell Award for being the top college football player. In his senior year (1969), the tackle spearheaded Penn State on defense with 89 tackles and was a unanimous All-America choice and All-East selection. He also finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from Penn State in 1969. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987 and received the Walter Camp “Alumnus of the Year” award in 1987. In 1995, he received the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award.

Reid also wrestled at Penn State and in 1967 he won the Eastern heavyweight wrestling title. Reid is a member of the Penn State Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional Football Career

Reid was the first-round selection (#7 pick overall) of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1970 NFL Draft. In the team's third season, it won the AFC Central Division and made the playoffs. In 1971, Reid established himself as one of the NFL's best pass rushers by recording 12 sacks, a figure he repeated in 1972. In 1971 Reid was a consensus All-AFC selection and the following year he was consensus All-Pro (beating out Hall of Fame players Merlin Olsen and Bob Lilly) as well as being voted consensus All-AFC again.

In 1973 he topped those marks by recording 13 sacks. He was named All-Pro by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) and was second-team All-Pro according to the Associated Press and Pro Football Writers Association. For the third consecutive season Reid was consensus All-AFC.

In 1974, due primarily to injuries, he recorded only seven sacks, bringing his career total to 49. In his final season Reid was again an All-AFC selection by Pro Football Weekly. Although sacks were an unofficial statistic, the Bengals kept track of them and Reid retired as the leading sacker in the team's short history.

He made two trips to the Pro Bowl (1972 and 1973) before his retirement following the 1974 season due to knee and hand injuries and his desire to focus on a music career. In 1996 he received the NFL Alumni Career Achievement Award for his success in his post-NFL career.

Professional music career

Between football seasons, Reid would perform as a pianist for the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. During this time, he met Larry Gatlin, who helped Reid start his songwriting career. In 1984, he won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song with "Stranger in My House", which was recorded by Ronnie Milsap. Reid would also work with Marie Osmond, Tanya Tucker, Collin Raye, Alabama and Conway Twitty. In the 1980s and 1990s, Reid wrote twelve number one hits. He was also featured as a guest vocalist on Milsap's "Old Folks", a #2 hit from 1986.

In 1990, Reid started his own singing career, recording two albums for Columbia Records (then known as CBS Records) and charting six more singles, including the Number One hit "Walk on Faith". He also wrote Bonnie Raitt's pop standard "I Can't Make You Love Me". Reid was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.

By 1991, Reid tried his hand in a new field by composing the music for the Civil War musical, "A House Divided". After that he wrote six more musicals/operas. The titles include "Quilts", "Different Fields", "Eye of the Blackbird", "Tales of Appalachia", "In This House" and "The Ballad of Little Jo" (Richard Rodgers Award winner).

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	US Country
1991	Turning for Home	22
1992	Twilight Town	59

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions		Album
		US Country	CAN Country
1988	"Old Folks" (w/ Ronnie Milsap)	2	12	Heart and Soul (Ronnie Milsap album)
1991	"Walk on Faith"	1	1	Turning for Home
	"'Til You Were Gone"	17	8
	"As Simple as That"	14	11
1992	"I'll Stop Loving You"	23	11
	"I Got a Life"	54	81
	"Keep on Walkin'"	45	52	Twilight Town
1993	"Call Home"	43	42

External links

• Reid's stats
• Yahoo Music Bio on Reid