Date of birth | October 7, 1928 |
---|---|
Place of birth | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
Date of death | March 28, 2008 | (aged 79)
Place of death | Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
Career information | |
Position(s) | Safety |
US college | Vanderbilt |
NFL draft |
1950 / Round: 6 / Pick: 67 Redrafted 1951, 2nd round, 24th overall after termination of Colts franchise. |
Career history | |
As player | |
1950 | Baltimore Colts |
1951–1953 | Los Angeles Rams |
1954–1956 | New York Giants |
Career highlights and awards | |
Career stats | |
|
Richard Herbert Rich (October 7, 1928 – March 28, 2008) was an All-Pro American football safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts, Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants. [1]
Rich was born in Newark, New Jersey, and was Jewish. [2] [3] He graduated from Miami Beach High School in Florida. [3]
He was married to the former Carla Blocker, and they had a son, Jonathan, and two daughters, Terry and Tracey. [3] The family lived in Nashville, Tennessee. [4]
He played college football at Vanderbilt University, as well as basketball and baseball, and was president of his class. [5] [3] In football, he earned All- SEC honors at tailback, rushing for 1,282 yards during the 1948–49 seasons. [3]
Rich was drafted in the sixth round of the 1950 NFL Draft, and played defensive back and returned punts during his career. [3] In his rookie season he averaged 23 yards on 12 punt returns, an NFL record that stood for over 50 years. [3] [6] [7] [8] He was a two-time All-Pro defensive back. [3]
In 65 career games, he had 29 career interceptions, including three for touchdowns. [3] In 1992, he was elected to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Rich also became Vanderbilt's seventh "SEC Football Legend". [3]
Rich was a 1954 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School. [3] After his football career ended, Rich was an attorney in Nashville. [5] He was president of the Nashville Jewish Community Center in 1971-72, and was a board member of Temple Ohabai Sholom in Nashville. [3]
Rich died at 79 years of age in 2008. [5]