Benito Concepcion "Benny" Ricardo (born January 4, 1954 in

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

placekicker in the NFLMiller, Bryce.
Life of former Aztec, Charger Benny Ricardo is a kick
, The San Diego Union-Tribune, November 18, 2016. (

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

) for the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions,

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, and the San Diego Chargers. He played college football at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. He is distinguished as being the first

Paraguayan Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

to play in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. As a Minnesota Viking, Ricardo led the NFC in scoring in 1983 with 108 points.

Personal life

Ricardo is a sometimes-actor who also has appeared in the motion pictures

North Dallas Forty ''North Dallas Forty'' is a 1979 American sports film starring Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, and G. D. Spradlin set in the decadent world of American professional football in the late 1970s. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and based on the best-selling ...

and

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

. Ricardo is also a stand-up comedian and NFL and boxing commentator, and the only bilingual announcer to have announced network events as both the lead announcer and color commentator in both Spanish and English. Ricardo has announced every major sporting event in the world while working for networks like ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, MSG Networks, Westwood One, Integrated Media, Fightnow TV, Televisa, NBC, MultiVision Media, Top Rank, CSI Sports, Primetime, M1-Global, Affliction. As of 2014, Ricardo is a color commentator on CBS NFL broadcasts and also calls fights for CBS Sports Network and ESPN. Ricardo is married to former Playboy Playmate Monique Noel. He is known to associate with Steve Watson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricardo, Benny 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Asunción Paraguayan players of American football American football placekickers San Diego State Aztecs football players Buffalo Bills players Detroit Lions players New Orleans Saints players Minnesota Vikings players San Diego Chargers players Southern California Sun players