Richard Guy Hightower (August 3, 1930 – December 5, 2007) was an

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 with ...

player. He played college football at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

from 1949 to 1951. He was a consensus first-teamselection on the

1951 College Football All-America Team The 1951 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1951. The eight selectors recognized by the ...

. He also received All-Southwest Conference honors in both 1950 and 1951. Hightower was drafted by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the fourth round (43rd overall pick) of the

1952 NFL Draft The 1952 National Football League Draft was held on January 17, 1952, at Hotel Statler in New York. Selections made by New York Yanks were assigned to the new Dallas Texans. This was the sixth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick de ...

, but he did not appear in any regular season games 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 ...

. He was inducted into the

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

Hall of Fame in 1982. Hightower died in 2007 at

Ozona, Texas Ozona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) that serves as the county seat of Crockett County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,225 at the time of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Ozona is the onl ...

, while on a hunting trip with friends.

References

1930 births 2007 deaths American football centers SMU Mustangs football players All-American college football players Players of American football from Texas {{Offensive-lineman-1930s-stub