Richard Dennis Lynch (April 29, 1936 – September 24, 2008) 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 wi ...

defensive back 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 ...

for 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 ...

and the New York Giants. He was a one-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

er in 1963, when he led the NFL in interceptions. He also led the league in interceptions in 1961.

Biography

Lynch was born in

Oceanside, New York Oceanside is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the southern part of the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 32,109 at the 2010 census. History Originally known as South Bay, the En ...

. He grew up in Bound Brook, New Jersey, and attended Phillipsburg Catholic High School. Lynch played college football at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

and is in their Hall of Fame. While known as a defensive standout as a professional, in 1957 he scored the only touchdown in Notre Dame's 7–0 win over the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

that ended the

Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaig ...

' 47-game winning streak. Lynch worked as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for the New York Giants' radio broadcasts from 1967 to 2008. He was paired with several notable play-by-play announcers, including

Marty Glickman Martin Irving Glickman (August 14, 1917 – January 3, 2001) was an American radio announcer who was famous for his broadcasts of the New York Knicks basketball games and the football games of the New York Giants and the New York Jets. Glickman w ...

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...

, Jim Gordon and

Bob Papa Robert L. Papa (born September 19, 1964) is an American sportscaster who is currently the radio play-by-play voice for the New York Giants of the National Football League. Papa also is the lead broadcaster for PGA Tour Champions events on Golf ...

. His son, Richard Lynch (31), was killed in the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

on the

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, where he worked on the 84th floor of Two World Trade Center. Following his death in 2008, he was inducted as one of the New York Giants' Ring of Honor Inductees. The Ring of Honor is awarded to the franchise's greatest and most influential figures.

Death

Lynch died from leukemia on September 24, 2008, aged 72, at his home in Douglaston, Queens.Weber, Bruce
"Dick Lynch, Giants Star Who Became a Broadcaster, Dies at 72"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', September 24, 2008. Accessed March 4, 2018. "Dick Lynch, who twice led the National Football League in interceptions as a defensive back for the New York Giants and who later spent 40 years as a radio broadcaster for the team, died Wednesday at his home in the Douglaston section of Queens." Lynch was married to Rosalie Lynch for over 47 years. They had six children and eleven grandchildren.

References

External links

Story about Dick LynchDick Lynch Made the Call50 Greatest Giants Photo GalleryDick Lynch passes awayObituary
in Newsday *
Remembering Dick Lynch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Dick 1936 births 2008 deaths American football defensive backs Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players National Football League announcers New York Giants announcers New York Giants players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Washington Redskins players Deaths from leukemia People from Bound Brook, New Jersey People from Oceanside, New York Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Somerset County, New Jersey People from Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens

Biography

Death

See also

References

External links