Paul Edward Rickards (June 30, 1926 – July 26, 1999) 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 ...
player.
Rickards was born in
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...
, in 1926, and attended Wheeling High School.
He was selected as the quarterback on the All-West Virginia team and also received all-state honors in basketball and excelled in track and field as a hurdler.
[
He enrolled at the ]University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
in the fall of 1944 and, as an 18-year-old freshman, became the starting quarterback of the 1944 Pittsburgh Panthers football team. He led the NCAA in passing yardage in 1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
with 997 yards.
Less than a week after the 1944 season ended, Rickards was inducted into the Army Air Force.
Rickards was discharged in the fall of 1946. He announced in November 1946 that he would return to the University of Pittsburgh at the midterm break. After two years away from the game, Rickards returned to Pitt for the 1947 season. He had trouble adjusting to coach Mike Milligan's single-wing and saw little playing time in 1947.
In August 1948, after an unsuccessful tryout with the Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
, Rickards signed with the Los Angeles Rams. As the Rams had Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...
r Bob Waterfield
Robert Stanton Waterfield (July 26, 1920 – March 25, 1983) was an American professional football player and coach. He played quarterback for the UCLA Bruins and Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame i ...
as their starting quarterback, Rickards appeared in only three games as a backup with the Rams. He completed two of two pass attempt for four yards. He also had two carries for 21 rushing yards.[
In July 1949, Rickards was the first player signed by the Richmond Rebelss of the new American Football League.][
]
See also
* List of college football yearly passing leaders
References
1926 births
1999 deaths
American football quarterbacks
Pittsburgh Panthers football players
Los Angeles Rams players
Sportspeople from Wheeling, West Virginia
Players of American football from West Virginia
{{Quarterback-stub