Richard Neal (September 2, 1947 - April 5, 1983) 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 ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

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

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 ...

and the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. Neal played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...

. He was traded along with

Delles Howell Delles Ray Howell (born August 22, 1948) is a retired American football defensive back. He played for the New Orleans Saints (1970–1972) and the New York Jets (1973–1975) in the National Football League. At 6'3", weighing in at 200 pounds, h ...

from the Saints to the Jets for a pair of

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

picks in the second and third rounds (51st and 66th overall– Steve Baumgartner and

Pete Van Valkenburg Pete Van Valkenburg (sometimes referred to as Pete Van Valkenburg) is a former running back in the National Football League. Van Valkenburg was drafted in the third round of the 1973 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints and would play that season ...

respectively) on January 29, 1973.1973 NFL Draft Pick Transactions, January 30 (Rounds 1–7) & 31 (Rounds 8–17) – Pro Sports Transactions.
Retrieved November 1, 2020 He died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

at the age of 35 in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. He was on a business trip for his company at his death.

References

External links

''New York Times'' obituary
1947 births 1983 deaths Sportspeople from Minden, Louisiana American football defensive ends Southern Jaguars football players New Orleans Saints players New York Jets players Deaths from congestive heart failure {{defensive-lineman-1940s-stub