Ronald Smith Billingsley (April 6, 1945 – February 5, 2017) 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, a

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) and

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 ...

(NFL).

Early years

Born in

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the st ...

, Billingsley was a multi-sport athlete at Gadsden High School in Gadsden and graduated in 1963. He attended the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

in Laramie, where he 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 ...

for the

Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...

under head coach

Lloyd Eaton Lloyd W. Eaton (March 23, 1918 – March 14, 2007) was an American football player, coach, and executive. He served as the head coach at Alma College (1949–1955), Northern Michigan University (1956), and the University of Wyoming (1962–1970) ...

. Billngsley received notice from AFL scouts during his senior season in 1966, when the Cowboys went 10–1, won the WAC championship, and defeated in the He was selected to the All-WAC team as a senior.

Pro football

The

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

of the AFL selected Billingsley as the 14th pick of the 1967 NFL/AFL Draft, the first year that the two leagues held a common draft after their merger agreement. He played for the Chargers for four seasons as a defensive starter. After the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

season, he was traded to the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

. After another complete season as a starter at Houston, Billingsley experienced problems with an injury and only played in four games during the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

season. After 1972, he and

Kent Nix Alvin Kent Nix (born March 12, 1944) is a former American football player who played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas Christian University (TCU). Nix is the son of Emery N ...

were traded to 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 ...

for

Dave Parks David Wayne Parks (December 25, 1941 – August 8, 2019) was an American football wide receiver and tight end in the NFL. He was the first overall selection in the 1964 NFL Draft out of Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University). ...

Tom Stincic Thomas Dorn Stincic (born November 24, 1946) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. He played college football, principally as a linebacker, at the University ...

, and

Edd Hargett Edward Eugene Hargett (born June 26, 1947) is a former American football quarterback for Texas A&M University who went on to play professionally for the National Football League (NFL)'s New Orleans Saints and Houston Oilers. He later played for t ...

. However, because of the continued problems with his injury, he never played a game with the Saints and retired in 1973. During his NFL career, the Billingsley was known for being one of the tallest players in the league.

In the news

On June 15, 2007, Billingsley rescued two fellow residents of his apartment complex in

Glencoe, Alabama Glencoe (local pronunciation "Glin-ko") is a city in Calhoun and Etowah counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is part of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city incorporated in 1939. The population was 5,160 at the 2010 census. ...

after one of the units caught fire."Former NFL player rescues neighbor", ''Gadsden Times'', July 21, 2007, News
/ref>

Death

Billingsley died at age 71 in Gadsden in 2017 and was buried at its Crestwood Cemetery.

References

External links

*
Obituary
– Ron Billingsley {{DEFAULTSORT:Billingsley, Ron 1945 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Florence, Alabama American football defensive tackles Wyoming Cowboys football players San Diego Chargers players Houston Oilers players Players of American football from Alabama