Royce Elmer Berry (born April 19, 1946) is an American former

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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

in the American Football League (AFL) in 1969 and 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 ...

(NFL) from 1970 to 1976.

Early life

Berry grew up in

Odessa, Texas Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small section of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 census, ma ...

, and played football at

Permian High School Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is one of three high schools in the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book '' Friday Night Lights'', which in turn inspired a movie and T ...

. He was also on the 1964 basketball team, the first in program history to win the district championship, as well as the baseball team. Berry played college football for the

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

in 1965, 1966 and in 1968. He missed the 1967 season due to injury.

NFL career

He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round (161st overall) of the 1969 AFL/NFL Common Draft. In his sophomore season of 1970, he started all 14 games as a defensive end, most notably the first-ever Bengals-

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 ...

matchup in which Berry scooped up a fumble and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown. He missed only one start between 1970 and 1973 at left defensive end as part of a formidable line along with Mike Reid, Steve Chomyszak and Ron Carpenter. In 1974, he played in 13 games, starting one. He was on injured reserve with a broken wrist and did not see action for the Bengals in 1975. Berry served as defensive captain for six seasons. In May, 1976, Berry was traded to the Chicago Bears. Berry returned for one more NFL season, his eighth, in 1976 with the Chicago Bears, for whom he played in 12 games, starting two. He was waived by the Bears just prior to the 1977 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Royce 1946 births Cincinnati Bengals players Chicago Bears players Houston Cougars football players People from Odessa, Texas Players of American football from Texas Living people American Football League players