Steven Bruce Riley (November 23, 1952 – September 16, 2021) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was an

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for 11 seasons with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

of 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).

High school career

Riley went to

Castle Park High School Castle Park High School, established in 1962, is a high school in Chula Vista, California. It offers Advanced Placement classes. Along with Bonita Vista High School, it is one of only two schools in the Sweetwater Union School District that of ...

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

where he was a standout athlete on both the high school varsity basketball and football teams. Castle Park High School fielded very strong football teams. In his senior year, he was one of the co-captains and helped his team win the San Diego CIF championship. He also made first-team all-CIF and was voted offensive lineman of the year in his conference.

College career

Riley was recruited by Notre Dame, Colorado, New Mexico State, and San Diego State, among others. He played college football at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

from 1970 to 1974. As a junior he started at tackle and was a part of the historic undefeated 1972 USC Trojans team. He played in two

Rose Bowls The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

, one of those being the

1973 Rose Bowl The 1973 Rose Bowl was the 59th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 1. It matched the undefeated and top-ranked USC Trojans of the Pacific-8 Conference with the # ...

, where the USC Trojans defeated the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

, 42-17, to become the national champions. The 1972 USC Trojans team is regarded by some as the best college football team ever.

Professional career

Riley was picked 25th overall in the first round of the 1974

NFL draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

by the

. He played 11 seasons, all with the Vikings, from 1974 to 1984. He appeared in 138 games, making 128 starts. He was a part of the 1974 and 1976 NFC championship teams. He played in Super Bowls IX and XI. Riley took over the starting left tackle position in 1976 and started every game until early 1978 when a neck injury put him on the injured reserve game for 11 games. Riley returned to full-time duty in 1979 and started every game for the next five seasons. Over his career, Riley helped the Vikings reach the playoffs seven times. He started in

Super Bowl XI Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

to cap that season and helped Minnesota advance to the 1977 NFC Championship game. In his last year, Riley started every game despite playing the entire season with his left hand in a cast because of a broken thumb. He started the first six games at left tackle however, in attempt to decrease the amount of contact to his injured hand, he was moved to right tackle for games 7 through 11. Riley went back to left tackle for the remainder of the season as his teammate said the blind side position was too challenging.

Awards and honors

While at USC, he earned All-American first team honors as a 1973 senior as the Trojans returned to the Rose Bowl. He then played in the 1974 College All-Star game. Riley was voted by his teammates to be the recipient of the

Ed Block Courage Award The Ed Block Courage Award is an annual award presented to a player from each team in the National Football League (NFL) who are voted for by their teammates as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship, and courage. Named in memory of Ed Block, a ...

in 1984 largely in part of playing his entire last year with a broken thumb. His games played rank fourth-most in Vikings history among tackles.

Personal life

Riley resided in Southern California after his retirement where he owned a commercial property maintenance business in Irvine. He appeared as an extra in five movies, including "The Bear Bryant Story", "North Dallas Forty", and "Against All Odds". He was married to his wife, Jan, for 40 years. He had four daughters, Bryn, Erin, Lauren and Kristen, and thirteen grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Steve 1952 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Chula Vista, California Players of American football from California American football offensive tackles USC Trojans football players All-American college football players Minnesota Vikings players Ed Block Courage Award recipients