David Brian Rimington (born May 22, 1960) is a former American college and 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 a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

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) for seven seasons during the 1980s. Rimington 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

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, where he was two-time consensus All-American and received several awards recognizing him as the best college lineman in the country. He was selected in the first round of the

1983 NFL Draft The 1983 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York She ...

and played professionally for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the NFL. Rimington is the namesake of the

Rimington Trophy The Dave Rimington Trophy is awarded to the player considered to be the best American football center in college football. Dave Rimington was a center who played at the University of Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. A member of the National College F ...

, which is awarded annually to the nation's top collegiate center.

College career

Rimington attended the

, where he was a consensus First-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

in 1981 and 1982. In 1981, he was named the

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

Big Eight Player-of-the-Year and the AP Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year, the only time in Big Eight Conference history that a lineman was so honored. In 1982, he was the Big Eight (all sports) Athlete of the Year and UPI National Lineman of the year. In 1983 he was an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Top Five winner. Rimington won the

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman in the United States as adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named an All-Ame ...

, given to the nation's top interior offensive or defensive lineman, in 1981 and 1982 and is the only two-time winner of the award. He also won the

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lombar ...

in 1982, and placed fifth in the balloting for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

that same year. He and

Orlando Pace Orlando Lamar Pace (born November 4, 1975) is a former American football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams. Pace played college football at Ohio State, where he twice recei ...

are the only three-time winners in the Outland/Lombardi category. Rimington is one of only thirteen players in NCAA history have won both of these awards. Rimington's #50 jersey was retired by Nebraska in 1982. In 1994, he was named to the

FWAA The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media ou ...

1969-1994 All-America Team, one of just twenty-five athletes named to that team. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1997. He was selected to the Nebraska All-Century Football Team via fan poll in 1999, and named to the All-Century Nebraska football team by

Gannett News Service Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Orange Bowl's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2008. Rimington was a first-team academic All-American in 1981 and 1982. In 2004, he was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.

Collegiate all-century teams

In 1999, Rimington was selected as the starting offensive center by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' in their "NCAA Football All-Century Team", and was also selected as the starting offensive center to the

Walter Camp Football Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

All Century Team. Rimington is the only center named to both the ''Sports Illustrated'' and Walter Camp All-Century teams.

Professional career

Rimington was selected in the first round of the

by the

. He played five seasons with the Bengals and two with the

before retiring at the end of the

1989 NFL season The 1989 NFL season was the 70th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement. Paul Tagliabue was eventually chosen to succeed him, taking over on November 5. Due to ...

Rimington Trophy

The

is named in his honor and since 2000 has been given annually to the nation's top collegiate center. The sculptor of the Rimington Trophy is Marc Mellon, who is also the sculptor of the NBA MVP Trophy.

Personal

Following his professional career, Rimington has served with the Boomer Esiason Foundation in their fight against

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

. He has been with the foundation since 1993 and has been president since 1995. Rimington briefly served as the interim athletic director of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

from September 26, 2017, to October 23, 2017, when the former AD

Bill Moos William H. Moos (born circa 1951) is an American former college athletics administrator and college football player. He served as the athletic director at the University of Montana from 1990 to 1995, the University of Oregon from 1995 to 2007, Wa ...

was named to the position. Rimington is a member of

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

References

External links

Nebraska profile

Boomer Esiason Foundation profile

Rimington Trophy profile

Rimington's Lost Lettermen blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rimington, Dave 1960 births Living people American football centers Cincinnati Bengals players Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Philadelphia Eagles players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic directors Ed Block Courage Award recipients