Randall James Burks (born August 22, 1953) is a former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

who played a single game for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in 1976. Burks was known for his speed, described as "electrifying".

Athletic career

Born in

Garvin, Oklahoma Garvin is a town in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 177 at the 2020 census, down from 256 in 2010. History Garvin began as a trading post in the Choctaw Nation, approximately southeast of the present community b ...

, Burks first gained notice in high school, in

Idabel Idabel is a city in and the county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,961 at the 2020 census. It is in Oklahoma's southeast corner, a tourist region known as Choctaw Country. History Idabel was established ...

. He set the state record for the indoor

60-yard dash The 60-yard dash is a sprint covering 60 yards (54.86 m, sometimes recognized as ' 55-m dash'). It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American Major League Baseball players. It is also sometimes used to evaluate the speed ...

, with a time of 6.1 seconds, and in 1970 and 1971 he was

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

state champion for the

100-yard dash The 100-yard dash is a track and field sprint event of . It was part of the Commonwealth Games until 1970, and was included in the triathlon of the Olympics in 1904. It is not generally used in international events, replaced by the 100- ...

. He first attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, but later transferred to the much smaller

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern or SE) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had a total enrollment of 5,376 in 2022. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an act designating Du ...

, where he was twice named All Conference, and in his senior year he was Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference and NAIA District-9 Player of the Year. That same year, he was named

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n as well as being voted most outstanding player for Southeastern Oklahoma State. That season Burks led the conference in receiving yardage, averaging 19.8 yards per game, for a total of 913 yards on the year. He scored eleven

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s, and was the leading kickoff returner, with a 36.9 yard return average. He was drafted in the 8th round of the

1976 NFL draft The 1976 NFL draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks making the first two ...

by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, but was cut late in the pre-season and was signed by the Chicago Bears, where he played the

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

season. In

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, Burks was voted into the Southeastern Oklahoma State Athletic Hall of Fame. Burks is the current NFL leader in receiving yards for players with one career game on their record after catching one touchdown pass for 55 yards for the

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout most o ...

in a December 5, 1976 game against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

References

*http://bleacherreport.com/articles/209709-the-10-best-and-worst-one-game-careers-in-nfl-history {{DEFAULTSORT:Burks, Randall Chicago Bears players 1953 births Players of American football from Oklahoma Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm football players Living people People from Garvin, Oklahoma