Richard Ellis Sligh was an American collegiate and Professional Football

Professional football

In the United States and Canada, the term professional football includes the professional forms of American and Canadian gridiron football. In common usage, it refers to former and existing major football leagues in either country...

 player who played for the American Football League

American Football League

The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...

's Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

. Sligh played collegiately at North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Central University is a public historically black university in the University of North Carolina system, located in Durham, North Carolina, offering programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional and doctoral levels....

 from 1962-64, and was taken in the tenth round of the 1967 Common Draft

Common Draft

The Common Draft was the name given to the selection of college football players in a combined draft from 1967 to 1969 by the American Football League and the National Football League . This took place after the AFL-NFL merger agreement in 1966....

 as a defensive tackle. He was taken ahead of such notable players such as Preston Pearson

Preston Pearson

Preston James Pearson is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League who played for the Baltimore Colts , the Pittsburgh Steelers , and the Dallas Cowboys . Before his NFL career, he played for the University of Illinois, where he excelled at basketball...

, Leroy Mitchell

Leroy Mitchell

Leroy Mitchell is a former American football cornerback. In 1967 he joined the Boston Patriots of the American Football League. He played there for two seasons and was an AFL All-Star selection in 1968...

, and Randy Rasmussen

Randy Rasmussen

Randall Lee Rasmussen was an American football guard for fifteen seasons for the New York Jets, beginning with the 1967 American Football League season...

. During his time in the league he played in a total of eight professional games. Sligh was also a reserve for the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II

Super Bowl II

The second AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later to be known as Super Bowl II, was played on January 14, 1968 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida....

At seven feet tall he is the tallest person to have ever played Professional Football in the U.S., and the only player to be seven feet tall.