Rick Casares
Encyclopedia
Richard Jose "Rick" Casares (born July 4, 1931) is a former American college and professional football
player who was a running back
in the National Football League
(NFL) and the American Football League
(AFL) for twelve seasons in the 1950s and 1960s. Casares played college football
for the University of Florida
, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Chicago Bears
and Washington Redskins
of the NFL and the Miami Dolphins
of the AFL.
in 1931. When he was 7 years old, his father was killed in a gang-style murder
; his mother sent him to live with an aunt and uncle in New Jersey. At 15, Casares became a Golden Gloves
boxing
champion. When he was offered a professional boxing contract at 15, his mother refused to permit it, and he returned to Tampa.
Casares attended Thomas Jefferson High School
in Tampa, where his teachers introduced him to high school sports as a way to keep him in school. The Jefferson coaches discovered the 190-pound, six-foot-one-inch freshman when he picked up a javelin
for the first time and threw it. Casares played high school football
, basketball
, and baseball
for the Jefferson Dragons, and he was a track and field
, too. He was an all-state football and basketball player, and the Dragons won the city football championship in 1948 and 1949. In 2007, fifty-seven years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association
(FHSAA) recognized Casares as one of the thirty-three all-time greatest Florida high school football players of the last 100 years by naming him to its "All-Century Team."
to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
, and he played fullback
for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football
team from 1951 to 1953. Casares quickly became the star rusher of the Gators' backfield. As a 210-pound, six-foot-two-inch sophomore
in 1952, he scored the first touchdown
of the Gators' first bowl game, a 14–13 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane
in the January 1, 1953 Gator Bowl
, and was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference
(SEC) selection. In 1953, he was a team captain
. Woodruff ranked Casares as the Gators' best running back and one of their three best kickers of the 1950s.
Casares was also a member of coach John Mauer
's Florida Gators basketball
team, and led the team in scoring and rebounding with 14.9 points and 11.3 rebounds as a sophomore in 1951–1952 and 15.5 points and 11.5 rebounds as a junior in 1952–1953. In basketball, he was a third-team All-SEC selection in 1952; as basketball team captain in 1953, he received second-team All-SEC honors.
Although his college career was cut short when he was drafted into the U.S. Army after his junior year, Casares was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."
by the Chicago Bears, and, after fulfilling his military service obligations, he played for the Bears from to . Casares led Chicago in rushing from through . In , Casares led the NFL in rushing with 235 carries for 1,126 yards. At the time, this was the second most yards gained in a single season in the NFL. Behind Casares' hard-nosed rushing, the Bears advanced to the 1956 NFL Championship Game
. However, the Bears' championship game opponents, the New York Giants
, completely stifled Casares and crushed the Bears, 47–7.
During the following season, Casares again led the NFL with 204 rushing attempts, but his 700 yards was eclipsed by Jim Brown
's 942 yards on two fewer carries. After ten seasons with Chicago, Casares was the Bears' all-time leading rusher with 1,386 carries, 5,657 yards, and forty-nine rushing touchdown
s. His Chicago Bears rushing records weren't broken until Walter Payton
shattered them in the 1980s, and he remains the third all-time rusher in franchise history, immediately behind Payton (16,726 yards) and Neal Anderson
(6,166 yards), and immediately ahead of Gayle Sayers (4,956 yards).
Casares finished his professional career with the NFL's Washington Redskins in , and in with the AFL's Miami Dolphins
, receiving only limited carries in his final two seasons.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player who was a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) and 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...
(AFL) for twelve seasons in the 1950s and 1960s. Casares played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
for the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
of the NFL and the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the AFL.
Early years
Rick Casares was born in Tampa, FloridaTampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
in 1931. When he was 7 years old, his father was killed in a gang-style murder
Gangland killing
A gangland killing is a murder carried out by organized criminals. According to FBI Uniform Crime Reports, there were 425 gangland killings from 2000 to 2004, 0.6% of all murders committed in the United States during that time...
; his mother sent him to live with an aunt and uncle in New Jersey. At 15, Casares became a Golden Gloves
Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...
boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion. When he was offered a professional boxing contract at 15, his mother refused to permit it, and he returned to Tampa.
Casares attended Thomas Jefferson High School
Thomas Jefferson High School (Tampa, Florida)
Thomas Jefferson High School is a secondary school located in the heart of the Westshore Business District of Tampa, Florida. Thomas Jefferson High School is an Area 1 high school operated under the Hillsborough County Public School system.-School history:...
in Tampa, where his teachers introduced him to high school sports as a way to keep him in school. The Jefferson coaches discovered the 190-pound, six-foot-one-inch freshman when he picked up a javelin
Javelin
A Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...
for the first time and threw it. Casares played high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
for the Jefferson Dragons, and he was a track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, too. He was an all-state football and basketball player, and the Dragons won the city football championship in 1948 and 1949. In 2007, fifty-seven years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association
Florida High School Athletic Association
The Florida High School Athletic Association is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high school It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations ....
(FHSAA) recognized Casares as one of the thirty-three all-time greatest Florida high school football players of the last 100 years by naming him to its "All-Century Team."
College career
After graduating from high school, Casares received an athletic scholarshipAthletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, and he played fullback
Fullback (American football)
A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...
for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football
Florida Gators football
The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...
team from 1951 to 1953. Casares quickly became the star rusher of the Gators' backfield. As a 210-pound, six-foot-two-inch sophomore
Sophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...
in 1952, he scored the first touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
of the Gators' first bowl game, a 14–13 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tulsa Golden Hurricane athletics programs include the extramural and intramural sports team of the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane...
in the January 1, 1953 Gator Bowl
Gator Bowl
The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Held continuously since 1946, it is the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised nationally...
, and was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) selection. In 1953, he was a team captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
. Woodruff ranked Casares as the Gators' best running back and one of their three best kickers of the 1950s.
Casares was also a member of coach John Mauer
John Mauer
John W. "Johnny" Mauer was an American college basketball, baseball and football coach and multi-sport college athlete. During the course of his thirty-six-year coaching career, Mauer was the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, Miami University, the University of Tennessee, the U.S...
's Florida Gators basketball
Florida Gators men's basketball
The Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...
team, and led the team in scoring and rebounding with 14.9 points and 11.3 rebounds as a sophomore in 1951–1952 and 15.5 points and 11.5 rebounds as a junior in 1952–1953. In basketball, he was a third-team All-SEC selection in 1952; as basketball team captain in 1953, he received second-team All-SEC honors.
Although his college career was cut short when he was drafted into the U.S. Army after his junior year, Casares was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."
Professional career
Casares was selected in the second round (eighteenth pick overall) of the 1954 NFL Draft1954 NFL Draft
The 1954 National Football League Draft was held on January 28, 1954.-Player selections:-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:-Round five:-Round six:-Round seven:-Round eight:-Round nine:-Round ten:-Round eleven:...
by the Chicago Bears, and, after fulfilling his military service obligations, he played for the Bears from to . Casares led Chicago in rushing from through . In , Casares led the NFL in rushing with 235 carries for 1,126 yards. At the time, this was the second most yards gained in a single season in the NFL. Behind Casares' hard-nosed rushing, the Bears advanced to the 1956 NFL Championship Game
NFL Championship Game, 1956
In the 1956 National Football League Championship Game played at Yankee Stadium in New York City on 30 December 1956, the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 47-7. It was the 24th annual NFL championship game....
. However, the Bears' championship game opponents, the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, completely stifled Casares and crushed the Bears, 47–7.
During the following season, Casares again led the NFL with 204 rushing attempts, but his 700 yards was eclipsed by Jim Brown
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
's 942 yards on two fewer carries. After ten seasons with Chicago, Casares was the Bears' all-time leading rusher with 1,386 carries, 5,657 yards, and forty-nine rushing touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s. His Chicago Bears rushing records weren't broken until Walter Payton
Walter Payton
Walter Jerry Payton was an American football running back who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League for thirteen seasons. Walter Payton was known around the NFL as "Sweetness". He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football...
shattered them in the 1980s, and he remains the third all-time rusher in franchise history, immediately behind Payton (16,726 yards) and Neal Anderson
Neal Anderson
Charles Neal Anderson is a former American college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League for eight seasons in the 1980s and 1990s...
(6,166 yards), and immediately ahead of Gayle Sayers (4,956 yards).
Casares finished his professional career with the NFL's Washington Redskins in , and in with the AFL's Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, receiving only limited carries in his final two seasons.
See also
- Florida GatorsFlorida GatorsThe Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
- Florida Gators football, 1950–1959
- History of the Chicago BearsHistory of the Chicago BearsThis article details the history of the Chicago Bears American Football Club. The franchise is a charter-member of the National Football League and have played in all of the league's eighty-seven seasons. Throughout that span they have created a legacy in professional American football comparable...
- List of American Football League players
- List of Chicago Bears players
- List of Florida Gators football players
- List of Miami Dolphins players
- List of Washington Redskins players