 Rifenburg from 1950 Michiganensian | |||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
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| Born: | August 26, 1926 Petoskey, Michigan, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | December 5, 1994 (aged 68) Cheektowaga, New York, U.S. | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | Michigan | ||||||||
| Position: | End | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1948 / round: 7 / pick: 132 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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Richard Gale Rifenburg (August 21, 1926 – December 5, 1994) was an American football player and a pioneering television broadcaster for the forerunner to WIVB-TV in Buffalo. He played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines in 1944 and from 1946 to 1948. He was a consensus selection at end on the 1948 College Football All-America Team.[1] Rifenburg played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Detroit Lions for one season in 1950. After retiring from football he settled in Buffalo and became a sports broadcaster. He worked as a color commentator and as a play-by-play announcer for the Buffalo Bulls. He hosted various television and radio sports shows and was eventually inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
In college, he led the Big Ten Conference in single season receptions during his senior year and set Michigan Wolverines receptions records for both career touchdown and single-season touchdowns. He had also been a Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) state champion in both basketball and track and field. His college career was interrupted by World War II service, and his high school career was also affected by the war due to the MHSAA's cancellation of state championships in all sports in 1943.
- ^ "Dick Rifenburg". databaseFootball.com. databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2007.