Former BYU football star and Dallas Cowboys receiver Golden Richards has died at the age of 73

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Golden Richards (83) being helped off the field after being injured in the NFC championship game against the Los Angeles Rams, in Los Angeles on Jan. 4, 1976. | Associated Press

Former BYU and Dallas Cowboys receiver Golden Richards, one of the most gifted — and troubled — athletes the state of Utah has ever produced, died early Friday morning in his Murray home of congestive heart failure after a long battle with multiple health and prescription drug abuse issues that plagued his later years.

He was 73.

“Seven or eight years of wear and tear on the football field for a 175-pound wide receiver who was concussed several times, too. That obviously took its toll.” — Doug Richards, brother of former BYU and NFL star Golden Richards.

“He has left us and gone to a better place,” confirmed his brother, Doug Richards, a former BYU basketball star. “He fought pretty good there to the end, until it was his time.”

Doug Richards said his brother fell and broke his hip on Christmas Day in 2022, and has had four hip surgeries since then, all of which contributed to his declining health.

His mental capacities had also been deteriorating rapidly, Doug said.

“Seven or eight years of wear and tear on the football field for a 175-pound wide receiver who was concussed several times, too,” Doug said. “That obviously took its toll.”

Golden Richards graduated from Salt Lake City’s Granite High and received all-state honors in football, basketball and track before signing to play football for BYU.

He chose the No. 22 in honor of his boyhood hero, former Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes, and then ended up playing for the Cowboys from 1973-78.

Richards caught a 29-yard touchdown pass in the 1978 Super Bowl that helped the Cowboys down the Denver Broncos 27-10.

At BYU, he was known for being the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/former-byu-football-star-dallas-000022247.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-02-24 00:00:22

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