Former Stevens Mayo/NFL player honored with Andy Rice Sr. Day
Over the years, Hallettsville has had, to this writer’s recollection, only two athletes play in the National Football League.
One is Cole Wick, who recently played for the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints.
The other is the legendary Andy Rice Sr., who has the distinction of starting on defensive for the Kansas City Chiefs in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, also now known as Super Bowl I played in 1967.
Rice’s legacy was honored yesterday (Sept. 6), which also would have been his 82nd birthday, with City of Hallettsville naming the day, “Andy Rice Sr. Day.”
The trek of Rice’s football career began in the late 1950’s when he starred for the Stevens Mayo Tigers, the African-American high school football team in Hallettsville.
According Hallettsville resident and long-time friend, David Smolik, at that time Smolik played for Sacred Heart and would go to the Tiger’s home games on Saturday night.
“Andy played in the defensive line and was a dominant force in their games,” Smolik said.
After high school graduation, Rice went on to further his career playing collegiate football for Texas Southern University in Houston from 1959-62.
With his college playing days over, Rice latched on with a United Football League semi-pro team in West Virginia, known as the Wheeling Ironmen and played from 1963-64.
In the years to follow, Rice’s professional football career started with the birth of the American Football League (AFL) with him being picked by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1965.
With Rice as one of the team’s starting defensive tackles, the Chiefs won the 1966 AFL championship and played the National Football League (NFL) champions, the Green Bay Packers in the first AFL-NFL World Championship, later named Super Bowl I, on Jan. 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
In that game, Rice recorded four combination tackles and four solo tackles.
In 1967, Rice played part of the year with the Chiefs before finishing with the Houston Oilers of the AFL.
In 1968, with the AFL holding an expansion draft, Rice was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals and played for them through 1969.
The next year following the merger between the AFL and NFL, Rice’s next stop took him to San Diego where he played for the Chargers for two years.
Rice’s final two years (1972-73) in the NFL saw him playing for the Chicago Bears and he finished his pro career playing days in the World Football League with the Chicago Fire (1974) and San Antonio Wings (1975).
During his professional career, Rice played in 102 games, starting 52. He recorded 31.5 quarterback sacks and despite no longer with Kansas City was awarded a Super Bowl ring following the Chiefs championship year in 1970 for being a member of the 1966 team.
Following his passion for football and with two master degrees from TSU, Rice entered into education teaching Math and coaching at Aldine High School in North Houston for 31 years.
A member of Bill Smith’s coaching staff, Rice helped the school finish as the Class 5A runner-up in 1989 and win the 1990 Class 5A state championship with a 16-0 record.
At that time, Class 5A was the highest level in the Texas University Interscholastic League. In addition, that year Aldine was considered the “mythical national high school champion.”
Besides football, Rice was considered an entertainer and one could also say quite an entrepreneur with the many business adventures he took part in during his off time and summers.
For 24 football seasons, Rice would team up with Ralph Cooper on a Houston radio station discussing events of high school football.
In addition, he also worked as a disc jockey for a radio program out of Gonzales where he played music and talked current events for 15 years.
Rice’s daughter, Andrea said her dad also ventured into owning and operating five night clubs throughout the area.
“He named all his clubs pertaining to football,” Andrea said. “ He owned two clubs in Hallettsville with one called the ‘Touchdown Club’ and the other the ‘Extra Point’ club. In Cuero, there was the ‘Endzone’ club. In Gonzales, he named his club the ‘Fifty Yard Line’ and in Waelder his club was called the ‘Field Goal’ club.”
According to Andrea, he would serve as the disc jockey, especially at the Cuero club, and involved his children, relatives and friends in helping run the business.
“I remember every Saturday night I would drive him to Cuero, while he slept,” Andrea said. “We would pick up my best friend Sikina Davis and family friend, Tamica Brown, and we would work as door-greeters, while he was the disc jockey.”
With slow-pitch softball very popular in 1970’s through the early ’90, Rice also hosted an annual tournament over the Fourth of July holiday in Hallettsville for 22 years and moving it to Gonzales for 12 years.
Andrea said teams came from surrounding towns as well as from Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
“Every year he had his children, nieces, wife and family friends helping in the concession stand,” Andrea said. “My dad announced all the games and it was joy to and excitement to hear him on the microphone.”
According to Andrea, her dad didn’t spare the size of the championship trophies for the tournament with the champions given a six-foot tall trophy and many other sizes for the teams who placed in the tournament. He also awarded individual trophies to all-tournament players.
“The tournaments were always a huge success,” Andrea said.
In his later years, Rice used his prominence and served as a deacon for the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Hallettsville, before moving back to Houston where he became a deacon at the Willing Workers of Houston.
Andy Rice Sr. passed away on February 11, 2018 and left behind many family members and friends.
“Andy is missed by us all,” Andrea said.