QB Richard Ritchie left indelible mark on Javelina football

Jul 09, 2023

Perennial small-college football power Texas A&I was coming off a rare losing season in the spring of 1974 when coach Gil Steinke hired Ron Harms to be his new offensive coordinator.

Harms’ hiring would be fortuitous for a quarterback who made his first college start as a freshman in the Javelinas’ 49-10 victory against rival Southwest Texas in the 1973 finale.

A&I was in the midst of spring training 49 years ago when Harms first saw Richard Ritchie, who would become the catalyst for one of the greatest runs in college football history.

“There was no doubt that Richard Ritchie was our leader,” said former Little All-America running back Larry Collins. “He was like a player-coach.”

Ritchie went undefeated as the Javelinas’ starting quarterback, going 39-0 and helping lead them to NAIA Division I national championships in 1974, 1975 and 1976. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998, five years after Texas A&I was renamed Texas A&M-Kingsville.

One of the most celebrated players in the Javelinas’ illustrious football history, Ritchie died May 11 at his home in Mineral Wells after a long battle with cancer. He was 68.

“Losing him hurts,” said former offensive tackle Johnny Martinez, who played three seasons with Ritchie before completing his eligibility after the 1975 championship season. “Richard Ritchie was a fighter and the toughest guy I’ve ever met.

“He was also one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. There was no color, no race, for him. He was Richard Ritchie, one of a kind.”

Visitation for Ritchie will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at the Baum-Carlock-Bumgardner Funeral Home, 302 West Hubbard St., in Mineral Wells.

The memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, May 19, at the First Presbyterian Church, 300 NW 4th Ave., in Mineral Wells. Mineral Wills is about 50 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

“My locker was right next to Ritchie’s during our time at A&I,” said former linebacker David Palmore, who started playing for the Javelinas in 1974. “This is a very sad time. You would never envision Ritchie passing because of a medical issue.

“I sent a text to him a few weeks ago and I told him the Javelina community is thinking about him. I just expressed to him that he was always a great leader and fighter, and hoped that he would make it through this. He responded positively.”

Other teammates, Harms and defensive coordinator Freddy Jonas, who recruited Ritchie, recalled his physical and mental toughness, leadership, competitive ferocity, dedication and team-first mentality.

And after all these years, they still marvel at his uncanny ability to execute the Javelinas’ option offense.

“Ritchie was so tough when he played,” said former running back George Franklin, who played four seasons with Ritchie. “He’s the one who made the offense go. He was tough as leather. He was leather-tough.

“I was very sad to hear that Richard had passed. It’s heartbreaking. He always stayed in shape after he stopped playing.”

Former center Stuart Dornburg remembered Ritchie’s competitiveness.

“Whatever he did, he did with 110 percent effort,” he said. “Nothing was halfway with him. I don’t care what it was. His effort was there in everything. I don’t care if you were on the racquetball court with him or the football field, he was there to win.

“I don’t know how else you can sum it up. He demanded that we win. There was never a doubt when he came to the huddle that we weren’t going to be successful. I think that confidence, or air, spread throughout the whole offense, the whole team.”

Former wide receiver Bryan Sweeney said Ritchie’s encouragement gave him confidence after he was moved from defense to offense when he was a freshman in 1975. He also talked about his grief after Ritchie died.

“Besides losing some of my closest relatives, this is one of my saddest days,” Sweeney said. “Ritchie motivated me to play wide receiver. I came to A&I as a defensive back. I had no desire to play wide receiver, but I got moved from defensive back in our first game in 1975. Ritchie was a motivator. He was a genuine winner.”

Ritchie, who graduated from A&I in 1977, coached at Texas, North Texas and Texas Tech for seven years before becoming an attorney in 1991 and settling in Mineral Wells. He remained close to his college alma mater and attended Javelinas home football games regularly.

An Academic All-America player during his career, Ritchie served a 12-year term as a member of the A&M-Kingsville Foundation board of trustees and was a member of the Legacy Society.

Ritchie left an enduring legacy on the football field that would be difficult, if not impossible, for any college athlete to match. Harms struggled to find the words to describe what Ritchie meant to his teammates, the university community and Kingsville when he was a student-athlete.

“It’s just hard,” Harms said, choking back tears.

Hams and Ritchie forged a bond that transcended football and lasted a lifetime.

Harms coached Ritchie for two seasons before joining Grant Teaff’s coaching staff at Baylor early in 1976. Harms returned as head coach in 1979, and led the Javelinas to their seventh national championship in his first season. He coached A&I for 21 seasons and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

“Richard was a unique individual,” said Harms, who lives in Aransas Pass. “What I wanted to do as far as the offense was concerned was something he was very familiar with. There were a couple of fine tunings we made, but we really hit it off as far as all that was concerned.

“There was never really any disagreement between us. He was a great leader and that was his really big thing.”

A proponent of the option-oriented veer made famous by Bill Yeoman at the University of Houston, Harms convinced a reluctant Steinke to scrap his pro-style offense during spring training in 1974. The rest, as they say is history.

Harms, 86, has vivid memories of his first few days on the job at A&I.

“I stepped into that huddle and I started telling them what the line blocking should be on the inside veer, and Richard just automatically said, ‘Oh, yeah, I know what to do.’” Harms said. “I still remember that.”

What Harms didn’t know then was that Ritchie had run the veer proficiently when he played quarterback at Mineral Wells High School in the early 1970s. But even after being named Most Valuable Player in District 6-4A after his senior season in 1972, Ritchie was virtually ignored by college recruiters.

At 5-foot-11 and 155 pounds, Ritchie was considered too small and too slow to even play at a small college. He had his heart set on playing at Houston and made a recruiting visit to the UH campus.

“I wanted to go to the University of Houston very badly,” Ritchie said in a San Antonio Express-News story in 2001. “They were running the veer then. That’s what we had run at Mineral Wells, so I was eaten up with going to Houston.”

Ritchie’s hopes to play for the Cougars were dashed when UH coaches told him they planned to sign three quarterbacks — and he was No. 4 on their list.

“Of course, I was crushed,” Ritchie said.

But a phone call from Mineral Wells head coach Frank Bevers to Jonas, the Javelinas’ top recruiter, changed everything. Bevers had been an assistant coach under Jonas at Corpus Christi King in 1966, and succeeded him as head coach when Jonas joined Steinke’s staff a year later.

“Frank and I were good friends and I’d trust him with my life,” Jonas said. “Frank was a true-blue guy. If Frank told me Richard could play and was a winner, I believed him. Of course, I still had to convince Gil.”

Bevers and Steinke are both deceased.

“Coach Steinke wasn’t convinced I could play,” Ritchie said. “I figured A&I wasn’t going to offer me a scholarship, but Coach Jonas kept reassuring me after I got back to Mineral Wells (from his recruiting visit).”

Following up on Bevers’ call, Jonas invited Ritchie to visit A&I early in 1973. Although initially unimpressed with Ritchie, Steinke offered him a scholarship — after considerable prodding by Jonas. Ritchie signed with the Javelinas, starting a journey that would land him in the College Football Hall of Fame.

“A&I was the best place for me because that’s where I thought I could play,” Ritchie said.

Jonas chuckled when he recalled giving Ritchie a “rolling start” in the 40-yard dash when he was recruiting him.

“He ran a 4.8, which is not his speed,” Jonas said. “We figured Gil would let us go on recruiting him if we gave him that speed, a 4.8 instead of a 5.2 or 5.1. That was the start of it and there were plenty of stories along the way.”

Martinez laughed when told about the anecdote.

“No way Ritchie ran a 4.8,” he said. “Even Big Mac was faster than him.”

Martinez was referring to late offensive tackle Larry McFarland, who was a captain of the 1976 team with Ritchie and cornerback Leonard Avery.

While the Javelinas struggled mightily in Ritchie’s freshman season, they bounced back with a dramatic turnaround the next year. After finishing 2-8 in 1973, A&I went 13-0 in 1974 and won its fourth national title in school history, all under Steinke, who is also in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Besides Ritchie, the 1974 offense included senior running back Don Hardeman and junior tight end David Hill, both went on to play in the NFL.

Collins, Palmore, defensive ends Mike Hawkins and Johnny Barefield, wide receiver Glenn Starks and halfback Hughie Shaw were the stars of a freshman class that helped jump-start the Javelinas in 1974. They went 46-1-1 in four seasons and all but Palmore were selected in the 1978 NFL Draft.

Starting with the 1973 finale that marked Ritchie’s debut as their starting quarterback, the Javelinas put together a 42-game winning streak that ended with a 25-25 tie with Abilene Christian in 1977.

While Ritchie was surrounded by an all-star cast as a sophomore, junior and senior, his teammates largely credit him for creating the culture that led to A&I’s success.

“As a freshman, I thought Richard was the best player on the field, on both sides of the ball,” Collins said. “He would practice the same way he played. He was as great as any quarterback that I played with in the NFL.

“He was smart, quick and made quick decisions. There were times that I thought he would never get the ball off to me (on the option pitch), but, boy, he would, after taking a lick. Then I’d go running down the field. He had character and personality. He had it all.”

A former college quarterback at Hardin-Simmons, Jonas said he had no doubt Ritchie would flourish in the veer offense Harms implemented when he became the Javelinas’ offensive coordinator.

“Ritchie was trained up in that offense when he came to us,” Jonas said. “Frank Bevers had him tuned up like you can’t believe.”

Ritchie earned the respect and admiration with the toughness he consistently demonstrated while running the option.

“You had some quarterbacks who pitched the ball early, so not to get hit,” Martinez said. “Richard Ritchie would hold the ball until the last second and he’s getting his helmet knocked off and face mask knocked in when he decides to pitch the ball at the last minute.

“He made those plays. He was an awesome athlete. He was one of a kind. If you saw what he went through on the field, that was enough to make you respect him. It doesn’t matter what offense you’re running, if you don’t have the quarterback who can execute, you’re not going to do anything.”

Hawkins recalled Ritchie as “a great teammate” who always pushed himself in practice.

“He’d run that option in practice and everything back then was half-live anyway,” Hawkins said “He’d get beat up in practice sometimes. He wanted to get the look he was going to get in the game.

“He was tough, hardnosed, but real nice off the field. He was down to earth. That’s what you want in a teammate.”

Barefield lauded Ritchie for how he carried himself on and off the field.

“Ritchie was unreal,” Barfield said. ‘He was a very gifted individual. He had the ability. He had the smarts, the tenacity. I would talk to him before games and tell him, ‘If you do your part, we’ll handle things on defense.’ Then we’d shake hands. We had a real good rapport.

“He was talented in so many ways. He was humble, didn’t have a chip on his shoulder. He was just a solid, all-round good person. Coach Jonas did an excellent job in getting guys with the right DNA. He didn’t bring in thugs. He recruited players that had talent, might have had a single parent. He did his homework.”

Former offensive guard Paul Rich, a senior with Ritchie on the 1976 team, talked about Ritchie’s durability and leadership style.

“Richard was real serious about the sport,” Rich said. “He was probably one of the toughest guys I ever played with. For his size, you couldn’t hurt him. I don’t ever remember him getting injured. He just refused to get hurt.

“He was tough as nails. I think he kind of led by example. He wasn’t a rah-rah guy. He was always enthusiastic, and he practiced hard and played hard.”

Ritchie and Steinke were known to occasionally get crosswise of each other during workouts.

“They clashed some,” Rich said. “They had some disagreements during practice. I think probably Steinke admired that about Richard, that he’d stand up to him once in a while.”

Former linebacker Chuck Perez, who played his freshman and sophomore seasons with Ritchie, said he was the total package.

“Ritchie could run, pass, kick extra points, field goals,” Perez said. “He could do it all.”

The Javelinas’ opponents in those years certainly would agree.

David Flores is a San Antonio-based freelance writer who writes about Coastal Bend sports history.