Rick Upchurch, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetRick Upchurch
American football player
Date of Birth: 20-May-1952
Place of Birth: Toledo, Ohio, United States
Profession: American football player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Taurus 
About Rick Upchurch
- Ricky "Rick" Upchurch (born May 20, 1952) is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver for the Denver Broncos (1975–1983) of the National Football League (NFL).
- Before his NFL career, he played for Centerville Community College in Centerville, Iowa and the University of Minnesota and went to high school at Springfield High School in Holland, Ohio.
- In 2000, Upchurch was named one of the 300 best NFL players of all time.In his nine NFL seasons, Upchurch excelled as a receiver and a kick returner on special teams.
- In his rookie season, he rushed for 97 yards, caught 18 passes for 436 yards, returned 27 punts for 312 yards, and added another 1,014 yards returning kickoffs.
- In his second season, he set an NFL record by returning four punts for touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl.
- In the 1977 season, he led the NFL with 653 punt return yards and assisted his team to their first ever Super Bowl appearance.
- The Broncos lost Super Bowl XII to the Dallas Cowboys 27-10, but he had a good performance in the game.
- Upchurch amassed 125 total offensive yards (94 kickoff return, 22 punt return, 9 receiving), including a Super Bowl record 67-yard kickoff return in the 3rd quarter that set up Denver's only touchdown of the game. Upchurch stayed with the Broncos until the 1983 season.
- He led the NFL in punt return average twice (1978 and 1982), and was selected to the Pro Bowl three more times (1978, 1979, 1982).
- He finished his nine-season career with 49 carries for 349 rushing yards, 267 receptions for 4,369 yards, 248 punt returns for 3,008 yards, and 95 kickoff returns for 2,355 yards.
- Overall, Upchurch gained 10,081 total yards and scored 35 touchdowns: eight returning punts, 24 receiving, and three rushing.
- He was also selected All-Pro five times.
- At the time of his retirement, he was the NFL's career leader in punt return yards, and his eight punt returns for touchdowns tied the NFL record shared by Jack Christiansen.
- He is one of five players to record a career average of over 12 yards per punt return. After his retirement from the NFL, Upchurch coached football at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas during the early to mid-1990s.
- In 2005, Upchurch became the head football coach at East High School in Pueblo, Colorado in 2005, where the team posted a 1-19 record in his two seasons as head coach.
- Upchurch currently resides in Mesquite, Nevada, and frequently visits nearby communities such as St.
- George, Utah, and Logandale, Nevada, to sign autographs for Broncos fans.
- Upchurch is ranked the sixth-greatest return specialist in NFL history on NFL Network's NFL Top 10 Return Aces. As of 2017's NFL off-season, Rick Upchurch held at least 11 Broncos franchise records, including: Punt Returns: career (248), season (51 in 1977), game (8 on 1978-10-22 @BAL; with Trindon Holliday) Punt Return Yds: career (3,008), season (653 in 1977) Punt Return TDs: career (8), season (4 in 1976), game (2 on 1976-09-26 CLE; with Darrien Gordon) Total Return Yds: career (5,363), playoffs (351), playoff season (222 in 1977)
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