Ex-Cal Football Star Les Richter the Centerpiece of One of Sports' Biggest Trades

The Rams acquired the future Hall of Famer in 1952 in exchange for 11 players.

The NBA trade-deadline deal today, in which the Brooklyn Nets sent James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Ben Simmons, two other players and two first-round draft picks, got us thinking about the most outrageous trade ever involving a former Cal athlete.

Oh sure, Harden for Simmons is significant.

You want a big deal, let’s rewind nearly 70 years to June 1952, when two-time Golden Bears’ football All-American Les Richter was swapped for . . . 11 players.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame, in a story it published in 2011 when Richter was posthumously inducted into the Hall, wrote about the trade in a story under this headline — “Even Swap: Rams Give 11 Players for Richter.”

The Rams executed another big trade involving an ex-Golden Bear just last year that may pay dividends with a victory in the Super Bowl on Sunday. L.A. sent former No. 1 pick Jared Goff of Cal to Detroit for Matthew Stafford and the deal seems to be working out for the Rams.

The amazing reality of the Richter deal was that, without much argument, the Rams got the better end of the trade.

Les Richter / Photo by David Boss, USA Today

And that was despite the fact that Richter didn’t even suit up for the next two years, serving as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Korean War after graduating as valedictorian with a degree in business administration at Cal that year.

Richter, who came to Cal from Fresno, was the second pick of the 1952 NFL draft, selected by the New York Yanks. Don’t remember them? The franchise folded two days after the draft and the Dallas Texans assumed the rights to Richter.

Richter was a two-way player for the Bears, earning his postseason honors primarily for his work at offensive guard. But the NFL saw him as a linebacker. Richter apparently had indicated his reluctance to sign with Dallas and the Rams were so intrigued they pulled the trigger on what remains the second-biggest trade for a single player in league history.

The list of players the Texans received includes primarily forgotten names:

Fullback Dick Hoerner, defensive back/end Tom Keane, running back Dave Anderson, halfback Billy Baggett, tackle Jack Halliday, fullback Dick McKissack, center Aubrey Phillips, center Joe Reid, defensive back George Sims, linebacker Vic Vasicek and end Richard Wilkins.

Rams coach Joe Stydahar was thrilled with the deal. "We regretted giving up many of the boys. I feel they will be a definite help to Dallas," he said. "However, the Rams have always regarded Richter as one of the country's greatest football players and we're sure he'll be a tremendous help to us.”

The fact is, most of the 11 had virtually no impact going forward. Hoerner, who was the Rams’ all-time rushing leader at the time, played just one more season. Keane totaled 32 interceptions the next four seasons. Otherwise, zilch.

Anderson, Phillips and Wilkins never played. 

Halliday, Sims and Vasicek retired. 

Baggett and Reid played one more season. 

McKissack played one more game.

And how did Richter do upon being discharged from the military?

The 6-foot-3, 238-pounder played nine seasons without missing a game for the Rams, despite working through an assortment of injuries that included a broken cheekbone, broken ribs and a broken hand.

He was named to eight consecutive Pro Bowls (1954-61) to start his career and was a four-time first-team All-Pro. Richter had 16 career interceptions. He was voted the Rams’ MVP in 1956, ’57 and ’60.

“His toughness made him a wall against the run while his intelligence and aggressiveness helped him become one of the undisputed leaders in the Rams' locker room,” the Pro Football Hall of Fame article said of Richter.

Long-time former Dallas Cowboys general manager Gil Brandt once wrote, “Coach Tom Landry felt we couldn't get our running game going unless we blocked Richter, and he was right. The first time we played Richter’s Rams, they just obliterated us.”

Pro football was a different game in the 1950s, and Richter’s aggressive style sometimes prompted opponents to suggest he strayed beyond the boundaries of fair play.

Richter’s response: ”The football field is no place for sentiment. I'm not sure my own grandmother would be safe if she made the mistake of wearing a uniform of the wrong color."

Richter also served as a placekicker, scoring 193 career points, including 29 field goals. In his final season in 1962, he took over the center position when the Rams’ starter was injured.

Les Richter during his Cal days / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

At Cal, playing for legendary coach Pappy Waldorf, Richter helped lead the Bears to three straight Rose Bowl appearances. He also was captain of Cal’s rugby team, and was inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame and the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame.

Before his death from a brain aneurysm in 2010, Richter was heavily involved in motorsports, including a 24-year stint as manager of the Riverside International Raceway and as senior vice president of operations for NASCAR.

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009, two years before pro football got around to honoring him in the class of 2011 that also included the likes of Deion Sanders, Richard Dent and Marshall Faulk.

Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield, during the latter portion of Richter’s career, was asked by a reporter if the veteran linebacker had slowed a bit and was perhaps hurting the defense’s performance.

"Slow up? Hurting us?” Waterfield responded. “Let me tell you, I hate to think how bad we would be without Richter. If I had 36 like him, I would laugh at the rest of the league!”

Cover photo of Les Richter (48) and the Rams swarming Packers star Paul Hornung by David Boss, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo