Cal Sports Report

The Cal 100: No. 31 -- Ron Rivera

A first-team All-America selection at Cal, Rivera was twice named NFL coach of the year and is the only Latino head coach in the NFL at the moment

Jake Curtis

We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.

No. 31: Ron Rivera

Cal Sports Connection: Rivera was a star on the Cal football team from 1980 to 1983

Claim to Fame: Rivera was a first-team All-America selection as a linebacker in 1983. He is a two-time NFL coach of the year, and he took the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl in the 2015 season. He is one of four Latino head coaches in NFL history.

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A number of Cal alumni were great college players. But only one was a great college player and an outstanding NFL head coach.

Ron Rivera stands alone.

The only conceivable challenge comes from Jim Hanifan, who led the nation in receptions during one of his seasons at Cal and was an NFL head coach for seven years. But he never took a team to the Super Bowl and was never named NFL head coach of the year, both of which Rivera accomplished.

And to top it off Rivera is one of six minority head coaches in the NFL at the moment, and is the only Latino. In fact, Rivera is one of just four Latinos who have ever held head coaching jobs in the NFL, joining Tom Fears, Tom Flores and Brian Flores.

That fact alone might earn him a spot on the Cal 100, but combined with his football accomplishments, his victory over cancer and his continued support of Cal athletics, Rivera lands comfortably at No. 31 on our list.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the accomplishments of Ron Rivera, whose father was Puerto Rican and whose mother was of Mexican descent.

He was, quite simply, one of the best linebackers ever to play at Cal. He led the team in tackles three years in a row from 1981 through 1983, and as a senior he had 23.5 tackles for loss, still a Cal record. He was a first-team All-America selection by nearly every reputable outlet, including Associated Press.

Ron Rivera at Cal. Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
Ron Rivera at Cal. Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

He played all nine of his NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, and was a member of the Bears’ 1985 team that won the Super Bowl and is considered by many to have featured the best defense in NFL history. Rivera was not a starter on that team, in his second NFL season, but he was a significant contributor and recorded a tackle in Chicago’s 46-10 Super Bowl victory over the Patriots after the Bears had shut out their first two playoff opponents.

Rivera became a starter in 1988 and started 56 NFL games, but it was as a coach that Rivera became an NFL star. He is entering his 13th season as an NFL head coach, now with the Washington Commanders, 

Rivera was the NFL coach of the year in 2013, when his Carolina Panthers went 12-4. He won that award again in 2015, when the Panthers went 15-1 during the regular season and won the NFC championship before losing to the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

Rivera has won more coach of the year awards than Andy Reid and is one of 11 coaches who have won it more than once since AP began awarding it in 1957.

Perhaps his must respected accomplishment was his battle with cancer.

He was diagnosed with squamous cell cancer in his lymph nodes in July 2020. He lost 22 pounds while going through seven weeks of treatment, including three rounds of chemotherapy and proton therapy five days a week. Rivera sat out just three practices in that stretch and never missed a game, although he needed an IV during halftime of one game.

He announced in January he was cancer-free, and on the one-year anniversary of the biopsy that came back negative, his players presented him with a special “Rivera Strong” helmet decal and donated $25,000 to the St. Jude Red Frog Events Proton Therapy Center to go along with this video:

Rivera's penchant for taking gambles during games, especially on fourth down, earned him the nickname Riverboat Ron, and he showed an emotional side after a 2022 victory that came a few days after his mother’s death. 

Rivera and his wife Stephanie, who played basketball at Cal, donated $500,000 to the Cal softball program in 2020, and Stephanie Rivera is co-executive director and one of the founding sponsors of the California Legends Collective, a Cal NIL platform.

Cal 100: No. 32 -- Michele Granger

Cover photo of Ron Rivera is by Trevor Ruszkowski, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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