25 Facts About Dick Rifenburg

Richard Gale Rifenburg was an American football player and a pioneering television broadcaster for the forerunner to WIVB-TV in Buffalo.

Dick Rifenburg played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines in 1944 and from 1946 to 1948.

Dick Rifenburg was a consensus selection at end on the 1948 College Football All-America Team.

Dick Rifenburg played professionally in the National Football League with the Detroit Lions for one season in 1950.

Dick Rifenburg worked as a color commentator and as a play-by-play announcer for the Buffalo Bulls.

Dick Rifenburg hosted various television and radio sports shows and was eventually inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Dick Rifenburg had been a Michigan High School Athletic Association state champion in both basketball and track and field.

Dick Rifenburg was born in Petoskey, Michigan, and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan before his family moved to Saginaw, Michigan.

Dick Rifenburg was a star athlete at Saginaw's Arthur Hill High School in football, basketball, and track and field.

Dick Rifenburg led Arthur Hill in football, and his high school accomplishments are featured in Glory: The history of Saginaw County sports by Jack Tany, which is a book on high school sports in Saginaw County, Michigan.

Dick Rifenburg was named All State in football, basketball and track.

Dick Rifenburg played for the Wolverines in consecutive undefeated National Championship seasons in 1947 and 1948.

Dick Rifenburg caught a 29-yard pass for the game's final score.

Dick Rifenburg was the second highest scoring end in the nation in 1948, and he was a consensus All-American as a senior, being selected as first-team on nine of the 11 All-American teams.

Dick Rifenburg was considered one of the greatest Wolverines of the 1940s.

Dick Rifenburg held the University of Michigan's single season and career record for touchdown receptions until his records were broken by Anthony Carter in 1980.

Dick Rifenburg had intended to play in 1949 with the Yankees, but suffered a knee injury in a practice session for the August 1949 Chicago College All-Star Game.

Dick Rifenburg landed a job at WJR radio in Detroit, but he left his sportscaster's job to join the Detroit Lions.

Dick Rifenburg played in 12 games and had ten receptions for 96 yards and one touchdown for the 1950 Lions.

Dick Rifenburg recalled that his playing time with the Lions was limited because the Lions signed 1949 Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart, who played the same position.

Dick Rifenburg was hired as a sportscaster by WBEN, which had just started the first television station in Buffalo and the only one serving Southern Ontario.

Dick Rifenburg worked for WBEN and WBEN and as the sideline announcer for Buffalo Bills games along with Van Miller, the long time Bills play-by-play announcer.

Dick Rifenburg sold ads for Buffalo Evening News competitor, Buffalo Courier-Express.

Dick Rifenburg was posthumously inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in September 2007.

Dick Rifenburg died in Cheektowaga, New York in December 1994; he was 68 years old.