Richie Petitbon

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 1992

University: Tulane

Induction Year: 1992

Richie Petitbon didn’t really intend to follow in the footsteps of his older brother. John Petitbon led Jesuit High of New Orleans to the Class AA state football championship in 1946, and went on to an outstanding college career at Notre Dame. He even had a brief stint in the National Football League in the 1950s.

Although he was also a member of a state championship football team at Jesuit (1953), Richie decided that track and field was his sport. He had football offers from Louisiana State University and Tulane, but chose a track and field scholarship to Loyola University – where he planned to study dentistry.

That might have been the end of Petitbon’s football career if Loyola track coach “Boo” Jones hadn’t attempted to convert Petitbon into a quarter-miler.

Richie considered himself a sprinter. He finished third in both the 100-yard dash and 220-yard dash in the 1955 city meet, behind Holy Cross teammates Dave Seeman and Earl Schneider. That state champion in those events was Billy Cannon, a junior at Istrouma High in Baton Rouge.

TO say the least, Petitbon didn’t care for the 440. Instead of switching events, he switched schools – transferring to Tulane after his freshman year and joining the Green Wave football team coached by Andy Pilney.

For two years, Petitbon did it all for the Green Wave in an era when college footballers played on both offense and defense. He won All-Southeastern Conference quarterback honors in 1958, and his average of 27.6 yards per kickoff return that year ranks second on the school’s all-time list. His career average of 24.3 yards per kickoff return was a school record until Jerry Graves broke it six years later, and is still No. 2 on the all-time Green Wave list.

He set a school record for passing accuracy in one game when he completed 10 of 11 passes in a 21-10 loss to Texas.

Pilney’s Green Wave scored impressive upset victories over Alabama in both 1957 and 1958 – when Paul “Bear” Bryant made his debut as the Crimson Tides head coach. But Tulane didn’t have enough depth to survive late-season injuries, and the Green Wave suffered a 62-0 loss to LSU in the final game of the 1958 season after holding the national champion Tigers to a 6-0 halftime lead.

Drafted as a second round future choice by the Chicago Bears in 1959 because of the year he spent at Loyola, Petitbon passed up his final year of eligibility to make his NFL debut with Coach George Halas’ Bears.

He was a safety in the NFL 14 years – spending the first 10 of his career with the Bears, where his defensive backfield coach was George Allen.

Petitbon had a career high eight interceptions with the Bears in 1963, when Chicago won its first NFL championship since 1946 with a 14-10 victory over the New York Giants.

The Bears intercepted Y.A. Tittle five times in that game, played in eight degree temperature at Wrigley Field. Two of the interceptions set up the Bears’ touchdowns. But the issue wasn’t settled until the 38-year-old Tittle, attempting to pull the game out of the fire in the finals seconds, was interrupted by Petitbon in the end zone.

With two seconds remaining, Tittle slammed his helmet to the ground and kicked the frozen turf in disgust. It was his last shot at a title.

Petitbon, who recovered a Joe Morrison fumble earlier in the fourth quarter, led a Chicago secondary that accounted for 29 of the Bears’ league-high 37 interceptions.

Five defensive players on the winning team, including Petitbon, were selected on various All-Pro teams. The only offensive player who earned that distinction was tight end Mike Ditka. When Allen became head coach of the Los Angeles Ram in 1969, he made a trade for Petitbon. With a defense built around veterans, the Rams won their first 11 games and were division champions. But the Minnesota Vikings came from behind late in the fourth quarter for a 23-30 playoff victory over Allen’s team.

A year later, the Rams led the Western Division until a loss to the Detroit Lions in their next-to-last game – the final Monday night game of the first season of Monday night football. Rams owner Dan Reeves fired Allen after the season despite his 49-17-4 record.

Allen then took over the Washington Redskins, trading for veteran players who would make no mistakes. One of his first acquisitions was Petitbon, who had three interceptions in his first game with the “Over The Hill Gang” – a 24-17 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Redskins upset the Dallas Cowboys 20-16 in the Cotton Bowl two weeks later, but finished second to the Super Bowl champion Cowboys in the Eastern Division as the late-season injuries took their toll.

A year later, the Redskins knocked the Cowboys out of first place in division standings for the first time since 1965, and proved it was no fluke by trouncing Dallas 26-3 in the National Conference championship game. Washington fell short in the Super Bowl when the Miami Dolphins wrapped up a perfect 17-0 season with a 14-7 victory over the Redskins.

That season marked the end of Petitbon’s playing career, with a 14-year total of 48 interceptions which he returned for 801 yards, an average of 16.7, and three touchdowns. But he would make at least four ore trips to the Super Bowl as an assistant coach for the Redskins.

He spent four years with the Houston Oilers, working under Sid Gilman and O.A. “Bum” Phillips, before returning to Washington in 1978. Since he became the defensive coordinator, the Redskins won Super Bowls after the 1982, 1987 and 1991 seasons – with three different quarterbacks (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien) directing the offense in those championship seasons.

A week before the Redskins’ 37-24 victory over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVI, the kid who thought his football career was over in 1955 was elected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.