- Colin Ridgway
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Colin Ridgway Date of birth: February 19, 1937 Place of birth: Melbourne, Australia Date of death: 13 May 1993 (aged 56) Career information Position(s): Punter College: Lamar University Organizations As player: 1965 Dallas Cowboys Playing stats at NFL.com Colin Edwin Ridgway (February 19, 1937 – May 13, 1993) was an American football punter distinguished as being the first Australian to play in the National Football League.
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Athletic career
Track and Field
Ridgway was a high jumper who competed at the 1956 Olympic Games and 1958 Commonwealth Games for Australia. He had also competed in the Australian Open Track and Field Championships from 1955/56 to 1959/60. He won a bronze medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics and then attended Lamar Tech (now Lamar University) in Beaumont where he played for the Lamar Cardinals Football team, Texas, before moving to Dallas to join the Cowboys. Ridgway failed to make the 1960 Australian Olympic team and so accepted an offer ofa track scholarship to Lamar Tech in Beaumont, Texas. In 1961 he became the first Commomwealth athlete to clear 7 foot in the high jump. As a track athlete it is doubtful that he would have played football for the college.
VFL career
Ridgway began his sporting career playing Australian rules football. He reached VFL reserves level, playing for the Carlton Football Club in the 1960s.
NFL career
In 1965, Ridgway was recruited by the Dallas Cowboys and played a total of three games as a punter. It turned out that the running drop-kicks that were commonly used at that time in Aussie Rules didn't translate well into the American game. But Ridgway stayed in Dallas and became a successful businessman.
Murder
Colin Ridgway was murdered at his University Park, Texas home in 1993. To date, no arrests have been made and the case remains open.[1]
References
External links
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