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Highland, Ohio State star Chris Riehm dies at 50
Filed by Rick Noland March 14th, 2012 in News.
Chris Riehm stood out as an athlete at Highland High School not just because he was big, but because he was good.
How big and how good?
Riehm, a 1979 Highland graduate who died Sunday at the age of 50, grew into a 6-foot-6, 275-pounder. He played four years at Ohio State, starting on the defensive line from 1980-82, and spent 1986-88 as an offensive guard for the NFL?s Los Angeles Raiders.
Riehm also had stints with the Baltimore Colts of the NFL and the Oakland Invaders and Houston Gamblers of the now-defunct United States Football League.
?He was just big beef,? said Dan Wiita, a 1979 Highland graduate who grew up with Riehm on Beach Road in Sharon Township. ?We teased him all the time about how big he was.?
Wiita, a wide receiver for the Hornets, remembers the time he carried the ball on a reverse and accidentally ran into Riehm, who pulled the wrong way from his offensive line position.
?He knocked me out,? Wiita said.
Also a Class AA state champion in the discus and shot put in track and third in the state as a heavyweight wrestler as a senior, Riehm?s professional potential was readily apparent to his high school teammates and coaches. Whether the gentle giant really wanted to advance to that level was another matter.
?I knew he absolutely could,? Wiita said when asked if he thought Riehm would go on to play in the NFL. ?I didn?t know if he would absolutely dedicate himself to it, because I liked football more than he did.
?He liked wrestling more, but he was just an awesome physical specimen. He could manhandle guys in wrestling. In football, it was, ?Oh, I gotta block this guy? I can block three guys.? ?
A Medina County Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Riehm had a physically intimidating presence in high school, but a friendly personality.
?Chris was a big, fun-loving, hard-working guy,? said former football and wrestling teammate Mike Houska, who graduated from Highland in 1978. ?He was very talented. He had a large wingspan and he was always aggressive, but for as big as he was, he wasn?t a bully. He was just a nice, easygoing kid.
?Each year, he got better and better as he grew into his body. Whatever he did, he was always good at. In track he was good, in football he was good and in wrestling he was good. Whatever Chris did athletically, you knew he was going to be successful.?
Bruce Campbell, Riehm?s track coach at Highland, remembers the tall, lanky teenager succeeding at the sport without taking it too seriously.
?He was happy-go-lucky with the track thing because of what he had already accomplished (in football and wrestling),? Campbell said. ?It was like, ?This is going to be fun.? He approached his whole senior season that way.?
That didn?t stop Riehm from winning a state title in the shot, then adding one in the discus after struggling to advance through the preliminary round.
?I still remember him looking at me and saying, ?Coach, don?t coach me. I?ve got this,? ? Campbell said. ?He knew he was ready to throw. He was a good kid. The track was all fun for him.?
?Chris was a great athlete,? said 1976 Highland graduate Jim Ritcher, who went on to star for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL. ?He was a happy-go-lucky kid and he was always smiling.
?He had the size and it looked like he was going to fill out well, but to say I knew he was going to end up in the NFL, who knows when someone?s a freshman in high school? But he had all the makings of being a good player and he seemed to have a really good personality. He was happy with what came along and he was willing to work hard.?
Riehm is survived by his wife of eight years, Mary. She and other family members will receive friends tonight at 6 at Waite & Son Funeral Home in Medina, with a memorial service to follow at 7:30.
http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/2012/03/14/highland-ohio-state-star-chris-riehm-dies-at-50/