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TE/F Rickey Dudley (Official Thread)

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Buckskin86

Buckskin86

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Wine Guys
By Christina Rowland, Staff Writer
Created: Thursday, May 29, 2008

Men with pro sports ties launch upscale Southlake business

The NFL, WNBA, and wine have nothing in common, but for former pro football player Rickey Dudley and former WNBA assistant coach Michael Peck wine has become a second career. Both are now retired from sports and have opened the first Wine Loft in Southlake Town Square.
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Dudley was raised in Henderson, a small town in East Texas, where he played sports throughout his schoolboy days. Even though he won the Class 4A Player of the Year award in football, it wasn?t his only talent. He was also a gifted basketball player, which would later in lead him to meet lifelong friend and business partner Peck.

After high school, Dudley also decided that prep school was the next step for him.

?Guys go to prep school to advance themselves further in sports before going to college,? said Dudley, ?(and) I went to prep school to better my ACT score.?
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At Ohio State, Dudley excelled in his basketball career, but football was still part of his life and he played as a tight end on the football team for two years before being drafted into the NFL by the Oakland Raiders.

?It wasn?t a lifelong dream but still having the option to play football was a gift from God,? Dudley said.

His senior year at Ohio State, Dudley was ranked No. 16 among college tight ends, but when draft time came around he became much more important. He was the No. 9 pick in the first round of the draft that year and the first tight end picked.

?Overall, I knew I could make it into the NFL but being first that year was bigger to me personally,? Dudley said.

Dudley went on to play for the Oakland Raiders for four seasons, then the Cleveland Browns for one season, before being signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002.
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Star Community Newspapers
 
Former professional athletes kick off trendy wine bar

BY BETTY DILLARD
June 02, 2008

The owners of The Wine Loft in Southlake are already scoring big points on their brand new playing field.

During the recent grand opening of the upscale wine bar tucked into Southlake Town Square, co-proprietor Rickey Dudley said his fears about launching his own business quickly melted away.

?At one point, it was wall-to-wall people. Every time I walked by, people said, ?We love it, we love it, we love it. I?m going to tell my friends about it,?? said Dudley, a former professional football player.

Longtime buddies and now business partners Dudley and Michael Peck, both 35, had been searching for second careers after their respective playing days ended.

The two friends met almost 20 years ago at a Virginia prep school, then went their separate ways to college.

Dudley, a native of Henderson, Texas, started as a basketball player at Ohio State University but switched to football. The No. 9 pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 1996 National Football League Draft, Dudley played nine seasons for the Raiders, the Cleveland Browns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers until forced off the field with a thumb injury at the end of 2004.
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Former professional athletes kick off trendy wine bar - Fort Worth Business Press
 
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It sure looks like Dudley has kept himself in good shape over the years. He had athlete written all over him, I wonder if he would have decided to commit himself to football earlier if his career would have had a better one.
 
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jimotis4heisman;1403505; said:
he was a top ten pick and played 9 years in the nfl. nothing to blink at as far as a pro career...
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I didn't mean to diminish his career, but he never seemed to reach his incredible potential. He had that great size, speed combination that had a lot of people (myself included) thinking All-Pro type years for him.

I only meant to say, that I know nothing of how, or where these guys learn about the nuances of playing a position. It always seemed to me that Dudley was not a great route runner and did not have the best hands (not necessarily a learned trait) and I wonder if those things would have been developed better if he would have decided sooner to dedicate himself to football.
 
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Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (and I trust someone will), but I seem to recollect that Ricky was the AAAAA offensive or tight end of the year (5A's is the highest HS football goes in Texas). He had plenty of schollie offers, but took one at OSU to play basketball. His last two years were spent doing both sports, and one of the football coaches cautioned his D players, "That isn't a basketball player playing football, that's a football player playing football" or somesuch quote. Or at least some reasonable facsimile thereof on the quote......Being drafted at #9 was waaaaay above where anyone thought, but he was troubled by bad hands, not his speed, which was there.....

Glad to see OSU family do well after there college days are done.....have to visit whenever I get to Fut Wuth.....

:gobucks3::gobucks4::banger:
 
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calibuck;1405858; said:
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (and I trust someone will), but I seem to recollect that Ricky was the AAAAA offensive or tight end of the year (5A's is the highest HS football goes in Texas). He had plenty of schollie offers, but took one at OSU to play basketball. His last two years were spent doing both sports, and one of the football coaches cautioned his D players, "That isn't a basketball player playing football, that's a football player playing football" or somesuch quote. Or at least some reasonable facsimile thereof on the quote......Being drafted at #9 was waaaaay above where anyone thought, but he was troubled by bad hands, not his speed, which was there.....

Glad to see OSU family do well after there college days are done.....have to visit whenever I get to Fut Wuth.....

:gobucks3::gobucks4::banger:
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His fifth year was football only
 
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OSU ON SUNDAY
TODAY: TIGHT ENDS
Saturday, October 3, 2009
By BY RAY STEIN

CHIEFS_RAIDERS_-_COD_-_10-03-09_T20_GAF84B0.jpg

Rickey Dudley

Each week, Gameday+ examines Ohio State's impact on professional football with a position-by-position analysis of the Buckeyes who have made a mark in the NFL.

Playing tight end at Ohio State means never having to say you're sorry for not making a career of it. For most of the past 112 years of OSU football, the only real difference between the Buckeyes' tight ends and guards is that tight ends don't tape their fingers before games. In other words, John Mackey and Ozzie Newsome didn't get their schooling in Columbus.

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Rickey Dudley

College life

Dudley was a prized recruit, lured out of Henderson, Texas, by the Buckeyes -- Randy Ayers' basketball Buckeyes, that is. After a year at Fork Union Military Academy, Dudley played two years of power forward before adding football to his resume. He made All-Big Ten as a senior after totaling 37 receptions for 575 yards and seven TDs for the Buckeyes' powerhouse offense of 1995.

Path to the pros

First-round draft choice (No. 9 overall) by the Oakland Raiders in 1996.

NFL career

Professional longevity, as well as decent productivity, gives Dudley the nod here. His career numbers -- 221 receptions, 33 touchdowns and nine seasons -- are far greater than those amassed by any other former Ohio State tight end. Dudley enjoyed his best years in Oakland, especially a 48-catch, 787-yard campaign in 1997. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that won the Super Bowl after the 2002 season.

Little-known facts

It's no secret that Dudley was bothered throughout his career by his penchant for going stone-hands on his quarterbacks. His dropped passes made him the easy target of critics, and it was rumored that quarterback Rich Gannon got so frustrated that he greased Dudley's path out of Oakland. These days, Dudley is part-owner of the Wine Loft, an upscale vino restaurant chain with a location in the Dallas area.
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OSU ON SUNDAY | The Columbus Dispatch
 
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3. RICKEY DUDLEY, 1995
After coming to Ohio State as a basketball recruit, Rickey Dudley, Texas' 4A Football Player of the Year, decided to give football another go in 1994. After recording just nine receptions in his first year in the Horseshoe, Dudley exploded for 575 yards (No. 3 in program history), seven touchdowns (T-No.1 in program history), and 37 receptions (No. 6 in program history).

The 6-foot-6 forward/tight end was drafted No. 9 overall in the 1996 NFL Draft. He also averaged over 13 points per game and 7.5 rebounds in his final year playing basketball.
 
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