Dicky Maegle, Rice All-America back, passes away at 86

Published 5:12 pm Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Dicky Maegle, an All-America running back for Rice University who was involved in one of college football’s most memorable plays in the Cotton Bowl, passed away on Sunday, the National Football Foundation announced.

He was 86.

“Dicky Maegle ranks among the greatest players in Rice football history, leaving many marks in the Owl record books which still stand today,” NFF Chairman Archie Manning said. “We are saddened by his loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. His accomplishments will not be forgotten, and they are forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.”

Maegle, a 1979 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, is best remembered for one most iconic plays in college football history, which occurred during the 1954 Cotton Bowl between Rice and Alabama. Maegle had begun a run from the five-yard line, and he was headed for a 95-yard touchdown. As Maegle passed midfield, Alabama’s Tommy Lewis leaped from the Crimson Tide bench to tackle Maegle. The officials credited Maegle with the touchdown, the longest rushing play in Cotton Bowl history and one of three he scored that day. He gained 265 yards on 11 carries — a 24.1 yards per carry, as the Owls defeated the Crimson Tide, 28-6.

After the game, Maegle traveled to New York City for an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show to discuss the play and his performance.

Maegle, who changed the spelling of his name from “Moegle” later in life to make it easier to pronounce, played football and basketball at Taylor High School, northeast of Austin. He arrived on the Rice campus in 1951 as a 16-year-old freshman, playing both football and basketball.

An injured hand his sophomore year limited his playing time, but he would make his mark the following year. He amassed 833 rushing yards in 1953, and his 7.3 average yards per carry topped the nation. During his senior campaign, he rushed for 905 yards, earning consensus All-America honors. The Owls went 21-10 during his three seasons in Houston, including a 9-2 record in 1953, which gave the Owls the Southwest Conference title, and 7-3 in 1954.

Maegle also played defense, leading the Southwest Conference in interceptions, and he once picked off three passes in a 1953 game against Baylor. Maegle also excelled in the classroom earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 1954.

In addition to his NCAA record for yards per carry in a bowl game, Maegle holds Rice records for yards rushing in a game (265) as well as yards per carry in a season (7.31 in 1953) and career (6.6). He is tied for sixth on the Rice single-season list with 11 rushing touchdowns in 1954 and tied with eight others for second in school history with four rushing touchdowns in a game (vs. Cornell, Oct. 2, 1954).

Drafted by San Francisco with the 10th pick in the 1955 Draft, Maegle played in the NFL with the 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys. He retired prior to the 1962 season.

In the NFL was a defensive back where he intercepted 28 passes in 73 career games, setting a career-high with eight in 1957.

He was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 1955 and earned All-Pro honors in 1956 and 1957 from various media outlets. After five seasons in San Francisco, he was traded to Pittsburgh for a first round draft pick that the 49ers used to draft future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson. He was traded by the Steelers to the Dallas Cowboys for the 1961 season. He retired prior to the 1962 season due to recurring injuries.

After his retirement from the NFL, Maegle returned to Houston to build a career in the hotel and real estate business, including the management of a pair of hotel properties near the Rice campus as well as a prominent Houston nightclub, the Tidelands.

In addition to the College Football Hall of Fame, Meagle has been inducted into the Rice Athletic, the Texas Sports and Cotton Bowl halls of fame.

He was one of 15 Rice legends who comprised the first class of inductees into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame in 1970 and became the fourth Rice player inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1998, he joined Jim Brown, Bobby Layne, Darrell Royal, Doak Walker, J. Curtis Sanford and Field Scovell as the inaugural inductees in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.

His wife, Carol, told the Houston Chronicle that he suffered complications from a fall several months ago and had been in declining health since.

“He was a real jokester,” she told the Chronicle, “but he was proud of his football history and his hotel history.”

Funeral services will be Monday at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons in Houston.

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