Athletic Hall of Fame

Ron Rice

Sport(s): Football

Graduating Class: 1995

Induction Class: 2002

Outstanding football player for EMU from 1991-94...Earned four varsity football letters...Played in 40 games for EMU and earned 38 starts...Finished his career as the sixth-leading tackler in EMU history with 325 total stops...Named first-team All-Mid-American Conference in 1994 after playing in all 11 games that season and finishing second on the team in tackles with 93...Led the MAC and ranked second in the nation in kickoff returns in 1991 with 11-for-319 yards and a 29.0 average...Signed with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League as a free agent in 1995...Made the Detroit squad in 1995 and played 71 games, 56 as a starter, from 1995 through the 2000 season...Retired from the NFL with a neck injury after the 2000 season...Had one of his best games as a Lion in the 1997 playoff-clinching win over the New York Jets when he had an interception and his first career sack...Set a career-high in tackles in four consecutive seasons, beginning in 1996 and finishing in 1999 when he had a career best 144 tackles...Recorded 325 solo and 152 assisted tackles for 477 total during his career and had 5.5 sacks and 10 interceptions...Started the Ron Rice Foundation in 1999 to work with Detroit-area youth groups...Helped establish the R2 Book Club to help young students with reading problems...Served as the Detroit Lions' representative for the Shop to Stop Drugs program...Was the Detroit Lions' recipient of the 2000 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.

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