Tennessee football: Vols great Bert Rechichar was a champion at every level

Tennessee football Volunteers legend Bert Rechichar passed away last weekend. The Vols defensive back and kicker was a champion at every level.

Last Friday, Tennessee football great Bert Rechichar passed away at age 89, according to a report in The Baltimore Sun. A defensive back and a kicker, Rechichar was a two-sport athlete from Pennsylvania, playing football and baseball.

His legacy on Rocky Top is simply being a born champion. Rechichar not only helped return the Vols to elite prominence during Robert Neyland’s third stint. He also did something very few players ever do: win back to back national championships at the college and pro level.

Yes, Rechichar was part of the 1950 Tennessee football team that finished 10-1 with a key win over the Kentucky Wildcats and then a Cotton Bowl victory over the Texas Longhorns to capture the national title among various selectors. He was All-SEC that year. Then, in 1951, he was part of the AP national title Vols who went 10-0 in the regular season.

While there are bigger names like Doug Atkins, Hank Lauricella, Ted Daffer and Bill Pearman from those teams, Rechichar was as much a part of those elite years. And what he did in the pros made it even more unique.

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Decades before Peyton Manning would become the greatest Colt ever, Rechichar was the original Colt legend from Rocky Top, and he did it with the Baltimore Colts while playing with the Manning of his time, Johnny Unitas. Rechichar was part of a Colts franchise that won back to back NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959.

Although he also played for the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Titans for one year each, playing for Baltimore from 1953 to 1959 is where he was most known. In fact, like Manning, Rechichar is also a Colt who was a record-setter. He nailed a 56-yard field goal against the Chicago Bears in 1953, which was at the time the longest kick in NFL history.

But the most relevant part of Rechichar is that he was simply a champion. Again, he won back to back college national championships and then back to back NFL championships, setting a record in the process. He was also a three-time Pro Bowler.

If you want any proof of how much more of a winner he was, he also managed to lead Tennessee baseball to its first ever College World Series in 1951 while playing in the outfield. So he simply managed to win at a high level all the time.