University of Detroit Mercy Athletics

The Titan football teams always had dynamic players and in the mid-50's, one of the top players in the Missouri Valley Conference and the nation was none other than Lee Riley.

For two-straight years, Riley was a unanimous choice for All-Missouri Valley Conference honors as a running back. He was second in scoring on the team as a junior as he topped the MVC with 374 receiving yards. 

He was also one of the best punt and kick returners in his three years as he averaged nearly 11 yards a return on punts and 28.4 on kick returns.

He was known as the Iron Man for the Titans as he never missed a game and played both offense and defense and almost never leaving the field. He played the full 60 minutes in nine games and averaged 52 minutes of playing time in his 28 games.

As a senior, he even had to take over the punting duties and averaged 32.9 yards a kick. 

Overall, he tallied 1,060 yards rushing and 602 yards receiving with seven interceptions and scored 18 touchdowns. 

He would go on to be drafted in the 4th round of the 1955 NFL Draft, the fifth-highest NFL Draft pick in school history, and played in the NFL for the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants and in the American Football League for the New York Titans. In his last year of professional football he led the AFL in interceptions.

The Titans scored a touchdown when St. Bonaventure dropped football in 1951 and that touchdown was one of the best players in the country lined up playing offense and defense for U-D.