DETROIT (4/22/2020) -- The University of Detroit Mercy has a proud history in the sport of football and with the NFL holding its annual draft this week, the Titans can look back at 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Lee Riley, the 37th football player to be selected to the school's all-time great shrining.
U-D 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 the all-around Riley.
The Titan football history saw 44 players drafted to the NFL as Riley was picked in the fourth round of the 1955 NFL Draft by the hometown Detroit Lions, the fifth-highest NFL Draft pick in school history.
For two straight years, he was a unanimous choice for All-Missouri Valley Conference honors as a running back in 1953 and 1954. He was second in scoring on the team as a junior in 1953 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 rarely left the field. He played the full 60 minutes in nine games and averaged 52 minutes of playing time in his 28 games.
During his senior season in a 20-0 victory over Villanova, he suffered an arm injury that was thought to put his streak in jeopardy.
According to the Detroit Free Press, he totaled 239 yards against the Wildcats, but ended up getting a gash in his arm sliding into a metal yard marker and the wound required stitches. He received 13 of them, but it became infected and he ended up in the hospital the following week, but did end up playing in a 28-18 triumph over Tulsa at home.
"The doctors don't want him to play against Tulsa, but they are going to have to hogtie the guy to keep him out of there." the article states.
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.
In the pros, he played in the NFL for the Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants and in the American Football League for the New York Titans, mostly as a defensive back. In his last year of professional football, he led the AFL with 11 interceptions.
His family heritage was nothing but competitors. His father played professional baseball and briefly played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies during World War II before becoming a player-manager of a minor league team in 1940s to early 1950s. His younger brother is none other than former NBA championship coach Pat Riley, current team president of the Miami Heat.
