Former Rice University All-American football player Dicky Maegle passed away Sunday at the age of 86, the school announced Tuesday in a press release.
Maegle was part of some memorable Rice teams in the 1950′s, helping lead the Owls to a 28-6 win over Alabama in the 1954 Cotton Bowl. In that game, Maegle rushed for 265 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns. That 265-yard performance is still the current Rice football record for most rushing yards in a game. Maegle also holds current Rice records in average yards per carry in a season (7.31 in 1953) and average yards per carry in a career (6.6).
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After starring at Rice, Maegle was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers with the tenth overall pick in the 1955 National Football League Draft. In the NFL, Maegle excelled as a defensive back, intercepting 28 passes in 73 games. He became the first player in Pittsburgh Steelers history to intercept three passes in a game, was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 1955, and was All-Pro in 1956 and 1957. In his NFL career, Maegle played with the 49ers, Steelers, and Dallas Cowboys before retiring in 1962.
In 1970, Maegle was part of Rice’s inaugural class of inductees into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame. In 1979, he became the fourth Rice player to be inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame. And then in 1998, Maegle joined such football legends as Jim Brown, Bobby Layne, Darrell Royal, and Doak Walker as the inaugural inductees into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.
Maegle was known as Dicky Moegle during his time at Rice, when he also played basketball for the Owls. He made the decision later in his career to change the spelling of his name to the more phonetically-accurate “Maegle.”
According to the Rice University press release, his funeral services will be held Monday at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons in Houston.