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Richmond McDavid Flowers, Jr. (born June 13, 1947) is a former American football player and track star. He played safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants. He played college football at the University of Tennessee and was drafted in the second round of the 1969 NFL Draft. Flowers participated in track and field primarily as a hurdler, specializing in the 110-meter high hurdles. After capturing the NCAA championship in the event in 1968, he was a leading contender to win the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics before suffering a hamstring injury just prior to the Olympic trials. He set several records during his career. Flowers was the son of Richmond Flowers, Sr., an anti-segregationist who served a tumultuous term as Alabama's attorney general in the 1960s. ==Early years== Flowers was raised in Dothan, a city located in Houston County in southeastern Alabama. During his early childhood, he appeared to be anything but a future athlete. He suffered from asthma, anemia, and dyslexia, and frequently missed school due to illness. He was also flat-footed, and had to wear heavy orthopedic Brogans. By the time he was in junior high, however, his asthma had cleared up, and his feet began to arch. In the Fall of 1962, Flowers' family moved to Montgomery, where he attended Sidney Lanier High School.〔Mike Sielski, "( Flowers: 'Fastest White Boy Alive, )'" ESPN.com, 30 March 2005. Retrieved: 6 September 2013.〕〔John Underwood, "(Winning Son of a Dedicated Loser )," ''Sports Illustrated'', 6 June 1966. Retrieved: 8 September 2013.〕 His father was Richmond Flowers, Sr., the Attorney General of Alabama from 1963 to 1967, and a former member of the Alabama State Senate. The senior Flowers was an intraparty rival of segregationist Governors George Wallace and Lurleen Burns Wallace. He drew national attention in the early 1960s when he criticized Wallace's "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” incident, which was an attempt to bar African Americans from enrolling in the University of Alabama. He also favored the integration of public schools and prosecuted Ku Klux Klansmen in the killings of civil rights workers.〔http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/us/11flowers.html?_r=1&〕 His work against the era's conventions made him and his family a target of scorn, hate and death threats. The family received threatening phone calls at all hours of the night, their house was frequently vandalized, and a cross was burned on their lawn.〔William Nack, "(In the Name of the Father )," ''Sports Illustrated'', 7 July 1997. Retrieved: 6 September 2013.〕 Amid the chaos surrounding his father, the younger Flowers exploded onto the track and field scene. In the Spring of 1963, he set state high school records in the 120-yard high hurdles, the 180-yard high hurdles, and the long jump.〔 In 1964, he broke five state records at the state high school championships.〔(Richmond Flowers ), Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, 2005. Retrieved: 8 September 2013.〕 As a senior in 1965, he set regional records in the 120-yard high hurdles, the 180-yard low hurdles and the long jump. He tied the state record in the 100 yard dash and anchored the winning 4 × 100 metres relay team. At the Gulf Coast Relays in Mobile, he set a national high school record with 13.5 seconds in the 120-yard high hurdles. At an open meet in Modesto, California, in May 1965, he beat 1964 Olympic silver medalist Blaine Lindgren in the 42-inch hurdles.〔 Flowers received scholarship offers from more than 100 colleges,〔 and was heavily recruited by Alabama head coach Bear Bryant. He was intrigued, however, by the University of Tennessee, where Coach Chuck Rohe was gradually building the track program into a national powerhouse. He made up his mind to attend Tennessee in 1965 following the Gulf Coast Relays, during which his father had been introduced and booed.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Richmond Flowers (American football)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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