Richard Collier
{{Short description|American football player (born 1981)}}
{{About||the British writer|Richard Collier (historian)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Richard Collier
| image =
| caption = Richard Collier
| position = Offensive tackle
| number = 76
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1981|10|23}}
| birth_place = Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
| death_date =
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 7
| weight_lb = 352
| undraftedyear = 2006
| college = Valdosta State
| teams =
- Jacksonville Jaguars (2006–2008)
| highlights =
- First-team All-GSC (2005)
| statlabel1 = Games played
| statvalue1 = 8
| statlabel2 = Games started
| statvalue2 = 1
| statlabel3 = Return yards
| statvalue3 = 8
| pfr = C/CollRi20
}}
Richard Bernard Collier (born October 23, 1981) is an American former professional football player. He played offensive tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) from 2006 to 2008, until a shooting incident left him paralyzed from the waist down, ending his football career.
Collier played college football for the Valdosta State University Blazers. He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2006 as an undrafted free agent, and played two seasons for the team. His career was cut short after he suffered multiple gunshot wounds in early September 2008. As a result, he was left paralyzed and with his left leg amputated."[https://web.archive.org/web/20081002030112/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/09/29/collier.ap/index.html?cnn=yes Doctors: Jaguars tackle Collier is paralyzed and had leg amputated]." CNN Sports Illustrated. September 29, 2008.
Early life
Collier was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. He played football at Northwood High School, where he graduated in 2001. Poor grades prevented him from attending college, and he spent the next two years working in the produce section of a local Wal-Mart. Eventually, he decided to give football and college another try, and enrolled at Tyler Junior College in Texas. There he soon improved both his grades and his physical fitness, and made the Tyler football team's starting lineup. In 2004, he transferred to Valdosta State University in Georgia, where he played for the Valdosta State Blazers football team. The team won the 2004 NCAA Division II Football Championship, and Collier received All-America honors in 2005, his senior year.{{cite news |title= Jacksonville Jaguars Player Critical After Shooting|newspaper= Foxnews.com|agency=Associated Press|date= September 30, 2008 |url= http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,414765,00.html|access-date=October 18, 2010}}
Professional career
Following the 2006 NFL draft, Collier was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent on April 30. He made the final roster following the preseason and went on to play in four games his rookie season, all in a reserve role. He was inactive for the first 12 games of the 2007 season. He was suspended for two games and fined by Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio after being arrested for driving under the influence on November 3. Not wanting to bring additional negative publicity to the team and threaten a potential chance at making the starting lineup, he pleaded no contest to all charges at the subsequent hearing and made a public vow to keep himself out of trouble. He appeared in the team's final four games of the season and made his first career start in the regular season finale against the Houston Texans on December 30.
In May 2008, the Jaguars signed Collier to a contract extension. That season, he played on all four of the Jaguars' preseason games in a reserve role.
Shooting
On September 2, 2008, Collier was shot and critically wounded outside an apartment building in Jacksonville's Riverside neighborhood. Collier was in the passenger seat of a car driven by his former Jacksonville teammate Kenny Pettway at the time of the attack; it was later revealed that he had suffered 14 gunshot wounds and was left paralyzed from the waist down. A blood clot later caused the amputation of his left leg above the knee.{{cite web|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jitsmImwBd8Jrr41CcRFefxoNL3QD93GJAB81 |title=Doctors: Shot Jacksonville lineman is paralyzed |access-date=2008-09-29 |agency=Associated Press |date=2008-09-29 |work=Associated Press |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002135932/http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jitsmImwBd8Jrr41CcRFefxoNL3QD93GJAB81 |archive-date=October 2, 2008 }} Pettway, who had been in the driver's seat, was unharmed.{{cite news |title=Paralyzed, Jaguars' Collier Is Still Smiling |first= Karen|last= Crouse|newspaper= The New York Times|date= December 12, 2008 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/sports/football/13collier.html|access-date=October 18, 2010}}
Earlier in the night Collier and Pettway had been at the Jacksonville nightclub Square One in San Marco, where they met up with two women, as well as fellow Jaguars player Clint Ingram.{{cite news |title=Key witness testifies Tyrone Hartsfield got his revenge in ex-Jaguars player Richard Collier's shooting|first= Paul|last= Pinkham|newspaper= The Florida Times-Union|date= October 29, 2009|url= http://www.jacksonville.com/2016-03-05/stub-224|access-date=18 August 2018}} After midnight Ingram went home and Collier and Pettway drove the women to their apartment in Riverside. They were waiting for them in the car when they were attacked from behind in what some media reports called an "ambush".{{cite news |title=Tyrone Hartsfield found guilty of shooting Jaguar Richard Collier|first= Paul|last= Pinkham|newspaper= The Florida Times-Union|date= November 5, 2009|url= http://jacksonville.com/news/2009-11-05/story/tyrone_hartsfield_found_guilty_of_shooting_jaguar_richard_collier|access-date=October 18, 2010}} Two days after the shooting, the Jaguars placed Collier on the non-football injury reserve list. Later that month, when the extent of his injuries were revealed, it was confirmed that his football career was over.{{cite news|title= Surgeon: Collier Paralyzed, Loses Left Leg|url= http://www.news4jax.com/news/17583151/detail.html|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130129190803/http://www.news4jax.com/news/17583151/detail.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= January 29, 2013|newspaper= news4jax.com|date= September 29, 2008|access-date= December 13, 2010}}
One man, Tyrone Hartsfield, was arrested and charged with attempted murder. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office believed the shooting was in retaliation for an altercation the two men had had months earlier; Hartsfield had filed a report with the police in April after Collier had punched him in a scuffle at another nightclub. The prosecution's case involved testimony from a friend of Hartsfield's, who said he had been with Hartsfield the night of the shooting and later secretly recorded a conversation with him for the police. Largely on the strength of this testimony the jury found Hartsfield guilty in November 2009; he was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.{{cite news |title=Tyrone Hartsfield gets life in shooting of Jaguars' Collier|first= Paul|last= Pinkham|newspaper= The Florida Times-Union|date= December 17, 2009|url= http://www.jacksonville.com/2016-03-05/stub-224|access-date=18 August 2018}}
Later life
In 2009, one year after the shooting, Collier was unanimously elected to receive the Ed Block Courage Award by his Jacksonville teammates.{{cite news |title= Jaguars' Collier shares his feelings with those like him|author= Charlie Patton|url=http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-11-21/story/jaguars_collier_shares_his_feelings_with_those_like_him|newspaper=The Florida Times-Union|date= November 21, 2009 |access-date=December 13, 2010}}
In 2010 Collier featured in the documentary film The 904, which discusses Jacksonville's murder rate and the city's attempts to reduce it.{{cite news |title=Jacksonville movie about murders leaves some shaken|first= Tia|last= Mitchell|newspaper= The Florida Times-Union|date= December 17, 2009|url= http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-05-29/story/local-movie-about-murders-leaves-some-shaken|access-date=October 18, 2010}}
Collier married his long-time girlfriend Chandra Baker in November 2010. With the aid of a prosthetic limb and a specially designed body brace, he was able to stand for the ceremony.{{cite web |url= http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/16/ex-jaguar-richard-collier-makes-most-important-stand/|title= Ex-Jaguar Richard Collier Makes Most Important Stand|author= Jim Henry|date= November 16, 2010|work= nfl.fanhouse.com|access-date=December 13, 2010}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/sports/football/13collier.html Paralyzed, Jaguars’ Collier Is Still Smiling ]
{{2004 Valdosta State Blazers football navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Richard}}
Category:Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana
Category:American football offensive tackles
Category:Tyler Junior College alumni
Category:Valdosta State Blazers football players
Category:Jacksonville Jaguars players