Rick Casares Richard Jose Casares ( born July 4 , 1931 ) is a former American college and professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League ( NFL ) and the American Football League ( AFL ) for twelve seasons in the 1950s and 1960s . Casares played college football for the University of Florida , and thereafter , he played professionally for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins of the NFL and the Miami Dolphins of the AFL . Early years . Rick Casares was born in Tampa , Florida in 1931 . When he was 7 years old , his father was killed in a gang - style murder ; his mother sent him to live with an aunt and uncle in New Jersey . At 15 , Casares became a Golden Gloves boxing champion . When he was offered a professional boxing contract , his mother refused to permit it , and he returned to Tampa . Casares attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Tampa , where his teachers introduced him to high school sports as a way to keep him in school . The Jefferson coaches discovered the 190 - pound , six - foot - one - inch freshman when he picked up a javelin for the first time and threw it . Casares played high school football , basketball , and baseball for the Jefferson Dragons , and he was also a track and field athlete . He was an all - state football and basketball player , and the Dragons won the city football championship in 1948 and 1949 . " The Tampa Tribune " recognized Casares as one the Tampa Bay area ' s 100 greatest athletes of the previous century in 1999 . In 2007 , fifty - seven years after he graduated from high school , the Florida High School Athletic Association ( FHSAA ) recognized him as one of the thirty - three all - time greatest Florida high school football players of the last 100 years by naming him to its " All - Century Team . " College career . After graduating from high school , Casares received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville , Florida , and he played fullback for coach Bob Woodruff ' s Florida Gators football team from 1951 to 1953 . Casares quickly became the star rusher of the Gators ' backfield . As a 210 - pound , six - foot - two - inch sophomore in 1952 , he scored the first touchdown of the Gators ' first bowl game , a 14 – 13 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the January 1 , 1953 Gator Bowl , and was a second - team All - Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) selection and an honorable mention All - American . In 1953 , he was a team captain . Woodruff ranked Casares as the Gators ' best back and one of their three best kickers of the 1950s . Casares was also a member of coach John Mauer ' s Florida Gators basketball team , and led the team in scoring and rebounding with 14 . 9 points and 11 . 3 rebounds as a sophomore in 1951 – 52 and 15 . 5 points and 11 . 5 rebounds as a junior in 1952 – 53 . In basketball , he was a third - team All - SEC selection in 1952 ; as basketball team captain in 1953 , he received second - team All - SEC honors . Casares ' college career was cut short when he was drafted into the U . S . Army after his junior year . He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a " Gator Great . " As part of an article series for " The Gainesville Sun " in 2006 , he was recognized as No . 37 among the top 100 players of the first 100 years of Florida Gators football . Professional career . Casares was selected in the second round ( eighteenth pick overall ) of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears , and , after fulfilling his military service obligations , he played for the Bears from to . Casares led Chicago in rushing from through . In , Casares led the NFL in rushing with 235 carries for 1 , 126 yards . At the time , this was the second most yards gained in a single season in the NFL . Behind Casares ' hard - nosed rushing , the Bears advanced to the 1956 NFL Championship Game . However , the Bears ' championship game opponents , the New York Giants , completely stifled Casares and crushed the Bears , 47 – 7 . During the following season , Casares again led the NFL with 204 rushing attempts , but his 700 yards was eclipsed by Jim Brown ' s 942 yards on two fewer carries . After ten seasons with Chicago , Casares was the Bears ' all - time leading rusher with 1 , 386 carries , 5 , 657 yards , and forty - nine rushing touchdown s . His Chicago Bears rushing records weren ' t broken until Walter Payton shattered them in the 1980s , and he remains the third all - time rusher in franchise history , immediately behind Payton ( 16 , 726 yards ) and Neal Anderson ( 6 , 166 yards ) , and immediately ahead of Gayle Sayers ( 4 , 956 yards ) . Casares finished his professional career with the NFL ' s Washington Redskins in , and in with the AFL ' s Miami Dolphins , receiving only limited carries in his final two seasons .