National Football Foundation

A Cincinnati native, Richard Deller served as co-captain of the 1963 Illinois Big Ten Championship team, which beat Washington, 17-7, in the 1964 Rose Bowl. He was a member of the 1962 Academic All-Big Ten team with a 4.6 GPA in mechanical engineering. Deller served as the starting guard for the Illini for three seasons, playing a total of 588 minutes as a sophomore and junior.

He had 21 A’s in his last 22 courses, and he won freshman and junior class honors and the Bronze Tablet, for university honors, in 1963. Boasting a 4.6 GPA, Deller was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1964, bestowed annually at each conference school to a male and female senior student-athlete who demonstrates proficiency in scholarship and athletics. After receiving his degree in mechanical engineering, he spent 30 years as an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Bradley University (Ill.)