Former Cowboys receiver, Super Bowl champion Golden Richards dead at 73

Golden Richards, a former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver whose touchdown sealed Super Bowl XII, died at his Utah home on Friday morning. He was 73.

Richards suffered congestive heart failure after battling health and drug abuse issues for years, according to Deseret News. 

“My uncle Golden passed away peacefully this morning,” Richards’ nephew Lance Richards posted on Facebook. “I will forever remember going hunting and talking Dallas Cowboy football. He was a kind and sweet soul and I’m so happy he’s not suffering anymore.

The Cowboys selected Richards in the second round of the 1973 NFL draft, where he’d become a valuable deep threat for star quarterback Roger Staubach

The former BYU and University of Hawaii standout caught a career-high five touchdowns in 1974 and, averaged more than 21 yards per catch in the 1975 and 1976 seasons. 

Richards emerged as a valuable asset during Dallas’ road to their second Super Bowl win in 1977.

He caught a 32-yard touchdown in the NFC Championship game against the Vikings, to open the scoring in a 23-6 win.

Cowboys head coach Tom Landry liked calling trick plays in big games.

In the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl against the Broncos, running back Robert Newhouse threw a pass to Richards for a 29-yard touchdown to cap off the scoring in a 27-10 win. 

“People always think of that game as the highlight of my career but it wasn’t,” Richards told the LA Times in 1993.

“Every game I played was the highlight. Having my mates hold me up in the huddle when I had just gotten nailed and the wind knocked out of me, that was the highlight. The camaraderie of the game, every game, that was the highlight.”

Richards was traded to the Bears during the 1978 season before an injury cut his 1979 season short. 

He later joined the Broncos in 1980 but retired after suffering another injury. 

He finished his NFL career with 2,136 yards on 122 receptions and 17 touchdowns.

Doug Richards told Deseret News that his brother had undergone four surgeries after he fell and broke his hip on Christmas Day in 2022.

Richards battled prescription drug and alcohol issues during and after his playing days, but was sober for the past 10 years, the outlet reported.

“I never took drugs to get high,” he said in 1993. “I took drugs because I couldn’t stand the pain.”

He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011.

“Seven or eight years of wear and tear on the football field for a 175-pound wide receiver who was concussed several times, too,” his brother Doug, a former BYU basketball star, told the outlet. “That obviously took its toll.”

Richards, who was divorced three times, is survived by two sons and a two-year-old grandson.