Richard Adam “Dick” Bielski, a Baltimore Colts place-kicker who later grew to become a crew coach, died of most cancers Oct. 15 at his Ruxton dwelling. He was 91.
“He grew up in East Baltimore during the 1940s, a chunky Polish kid who used to bound down the marble steps of his family’s home on Madeira Street and race the half-block to Patterson Park to play pickup football games until dark,” The Sun wrote about him in 2014. “If I was there alone, I’d take the ball, kick and chase after it,” Mr. Bielski instructed the paper.
He was the son of Adam Bielski, a stevedore, and Stella Kuchtaik, a homemaker.
Mr. Bielski starred at was then known as Patterson Park High School and went on to the University of Maryland. He was a first-round draft decide within the NFL.
“Irv Biasi [Patterson Park’s then coach] stopped me in the hallway one day and said, ‘How come you’re not out for football?’” Mr Bielski mentioned in 2014. “I instructed him I labored at Phil’s Bakery on Gough Street after faculty. So he acquired my work hours modified.
“After that, I’d get up at 4:30 every morning, load the truck and deliver buns and bread to Curtis Bay and Locust Point. Then I’d go to school and then to practice. I barely had time to brush my teeth. But if Irv hadn’t made me play, God knows where I would have been. That man molded my life.”
At Patterson Park, Mr. Bielski led a crew that received 29 video games straight, trampling Baltimore City College and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and whoever else would face the Clippers. The 1948 crew was not scored on, The Sun’s 2014 story mentioned.
Mr. Bielski mentioned that then University of Maryland coach Jim Tatum got here to the Bielski household dwelling and instructed his mom if he performed for the University of Southern California, which was providing a scholarship, he’d “get involved with all of those starlets.”
“When he left, Mom said, ‘You’re going to Maryland,’” Mr. Bielski instructed The Sun.
He helped the Terps to 35 victories in 41 video games, a nationwide championship in 1953 and a Sugar Bowl victory his freshman 12 months.
Mr. Bielski was the ninth participant chosen within the 1955 draft and signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, who transformed him to tight finish. He then went to the fledgling Dallas Cowboys, the place he made the Pro Bowl in 1961.
He moved to the Baltimore Colts in 1962 and caught 15 passes — two for touchdowns — and made 11 of 25 field-goal makes an attempt, 4 of them in opposition to the champion Green Bay Packers.
He then grew to become the crew’s vast receiver coach in 1964.
“He worked under head coach Don Shula defeating the Cowboys in Super Bowl V,” mentioned his daughter, Debbie Bielski.
In 1973, he joined what’s right now the Washington Commanders earlier than returning to Baltimore as vast receiver coach.
In 1983, he served because the offensive coordinator for the Washington Federals within the United States Football League and in 1984 grew to become the crew’s head coach.
“I remember the 1970 Super Bowl [between the Colts and Cowboys], which came down to rookie Jim O’Brien’s field goal. I coached the kickers, and when Jim lined up for the [32-yard] kick, I leaned over to [assistant coach] Bobby Boyd in the press box and said, ‘This is a lock, we are champions!’” Mr. Bielski mentioned in 2014.
He met his future spouse, Johan “Jo” Mazzadri in highschool and so they married in 1952.
“The were school sweethearts and they had a lifelong love story,” mentioned his daughter.
He is survived by two daughters, Debbie Bielski and Jody Bielski; two sons, Ricky Bielski and Randy Bielski, all of Baltimore; a sister, Stephanie Bielski, of Hurlock; 9 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. His spouse died in 2018.
Services have been held Oct. 21 on the Ruck-Towson Funeral Home.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com