Rich Eichhorst

Richard "Ike" Eichhorst (born October 21, 1933) is a retired professional basketball player from St. Louis, Missouri who played one game with the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the St. Louis Hawks during the 1961–62 season. Eichhorst scored two points, had three assists, and grabbed one rebound in ten minutes of action. He attended Southeast Missouri State College, now known as Southeast Missouri State University where he was a four-year letternman and First-Team all conference as a junior and senior. During Eichhorst's 1955-56 season, Eichhorst was voted Most Valuable Player and captain as well as setting a school single-game scoring record of 36 points, season scoring record of 333 points, and career points with 868. In 2009, Richard Eichhorst was inducted into the Southeast Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame.[1]

Eichhorst was an official in the American Football League, moving to the National Football League in 1970, the first season following the NFL-AFL merger. He resigned from the NFL at the conclusion of the 1970 campaign to concentrate on his career as a college basketball official, where he would carve out a lengthy and distinguished tenure officiating in the Big Eight and Missouri Valley conferences.

Eichhorst was the line judge on the crew of referee Bernie Ulman and wore uniform number 77 during his lone NFL season. His number and position were filled by Don Orr for 1971, although a shuffling of crew assignments moved Tommy Hensley to Ulman's crew as line judge in 1971, with Orr joining the crew of John McDonough. Eichhorst's number 77 was later worn by Mike Pereira, who served as the NFL's vice president of officiating from 2001–10 and is now a commentator for the NFL on FOX; and Terry McAulay, who served as referee for Super Bowl XXXIX, Super Bowl XLIII, and Super Bowl XLVIII.