Richard Caster, a three-time Pro Bowler with the Jets, passed away in his sleep Friday after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Caster was 75.
Over eight seasons with the Jets, Caster totaled 245 receptions, 4,434 yards and 36 touchdowns from 1970-77. The wide receiver turned tight end appeared in 107 games with New York’s AFC representative, making 98 starts and averaging 18.1 yards per catch. He also ran the ball 13 times and gained 65 yards for a 5.0 yards/carry figure.
“A gentle soul,” said former Jets WR Wesley Walker, a teammate of Caster’s in 1977. “He was a mentor to me from day one. I first saw Richard as a fan on Monday Night Football. Physically I was in awe of him. How can this dude at 6-5 play wide receiver? And he moved from TE to WR so effortlessly. I will miss the way he would say my name. He was one of the classiest teammates, a true professional and always a perfect gentleman.”
A second-round pick of the Green & White in 1970, Caster attended Jackson State before playing 13 seasons in the NFL. A star athlete at L.B. Williamson High in Mobile, AL, Caster told Kevin Blackistone in 2020 of his college decision in 1966 to play 200 miles away from the Gulf Coast in Mississippi’s capital of Jackson. He had an affinity for the University of Alabama, but the Crimson Tide didn’t play with a black player on its roster until 1971.
“Between Jackson and Mobile, there was a lot of highway,” Caster said in Blackistone’s Washington Post article. “And I used to drive home a couple, three times a year, and we knew there were places where we weren’t going to be able to stop and eat or anything. Forget McDonald’s and all that kind of stuff. You stopped at a service station, and by and large the service stations were owned by some white owner who [would] serve black kids, but they had to go around to the back, and there was a little window you could get your food. And you couldn’t eat there. You had to get back in your car and…
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