Gabriel Rivera

Gabriel "Señor Sack" Rivera (born April 7, 1961) is a former American college and professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for a single season in 1983. Rivera played college football for Texas Tech University, and earned All-American honors. Rivera was a first round pick in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Rivera attended Texas Tech University, and played for the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team from 1979 to 1982. He earned the nickname "Señor Sack," and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American as a senior in 1983.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Rivera in the first round (sixteenth pick overall) of the 1983 NFL Draft. Rivera's selection was notable because the Steelers decided to pass on hometown hero and University of Pittsburgh quarterback Dan Marino as an heir apparent to Terry Bradshaw. The decision was made to rebuild from the defensive side as they did a decade earlier with "Mean Joe" Greene. Rivera was considered to be one of the fastest defensive linemen coming out of college.

As the 1983 season progressed, Rivera slowly began to come on. But tragedy struck on October 20, 1983, when Rivera was paralyzed in drunk driving car wreck. The then-22 year-old, was treated for head, neck, chest and abdominal injuries. The accident occurred at 9:00 p.m. in Ross Township, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh. At the time, Gabriel was married to Kimberly Covington; they had son Timothy Rivera three weeks later, on November 11, 1983.

He currently resides in San Antonio, Texas with his second wife.

He was named to the National Football Foundation&College Hall of Fame in May 2012.

1982 College Football All-America Team consensus selections

Offense	QB John Elway RB Eric Dickerson RB Mike Rozier RB Herschel Walker WR Anthony Carter TE Gordon Hudson OT Jim Covert OT Don Mosebar G Steve Korte G Bruce Matthews C Dave Rimington

Defense	DL George Achica DL Rick Bryan DL Wilber Marshall DL Vernon Maxwell DL Mike Pitts DL Gabriel Rivera DL Billy Ray Smith, Jr. LB Ricky Hunley LB Marcus Marek LB Darryl Talley DB Terry Hoage DB Terry Kinard DB Mike Richardson

Special teams	K Chuck Nelson P Jim Arnold

1983 NFL Draft First Round Selections

John Elway Eric Dickerson Curt Warner Chris Hinton Billy Ray Smith Jimbo Covert Todd Blackledge Michael Haddix Bruce Matthews Terry Kinard Tim Lewis Tony Hunter James Jones Jim Kelly Tony Eason Mike Pitts Leonard Smith Willie Gault Joey Browner Gary Anderson Gabriel Rivera Gill Byrd Jim Jeffcoat Ken O'Brien Dave Rimington Don Mosebar Dan Marino Darrell Green

Draft years 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

Pittsburgh Steelers first-round Draft selections

Bill Shakespeare Mike Basrak Byron "Whizzer" White Kay Eakin Bill Dudley Bill Daley Johnny Podesto Paul Duhart Doc Blanchard Hub Bechtol Dan Edwards Bobby Gage Lynn Chandnois Butch Avinger Ed Modzelewski Ted Marchibroda Johnny Lattner Frank Varrichione Gary Glick Art Davis Len Dawson Jack Spikes Bob Ferguson Paul Martha Dick Leftridge Mike Taylor Joe Greene Terry Bradshaw Frank Lewis Franco Harris J. T. Thomas Lynn Swann Dave Brown Bennie Cunningham Robin Cole Ron Johnson Greg Hawthorne Mark Malone Keith Gary Walter Abercrombie Gabriel Rivera Louis Lipps Darryl Sims John Rienstra Rod Woodson Aaron Jones Tim Worley Tom Ricketts Eric Green Huey Richardson Leon Searcy Deon Figures Charles Johnson Mark Bruener Jamain Stephens Chad Scott Alan Faneca Troy Edwards Plaxico Burress Casey Hampton Kendall Simmons Troy Polamalu Ben Roethlisberger Heath Miller Santonio Holmes Lawrence Timmons Rashard Mendenhall Ziggy Hood Maurkice Pouncey Cameron Heyward David DeCastro

AFC East BUF MIA NE NYJ North BAL CIN CLE PIT South HOU IND JAC TEN West DEN KC OAK SD NFC East DAL NYG PHI WAS North CHI DET GB MIN South ATL CAR NO TB West ARI STL SF SEA

Persondata
Name	Rivera, Gabriel
Alternative names	Rivera, Adrian Gabriel; Rivera, A. Gabriel
Short description	All-American college football player, professional football player, defensive lineman
Date of birth	April 7, 1961
Place of birth	Crystal City, Texas, United States
Date of death
Place of death

Famous quotes containing the word gabriel:

“I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.”
—Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)