Former NFL wide receiver Lance Rentzel died Sunday in Virginia, Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News reports. Rentzel was 82.
Rentzel was a star at Oklahoma, earning first-team All-Big Eight honors and playing in the Senior Bowl and College All-Star Game after his senior season. The Vikings selected Rentzel in the second round of the 1965 NFL draft, and the Bills took him in the sixth round of the 1965 AFL draft. He signed with Minnesota, where he played two seasons.
After his second season, Rentzel exposed himself to two young girls on a St. Paul, Minnesota, playground. He pleaded guilty but served no jail time with the charges reduced to disorderly conduct after he promised to seek psychiatric treatment. The Cowboys traded him to the Rams in a three-team deal.
The Vikings traded him to the Cowboys for a third-round pick in the 1967 offseason.
Rentzel wrote in his biography, When All the Laughter Died in Sorrow, that he battled mental illness.
He was arrested again in November 1970 after exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl in Dallas. Rentzel pleaded guilty in 1971 and was sentenced to five years of probation and mandatory psychiatric care with no jail time. The Cowboys traded him to the Rams.
Rentzel played two seasons in Los Angeles before police raided his home and arrested him for possession of marijuana. He pleaded guilty, and because he was already on probation with the NFL, Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Rentzel for the 1973 season.
Rentzel returned in 1974 in what was his final season before retirement.
He played 115 games over nine seasons and totaled 268 receptions for 4,826 yards and 38 touchdowns and also contributed 26 rushes for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
Rentzel was married to and divorced from entertainer Joey Heatherton.
He is survived by brothers Del Rentzel and Chris Rentzel of Dallas, and a daughter, Jenny.
“To all who knew him,” his obit reads, via Sherrington, “Lance was larger than life – hilariously funny, unfailingly optimistic and happy, warm in spirit, and deeply loyal. He formed many close relationships over the years, most notably the enduring bonds that he shared with his teammates.”
