Dorne Allen Dibble (April 16, 1929 – March 1, 2018) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

(1951, 1953–1957). He attended

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. Dibble was the Lions' third-round draft pick in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

after starring at Michigan State where he earned

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

his senior year. The Lions converted him to receiver and the switch paid instant dividends. Dibble tied

Doak Walker Ewell Doak Walker II (January 1, 1927 – September 27, 1998) was an American football player who was a halfback and kicker. He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, winning the Maxwell Award in 1947 and the Heisman Trophy in 1948. H ...

's record for the most

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

receptions by a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

with six TD catches in 1951. Dibble also set the Lions' rookie record for yards per catch average that season at 20.4 – 30 catches for 613 yards. Dibble served the 1952 season in the military, but came back to star for the Lions from 1953 to 1957 and helped the Detroit win the

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football league (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national ...

s in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

and

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

. The Lions also went to the title game in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, the year Dibble led Detroit receivers and ranked fifth in the NFL with 46 receptions for 768 yards and six touchdowns. In his career, Dibble had 146 receptions for 2,552 yards – a 17.5 yards-per-catch average – and 19 TDs. Dibble died in

Northville, Michigan Northville is a township in Wayne and Oakland counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Northville is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, and northeast of Ann Arbor. As of the 2020 census, the city had ...

, on March 1, 2018, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the age of 88.Dorne Dibble, Lions world champ, Michigan State All-American, dies at 88
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NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

1929 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Adrian, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan American football wide receivers Michigan State Spartans football players Detroit Lions players {{widereceiver-1920s-stub