Ryan Leymone Bethea (born March 26, 1967) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

and was selected by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

in the fifth round of the 1988 NFL

supplemental draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

. He later played two seasons with the

Charlotte Rage The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They were members of the Arena Football League from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and t ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL).

Early life and college

Ryan Leymone Bethea was born on March 26, 1967, in

Dillon, South Carolina Dillon is a city in Dillon County in eastern South Carolina, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Dillon County. It was established on December 22, 1888. Both the name of the city and county comes from James W. Dillon, an ear ...

. He attended

Richland Northeast High School Richland Northeast High School is a public high school in Columbia, South Carolina. Richland Northeast, often abbreviated as RNE, RNH, or RNHS, was founded in 1978 to handle the excessive population of students at Spring Valley High School. ...

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

. Bethea was a three-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

from 1985 to 1987. In 1988, he was suspended indefinitely from the Gamecocks over drug-related charges. He also lost his amateur status after letting an agent pay for a trip.

Professional career

Bethea was selected by the

in the fifth round of the 1988

NFL supplemental draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

. He signed with the Vikings on October 17, 1988. On October 20, the ''

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'' reported that the Vikings had two weeks to either activate Bethea or release him or they would lose his rights. He was promoted to the active roster in early November 1988. However, he did not play in any games for the Vikings and was placed on injured reserve in November with a pulled hamstring. Bethea played for the

from 1992 to 1993, recording 118 receptions and 24 touchdowns on 1,330 receiving yards. He earned AFL All-Star honors in 1993.

Coaching career

Bethea was head coach of the

Bergen Storm {{Infobox sports team , team = Bergen Storm , logo = Bergenstorm.png , pixels = 250px , founded = 1992 , league = Division II , history = Bergen Blackhawks (1992)Bergen Storm (1993-present) , aren ...

from 2009 to 2010.

References

External links

Stats Crew profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethea, Ryan Living people 1967 births Players of American football from Columbia, South Carolina American football wide receivers South Carolina Gamecocks football players Minnesota Vikings players Charlotte Rage players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen