Rison, Andre P.
Football
b. March 18, 1957, Flint, MI
Rison was chosen by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft after playing at Michigan State. He caught 52 passes for 820 yards and 4 touchdowns as a rookie and was then traded to the Atlanta Falcons.
In four seasons with Atlanta, Rison caught 81 or more passes each year, with a high of 93 in 1992, when he gained 1,119 yards and scored 11 touchdowns on receptions. Rison was named to The Sporting News all-pro team in 1990 and played in four straight Pro Bowls.
In 1995, Rison signed with the Cleveland Browns as a free agent, but he was cut after catching just 47 passes in his one season there. He then joined the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Jacksonville waived him after 10 games. He played the final five games for the Green Bay Packers, who had lost two starting receivers to injury. In Super Bowl XXXI, Rison caught a 54-yard touchdown pass for the first score in a 35-21 victory over the New England Patriots.
However, the Packers didn't re-sign him and he went to the Kansas City Chiefs for three seasons. He finished his NFL career with the Oakland Raiders in 2000. He was suspended by the NFL for four games in 2001 because of a repeat violation of the league's substance abuse policy, and no team was willing to sign him after that.
Rison's career was repeatedly marred by off-the-field problems. In 1994, his girlfriend, the late vocalist Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, burned down their mansion in Atlanta and was convicted of arson. Later, he was ordered to pay $90,000 in back child support to his wife in Michigan and more than $100,000 to a Georgia woman who had fathered two of his children.
In 2004, a Georgia judge ordered Rison's arrest for contempt of court because he still hadn't made his support payments in that state. Shortly afterward, Rison signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, a move viewed by some as an attempt to escape his legal problems in the United States.