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OFF the cuff w/claiborne howard richards
In his football career, Howard Richards was an All-American offensive lineman at the Universit y of Missouri and went on to be a first-round draft choice. He blocked for Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett and played for the legendar y coach Tom Landr y. When it came time to leave the field, he tackled quite a different challenge: working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Now, Howard finds himself quite busy with less cover t ac tivities like ser ving as a color analyst for the Missouri Tiger Football Radio Network . WHAT WA S A BIG “OH BROTHER ’ MOMENT FROM YOUR TIME IN THE NFL? During the NFC championship game my rookie year, we were playing against the 49ers. Ever y thing was going prett y well at half time when we went back to the locker room. We were waiting for Coach Landr y to do his thing, and I realized there was a black sheet draped over something that wasn’ t there before we went out for the opening kickoff. There was a place where the drape had fallen away, and I saw it was covering boxes of Champagne that had been set out in anticipation that we won. I knew my seeing it was a bad omen, and we ended up losing the game by one point . WHICH JOB KEP T YOU UP AT NIGHT MORE , THE NFL OR CIA? You do not want to get beat by a defensive linebacker that ends up getting your quar terback sacked. Talk about pressure. Nothing compares to playing in front of 80,000 people, and when you screw up, you have to read about it in the paper, deal with your neighbors and friends, and then sit through the coaches meeting and get yelled at . Forget ever y thing else; that ’s the most stressful thing I’ ve ever experienced. I’d rather have bullets flying at me than screw up on a football field. BE T WEEN TRAVELING FOR THE NFL , CIA , AND MIZ ZOU FOOTBALL , IS IT SAFE TO SAY YOU HAVE SEEN A LOT OF THE WORLD? Traveling for the CIA was incredible. I’ ve been to between 45 and 55 countries on five continents. It ’s amazing to get to meet and interact with people from different cultures, see how the rest of the world lives and, most impor tantly, learn to appreciate what it ’s like living in the United States. TOP THREE PL ACES YOU WERE SURPRISED ABOUT WHEN YOU VISITED AND THE THREE PL ACES YOU WOULD PREFER NE VER TO VISIT AGAIN? I was surprised about Cape Town, South Africa, because of the sheer beaut y. I had no expectations about it . Traveling to Paris was ever y thing I had hoped it would be. The third would be Nor way; the beaut y, the mountains, the fjords, the food—it ’s all incredible. I do not care to go back to Gaza. There were some places in the Philippines where we saw horrible things, people really living with no hope. And lastly, old town New Delhi. YOU’RE 6’6.” WHERE DO YOU GE T YOUR CLOTHES? I do prett y much all of my shopping online. For casual stuff, I wear a lot of athletic apparel like Lululemon, Nike and Under Armour. All my dress wear and suits are tailor-made. OF THESE , WHAT DO YOU OWN: SILK PA JAMA S, A PIPE , AN A SCOT, COWBOY BOOTS AND HAT ? OR IS THERE SOME THING EL SE PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LE ARN YOU HAVE? I own none of those. It ’s not fashion-released, so I’m not sure it counts, but people would probably be surprised that I have a Segway.
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OCTOBER 6, 2021
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