Rick Bailey is a legend among his contemporaries because of his wide variety of athletic skills. At various times at Napa High, Bailey was a heavyweight wrestler, a tennis player, a power-hitting baseball catcher and an All-North Bay League two-way football tackle. In his college days, he added linebacker in football and world-class rugby player to his list of achievements. As a sophomore in high school, Bailey was a heavyweight wrestler and number two or three singles player on the NBL championship tennis team, in addition to playing tight end and defensive end on the football team. He was captain of the baseball team as a junior and suffered a broken leg that threatened to keep him out of football in the fall, yet he followed his NBL honorable mention season as a nose guard by earning All-North Bay League honors and All-Redwood Empire honors as a tackle for Napa’s NBL co-champs. In his senior year, Bailey led the baseball team in batting. Bailey accepted a football scholarship to BYU of the many offered to him, and played one year as a varsity linebacker before returning to California and earning All-Mission Conference honors as a linebacker for San Bernardino Valley College. He then went to U.C. Berkeley and excelled in football and rugby. After college, he played many years on the Old Blues rugby team that was seven times national champions. He played on the National Rugby team all over the world and was a member of the first World Cup team.
