Richard Dent

CTL-E-6837 · Person · other · contemporary

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07709 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6837.

Richard Dent was a defensive end whose rise from late-round draft pick to Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Famer is one of the great scouting stories in Chicago Bears history. An Atlanta native who starred at Tennessee State University from 1979 to 1982 under coach John Merritt, Dent was selected by the Bears only in the eighth round of the 1983 NFL Draft, with the 203rd overall pick. He developed into the franchise's all-time sack leader — the Bears credit him with a franchise-record 124.5 sacks across twelve of his fifteen NFL seasons in Chicago — and was the outstanding player of the 1985 Bears' championship run: Tennessee State's account records that in Super Bowl XX he recorded 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a blocked pass in Chicago's 46–10 victory over New England and was named the game's Most Valuable Player, one of only a handful of defensive players so honored. Dent was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

The record

• Also known as: Richard Lamar Dent

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0403. Born in Atlanta, Georgia — no 'from Chicago' relationship is emitted. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Dent's record carries a double significance for CTL — an HBCU (Tennessee State) product who became Super Bowl XX MVP and a Hall of Famer after being drafted 203rd overall; the cleared photograph is a 2025 U.S. Marine Corps image, not a playing-era image, and should be captioned as such wherever it is displayed.

Relationships

• Chicago Bears — played for
  Dent played 12 of his 15 NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and is the franchise's all-time sack leader.
• Chicago Bears — drafted by
  Selected by the Bears in the eighth round (203rd overall) of the 1983 NFL Draft.

Sources

• Chicago Bears, 'Bears struck gold throughout '83 draft,' chicagobears.com, April 25, 2014, https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-struck-gold-throughout-83-draft-12919584 (accessed 2026-11-03). (build store)
• Tennessee State University Newsroom, 'Football Names Hall of Famer Richard Dent Special Advisor to Reggie Barlow,' tnstatenewsroom.com, https://tnstatenewsroom.com/football-names-hall-of-famer-richard-dent-special-advisor-to-reggie-barlow/ (accessed 2026-11-03). (build store)
• Pro Football Hall of Fame, 'Bears Gold Jackets to Receive HOF Rings on Monday Night,' profootballhof.com, https://www.profootballhof.com/news/bears-gold-jackets-to-receive-hof-rings-on-monday-night (accessed 2026-11-03). (primary source · build store)

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Record CTL-E-6837 · Combined Graph record U-07709 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 2 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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