Your second pipin’ hot bowl of Stu — and Vikings rusher — this week.

Name: Rick Fenney

Nickname: the Ricker. I made that up.

Claim to Fame, Minnesota: a bruising fullback, Fenney was the Great White Hope that Vikings fans seem to embrace every so often. By this, I mean a lily-white player perceived to be getting by on such intangibles as “grit” and “guile” and “want-to,” rather than innate talent. In his previous incarnations, he was known as Keith Nord and Jim Gustafson. He lasted five seasons in the NFL, all with the Purple, and I remember him best for getting stuffed on the goal line twice in the 1987 NFC Championship game, leading to the Vikings settling for a chip shot field goal from Chuck Nelson and their postseason fate resting in the hands of one Darren Milo Nelson. CLANG!

Claim to Fame, Everywhere Else: is remembered quite fondly by University of Washington fans, apparently. Given that he repeatedly ran over Malibu, California real estate agent Brian Bosworth in the Orange Bowl, this is understandable and to be encouraged.

Where He Is Now: in big trouble. What, you thought a Vikings Hunt Down would end without an Embarrassing Off-Field Incident®? Have I taught you nothing? Over to you, Business Week: The record of ex-Minnesota Viking Rick Fenney illustrates the worst-case scenario. A running back from 1987 to 1991, Fenney worked during the 1990s for Norwest Investment Services Inc. and then briefly for Merrill Lynch & Co. in a San Diego suburb. In 2001 he opened a hedge fund operated by Fenney-McLean Capital Group Inc. He ran the fund until 2004 (NOTE FROM STU: TORTURED PUN ALERT!) but didn’t stay within bounds. Last Dec. 20 he pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court in San Diego, admitting he stole up to $2.5 million from the fund.

Per the US Department of Justice, he’s currently serving a 37-month prison sentence, and must pay restitution of $2,064,986. Fortunately, those NFL contracts are guarant—oh. Yeah, he’s toast.

Glorious Randomness: Snohomish (WA) High School can take pride in knowing that they’ve given the world both Rick Fenney and cannon-related injuries.

Talk Amongst Yourselves: man, did I hate Brian Bosworth. You did too, right?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Hunt Down, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.