Who is Kansas City Chiefs star Tony Richardson, owner of raccoon-infested house?
Tony Richardson hasn’t played for the Kansas City Chiefs in 16 years, but he’s back in the news for a dilapidated, abandoned house he still owns in Overland Park.
The house at 8006 W. 121st Terrace, with rotted wood and water damage, soffits collapsed under the weight of raccoon feces, sold last month at auction for $278,000, Johnson County records show.
The former Chiefs fullback known as T-Rich — an 11-season player from 1995 to 2005 and a member of the team’s Hall of Fame — had failed to pay some $48,000, at least seven years’ worth, of property taxes and fines, and the house went into foreclosure.
Neighbors have been sharing photos and complaints on a private Facebook page set up as “T.rich to T.rash.”
Richardson came to the Chiefs from the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 and worked his way into becoming a two-time Pro Bowler and a Kansas City icon. In 2005 he threw the switch for the Mayor’s Christmas Tree at Crown Center.
The following year he moved on to the Minnesota Vikings and later played for the New York Jets. He retired in 2011 and stayed in New York — his address is currently listed as Long Island City. In 2016, he was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame.
“Richardson made as much of an impact in the Kansas City community through his Rich in Spirit Foundation as he did on the football field,” The Star said then. “His foundation benefited the Special Olympics, Athletes in Action, City Union Mission, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City and other organizations.”
But during his years in Kansas City, trouble was brewing. Richardson bought the house on 121st Terrace not long after arriving in town. He lived there for several years before buying another home in Leawood in 2003 on 139th Street, at which point he put the 121st Terrace property up for rent.
Richardson borrowed $741,000 to purchase the Leawood home. That house, in 2015, was also bought out of foreclosure after Richardson failed to pay the nearly $600,000 he owed on the house.
In 2015 in Jackson County, he was ordered to pay Halls, the department store, $20,000 he owed. In 2014, he was also sued in Johnson County for paternity and child support of a daughter.
The Star’s phone messages to Richardson last week were not returned.
