On Oct. 22, 2024, the Minnesota Vikings waived tight end Robert Tonyan and added outside linebacker and Naperville North High School alumnus Bo Richter to the active roster. This move by the Vikings caps a six-year journey for Richter, on what once seemed like an impossible path to a professional football career. Richter, who graduated from NNHS in 2019, became the seventh player to attend North and play in the NFL, and one of the many Huskie athletes to play professionally.
Richter’s story is a unique but inspiring one. Having gone from a varsity football Huskie to playing for the U.S. Air Force Academy, then being signed as an undrafted free agent to the Vikings practice squad, and now being elevated to the active 53-man roster, Richter’s football career continues to grow in success. What makes Richter’s story even more impressive is his late start: Richter only started playing football in his junior year of high school. Richter explains his different path to the NFL and how it made him into who he is today.
“Naperville North prepared me super well for just college in general… it let me focus on football. And just with Air Force, I think, it instills a lot of discipline in you. And obviously we had a good coaching staff, and they developed me well, just in terms of [being] a player,” Richter said.
While playing at Air Force, Richter recorded 84 career tackles, 11.5 career sacks and a conference leading 20 tackles for loss his senior year. His performance at a collegiate level garnered interest from NFL teams, and he was eventually picked up by the Vikings after the draft. Yet before all of these accomplishments, Richter was a Huskie. He recalls some of his favorite memories while playing for Naperville North and how it jump started his athletic journey.
“I remember we beat Huntley who was a good team, and that was a good one for me my senior year. And then beating Naperville Central my junior year was great, but I would honestly say, you know, the wins and all that are great, but I would just say the memories like the offseason program gave you more memories than even in season, just working hard with your buddies in the summer and all that stuff, that sticks with you, ” Richter said.
While this is just the beginning of Richter’s NFL career, he has already left a lasting impact on NNHS athletics as someone for aspiring athletes to look up to. Richter emphasizes how he believes that, with immense time and effort, anybody is capable of making it to the next level in their sport after high school.
“I do truly think that anybody can do it. Whether it’s JUCO, Division III, Division I, Power Five, Power Four, whatever it is, I do believe anyone can play in college… the biggest thing is [to] surround yourself with people who have the same goals and who have the same work ethic as you,” Richter said.
