Ricky Lindsey is a 1964 Graduate of Sheffield High School. While there, he was a three sports athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. He was on the All-Tennessee Valley Conference Football Team in 1963.

 

Following high school, he was signed to a football scholarship to the University of North Alabama. He was a Little All-American in 1968.He had 149 career receptions, 12 touchdowns, 10 receptions in a single game and 52 receptions in a single season which still stands as a UNA record. He was also selected to the "first forty years" All-Time UNA Football Team in 1977, the All-Decade Team from 1959-1969, and to the UNA Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. 

 

Following his college career, Lindsey signed to play professional football with the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. He has coached football on the high school level, baseball on the college level, and was a helicopter pilot for the United States Army. He served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1972.