Richard Alan Rhoden (1953- ) was born in Boynton Beach, where he developed osteomyelitis, a childhood bone disease, in one leg. Although wearing a brace kept him out of organized sports until he was twelve, Rhoden played ball with his older brother, Bill, who was later drafted by the Atlanta Braves, and their father, Tom Rhoden, who had competed for Boynton Beach in the Coast Glades Sunday semi-pro league.
After Rick recovered from osteomyelitis with one leg shorter than the other, he played American Legion baseball. At Seacrest High School (renamed Atlantic High in 1970) in Delray Beach, he excelled in both basketball and baseball. Rhoden was chosen by the National League’s Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round of the 1971 amateur draft and played minor league baseball for just three years before the Dodgers moved him into the major league. The first of two times he was chosen for the National League All-Star team, the City of Boynton Beach added to their welcome signs, “Home of Dodgers pitcher Rick Rhoden. ”
In 1979 Rhoden was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates and, at his request, to the New York Yankees in the American League in 1987. Rhoden returned to the National League in 1989 with the Houston Astros, which granted him free agency. He won the National League Silver Slugger Award in three consecutive years and was called the best hitting pitcher of his era, due in part to his eleven-game hitting streak in 1984. Before spring training each year, Rhoden returned to Atlantic High School to pitch to the baseball team during practice. He was inducted into the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
Rhoden turned to golf, where he was the best player on the Celebrity Players Tour, winning 45 tournaments, averaging just over 70 strokes per round, and earning over $2 million dollars. He played a number of Champions Tour events, where he had top-ten finishes in 2003, 2005, and 2006, and qualified for the U. S. Senior Open Championship.