By: Erin Madden
BEREA, Ohio - Although Randale Richmond ‘04 admits to not being the best hitter in baseball, he was fast and he played good defense in the outfield. So one of the assistant coaches asked Richmond if he would play for his football team the next fall.
Football then “really became my vehicle” - one that got Richmond to George Finnie Stadium at Baldwin Wallace University and on his way to becoming the Director of Athletics at Kent State University.
“When we played all the sports in the yard and in different neighborhoods, I mean football was always the thing you played in Ohio,” Richmond recalled. “You’re playing rugby style, free-for-all was the game we used to play. Throw the ball up, whoever catches it is the running back and you’ve got to try to get to the other end with everyone tackling you. We played a lot of that in rain, sleet or snow - sometimes all three at the same time.”
Richmond began to realize his athletic potential while in high school, playing up on junior varsity as a freshman and, eventually, becoming the Akron City Series Offensive Most Valuable Player as a senior. The first in his family to graduate high school, playing college football was an option. Richmond just didn’t know where yet.
Originally committed to NAIA Walsh University in Canton at the time, he decided to visit Baldwin Wallace to get out of AP English class one day. Working in the rec center at the time, David Painter ‘98 spotted Richmond on campus wearing his high school jersey and immediately had an idea.
“They asked our chaperone if I could go with them so I did, and they took me to (head football) coach Bob Packard ‘64,” Richmond said. “I met Bob Packard that day and he began to talk to me. After that, they started looking at my film. … That’s how I got introduced to football at BW. It was a snowy, cold day that I’m there on campus but, for some reason, it felt like the place I was supposed to be.”
In his Yellow Jacket career, Richmond was a three-year letterwinner at running back and played on special teams as a punt and kick returner. He also competed in track and field for one season.
However, a majority of his success came off the football field. Richmond was both a first-team Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection and a Verizon Academic All-District IV selection; a resident assistant; and one of the University’s 10 Outstanding Seniors upon graduation, just to name a few things.
Majoring in education, Richmond thought he knew exactly how his career was going to shake out. He was going to be a math and history middle school teacher as well as a coach. However, while doing his senior year methods teaching, Richmond started to envision another career path.
“I found myself teaching to a test in those communities instead of educating and I wanted to be an educator,” Richmond explained. “I didn’t feel like that was going to be a match for me. I felt like I was going to be one of the people burned out in five years.”
A conversation with Denise Reading, former vice president of student affairs, led Richmond to the higher education program at Kent State with a few different opportunities at his fingertips.
“I had an opportunity to either be an RA or a hall director here at Kent,” Richmond explained. “I was going to work for Upward Bound because I had worked for Upward Bound for many years at BW or (the) athletics opportunity. When it came to the athletics opportunity, it was the one I knew the least about in terms of administration but I love sports. So I wanted that one.”
Richmond started as a graduate assistant for compliance and eligibility in the fall of 2004 and spent over a decade with the Golden Flashes, eventually moving his way up the ranks to Associate Athletic Director of Student-Athlete Academic Services & Compliance.
He then spent six years as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sport Administration and Student-Athlete Welfare at Old Dominion University before returning to Kent State in May as the new Director of Athletics.
“I grew so much at ODU and the perspective that I garnered there - from the campus, from the community, and the role that athletics plays on a college campus and the why for athletics - has me so eager to use the traditions that we had in the past and take us boldly into the future at Kent State Athletics,” Richmond said.
Confident in his purpose, Richmond will seek to make a lasting impact within the Kent State athletic department, within the campus community and beyond.
“I know God has put me in this position for a reason so it’s making sure that I live within that purpose,” Richmond said. “For me, it’s to be a transformational leader who has a positive impact on people’s lives that resonates well beyond sports. I know that’s why I’m here. I know that’s why I’m in this role, to have that type of positive impact on people so they can be their best selves.”