Hall of Fame
Richard J. Myers ’64 – Class of 1995
The teacher…
The ability to transfer knowledge marks a good teacher. The ability to make people realize the strength of their own character and spirit is something more profound…
Few athletes have come to the Heights with stronger athletic credentials than a young man who arrived from Buffalo in 1960. His high school career included a .498 batting average in baseball and most valuable player accolades in basketball. He made a mark in both sports at Le Moyne as well, hitting over .300 and leading his team in runs batted in, while starting on a basketball squad that earned an NCAA berth. He was a classic power forward: strong yet agile, with a deadly shot, and ability to drive and a talent for finding the open man inside.
Yet his contributions were not the sort accurately measured by statistics. His career at Le Moyne was a clear precursor to his life’s work. He played with his head, as well as his heart and body. The words of a fellow coach ring true: “He is nationally known as a great teacher of the game and a great educator of young people. He is the kind of coach that I would want my sons to play for.”
At West Point, at Catholic University, and today at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., he has transferred more than knowledge. He has built character and spirit. In one of the country’s most competitive basketball cities, he has accumulated more victories than any active coach. And he instills in his charges a work ethic and sense of self – worth that extend far beyond athletics. The fellow coach again hits the mark: “Many young men never would have made it without his touch.”
Coach of the year honors on the local and national levels, and an award for outstanding contributions to the game from the International Association of Basketball Officials demonstrate his teaching talent. The fact that in 20 years of high school coaching he has developed 33 young men who went on to captain their college teams demonstrates something even more significant.
Le Moyne’s vision for its athletic program is not rooted in statistics and wins and losses. Its worth lies in those more profound elements that have marked this coach’s career: athletic competition is a tool that, in the right hands, can be used to craft a person into more than they might have otherwise been.
Because no Le Moyne graduate has been more successful in helping young people realize the strength of their own character and spirit through athletic competition, it is fitting that Richard J. Myers ’64 is inducted into the Le Moyne College Athletic Hall of Fame.
February 4, 1995
