When I hear the name Dot Richardson, I immediately think of the NFL Network documentary series A Football Life… I just replace the title with Dot Richardson: A Softball Life. At a young age, Dot was a trendsetter as a player and continues to impact the game as a collegiate coach… in between, she just happened to become an orthopedic surgeon among other great accomplishments.

(Dot Richardson competing for Team USA in the Olympic Games. Photo Credit – Adelphi University)

At the ripe age of 10, Dot began playing softball for the Union Park Jets in Orlando, FL. The Jets were an adult softball team with an average player age of 22! Three years later, she joined the Orlando Rebels, a professional women’s fastpitch team. Dot was the bat girl for the Rebels the year before and was given her chance to play the following year. When asked about the experience of playing in her first professional game at age 13, she recalled the details as if it happened yesterday. “It was the bottom of the 4th, and I went in to play defense. There was a one-hop liner hit to me, and I fielded the ball and made the play for the third out of the inning. I came up to bat in the top of the fifth and got a base hit up the middle, and that solidified my spot on the team. Marge Ricker, my coach with the Rebels at the time, showed great faith in me, and I could never thank her enough for the opportunity. She taught us to enjoy the game but to also respect the game and our teammates.” At age 13, Dot became the youngest player in the Women’s Major Fastpitch League.

(Dot Richardson – Pintrest)

Richardson lettered in softball, basketball, track, and volleyball at Colonial High School in Orlando, graduating in 1979. She helped lead the United States to a gold medal in the 1979 Pan American Games after accepting a scholarship to play softball at Western Illinois University. In 1981, after one year as an All-American at Western Illinois, Richardson transferred to UCLA, where she played from 1981-83. Richardson led UCLA in hitting from 1981-83 and helped lead the Bruins to a National Championship in 1982. After graduating from UCLA, Dot helped the U.S. to gold medals in three more Pan American Games (1987, 1995, and 1999) and earned gold medals in softball during the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. When asked what the greatest playing moment of her storied career was, Dot said, “Standing on the podium with 14 of my teammates receiving my first gold medal in the 1996 Olympics, fulfilling a dream I had since age 7 after watching a United States pole vaulter receive their gold medal.”

(Dot Richardson celebrating at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She holds up her Gold Medal. Photo Credit – Yahoo Sports.)

After her playing days concluded with a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, Richardson worked as the medical director of the National Training Center in Clermont from 2001-2012. In 2013, Richardson was offered and accepted the head softball coaching position at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Richardson said, “God led me there, and I feel that I’m fulfilling the Lord’s purpose at Liberty.” Since taking over at Liberty, Richardson has led the Flames to a record of 420-282 while leading them to 5 NCAA tournament berths.

When asked if she ever thought that softball would have the popularity it has today, Richardson said, “No, but I definitely dreamt of it becoming so popular, and even more so, the opportunities for coaching and the facilities in which the teams get to play.” Richardson was quick to credit her parents along with coaches Marge Ricker and Ralph Raymond for the opportunities to play so early in her career.

(Dot Richardson – USA Softball.)

Richardson’s Lake County ties aren’t just to the National Training Center in Clermont. Richardson spearheaded the first Spring Games in 2008, which took place at Legends Way Ballfields in Clermont and included 48 collegiate teams from different areas of the northern U.S. These games provided an opportunity for teams in the northern part of the United States to play as many as 10 or more games during the months of February and March. The Spring Games have exploded over the last 16 years and now host upwards of 300 teams playing over 1,500 games at parks in Auburndale, Winter Haven, Clermont, Madeira Beach, and our very own Sleepy Hollow fields in Leesburg! Richardson passed the torch to her niece, Alison Strange, in 2014, but the Spring Games are alive and bigger than ever. The games provide a great opportunity for early-season softball for teams hailing from the cold and snowy regions of the northern U.S., but they also provide an economic boost for Lake and surrounding counties.

For all her contributions to the local community, both on and off the field, we’d like to say THANK YOU, DOT! Thank you for being a trendsetter in the game of softball and in the community. We’re eager to see what the future holds because we know you’re going to continue doing great things.