USN Black History Month Sports Spotlight

By John Posey, USN

Pete Richardson (born October 17, 1946) is a former defensive back in the National Football League and former college head coach. He is considered one of the best HBCU football coaches to ever prowl the sidelines.

Richardson played college football at the University of Dayton. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round of the 1968 NFL Draft. He played for the Bills for three years until a knee injury ended his playing career.

Richardson began his 30-year coaching career at the high school level in Dayton, Ohio. In 1988, Richardson became the head coach of the Winston-Salem State University Rams. He served from 1988 to 1992, where he compiled a win-loss record of 41-14-1, winning three Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) conference championships (1988, 1990, 1991) and led the Rams to two appearances in the Division II football playoffs in 1990 and 1991.

Richardson accepted the Head Coaching position in 1993. During his tenure, Southern won five Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) titles, including back-to-back-to-back crowns in 1997, 1998, 1999, and the 2003, as well four Black college football national championships (1993, 1995, 1997, 2003). His teams also made six appearances in the now defunct Heritage Bowl. Richardson compiled a win-loss record of 134-62-0 in 17 seasons as Head Coach, making him the second winningest coach in the history of the Southern Jaguars football program behind coach Arnett Mumford. He is the only coach in the history of the Southern University football program to have the unique distinction go undefeated against College Football Hall Of Fame coach Eddie Robinson of Grambling State University Tigers in the Bayou Classic.

Richardson won four national Black College National titles. He has won the Black Coaches Association's Coach of the Year in 1998, five-time SWAC Coach of the Year (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2003), Atlanta's 100% Wrong Club's Coach of the Year (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2003), Washington D.C.'s Pigskin Club's Coach of the Year (1995, 1998 and 2003), the Kodak Region IV Coach of the Year (1995) and the Sheridan Broadcasting Network's Coach of the Year (1997 and 2003).

Coach Richardson was inducted into the Winston-Salem Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.