Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

Don Richardson played four years on the Eastern baseball team for longtime coach Turkey Hughes.  Richardson played from 1952 through 1954 before entering the United States Army following his junior season.  During his freshman and sophomore seasons at Eastern he was 5-1 and 4-1 on the mound.  In the 1954 season, he helped lead the team to its third Ohio Valley Conference championship in a five-year span, going 8-3 on the mound.  Richardson returned to pitch his senior year for Eastern in 1957 and had a 5-2 record on the year.  On the mound, he compiled a career pitching record of 22-7 at Eastern.  During his time in the U.S. Army, he made a stellar contribution pitching for the U.S. Armed Forces team, pitching for the Camp Losey baseball team that captured the 1955 Caribbean Command Championship.  Following his graduation from Eastern in 1957, Richardson began his superb baseball coaching career at his alma mater, Madison Central High School, while also coaching basketball.  He spent the next 35 years coaching the Indians’ baseball team.  His 1982 squad at Madison Central went 40-0, won the Kentucky State High School championship and was awarded by USA Today the National High School Baseball Championship.  In 1986, Richardson was voted National Coach of the Year by the National Baseball Coaches Association.  He finished his career with a 952-157 coaching record at Madison Central and his 85.8 winning percentage still ranks No. 1 in KHSAA history.  At the time of his induction, Richardson ranked sixth on the all-time state career coaching victories list with 962.  He was named Kentucky High School Baseball Coach of the Year in 1982 and 1983.  Richardson was inducted into the National Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1998, was inducted into the Dawahare’s Kentucky High School Athletics Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Kentucky Baseball Hall of Fame.  In his 16-year basketball coaching career at Madison Central, he won more than 350 games and led the Indians to their first state tournament appearance in 1987, reaching the semifinals.