SPORTS

16 November 13, 2020 SPORTS “Time never stops for the great ones.” -Al Davis Sports return in the works

Administration, athletic directors examine possibilities

JESUS CORONEL

STAFF REPORTER

The Riverside City College Athletics Department has drafted a plan to have sports return in January, assuming the district is able to fund the testing necessary to keep student athletes safe and COVID-19 does not worsen.

Kaladon Stewart, RCC acting athletic director, was tasked with completing a cost-analysis of personal protective equipment, sanitation, disinfectant and testing for everyone involved in athletics.

“The challenge is definitely going to be the cost of testing,” Stewart said. “The nasal swab, or cheek swab, that is the gold standard for testing. That test is typically the test that is more cost prohibitive. So that will largely be one of the biggest determinants of our ability to compete.”

The Athletics Department has developed a comprehensive testing program for when students and employees return to practice. The athletic work group of the Riverside Community College District’s Safe Return Task Force is conducting a feasibility study to determine how the costs will be covered.

“Resources already budgeted for athletics would be used and any additional sources of support, as deemed appropriate,” FeRita Carter, RCC Student Services vice president, said via email.

ANIELA RUSSO

STAFF REPORTER

A long-time Riverside City College assistant football coach, has died at the age of 60.

Mike Richey coached at RCC for 15 years and specialized in coaching linebackers and defensive backs. His leadership helped the Tigers achieve an undefeated National championship in 2019, which was RCC’s first in 30 years.

“If anyone embodied RCC more and bled orange and black, it was Richey,” associate head coach James Kuk said.

Richey remains a strong presence of leadership in RCC Athletics. According to an RCC Athletics press release, he played the role of “son, father, husband, and mentor to countless studentathletes over the course of his career.”

Richey was not only involved

MATHEW ACOSTA | VIEWPOINTS The football field remains empty at Riverside City College on Nov. 10. It has been empty since March.

“Because everything is still in flux, the cost out of the testing and protective equipment has not been determined at this time.”

The return plan is a result of a collaboration between several different colleges and guidance from the district’s Safe Return Task Force and several different higher education athletics organizations, including the NCAA and the California Community College Athletic in school athletics. He was active in community social justice and advocated for juvenile offenders and foster children.

“Humility, Integrity, and social servant — that is what Mike Richey embodied,” Kuk said in the press release.

Richey began his career as an assistant football coach at North High School in Riverside in 1997.

He quickly rose in the ranks and was promoted to junior varsity head coach during his second season. Richey then began coaching the varsity program’s linebackers.

In the 15 years that Richey was with the RCC Tigers, he coached Zaire Anderson, who is now a linebacker for the Denver Broncos.

“He always stayed on his players,” Anderson said. “He was brutally honest. So honest that sometimes it made us laugh. Mike was more like a homeboy Association. Stewart has also been working with Mark Hartley, Norco College acting athletic director. The plan covers both colleges.

The association unveiled a contingency plan in July that allowed all college sports to return simultaneously in spring 2021. Fall sports would return during the spring as well if the plan survives COVID-19 developments. — well respected. He would contact me, check in on me like dad, a brother.”

Zair, who now lives in Nebraska, recalled how Richey embraced him and made him feel welcome despite his homesickness. He also remembers Richey as someone who made an enormous impact on him as an athlete and a person.

Richey’s love for football began early on. He was a first team all-conference cornerback at Redlands High school. He went on to play at Chapman University for one season, where he earned first team All-American honors.

The small college standout held an associate of arts degree in accounting and a bachelor of arts in business administration from Chapman.

“Mike was an outstanding assistant and very dedicated to the players,” head coach Tom Craft said in the press release. “It’s a huge loss for our program.

“These are big ‘ifs,’” Hartley said. “This might not happen at all. But if the county approves and the CCCAA approves, then we would come back January to begin training.”

RCC is in the Orange Empire Athletic Conference, which is made up mostly of colleges in Orange County, and Norco College is in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference. Orange County is currently in the less restrictive orange tier of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, while Riverside County receded to the more restrictive purple tier in October.

Practices while in the purple tier would be restricted to groups of 10 people engaging in noncontact activities outdoors. The red tier would have allowed groups of 25.

Stewart argued being in two different conferences has allowed for thoughts to be shared more easily across conferences between athletic directors.

“It allows us to have a broader picture of what our county is facing versus what a San Bernardino County might be facing or a Los Angeles County might be facing,” he said. “It’s actually helped to thoughtpartner on some of the ideas that are coming out of those areas.”

Although the athletic directors are hopeful for sports to return in spring 2021, Hartley said it may not be the case.

“All of our plans thus far have kind of been thwarted due to just COVID-19 rearing up again,” he said. “So we might not have any athletics until probably next fall.”

Carter said it is still too early to tell and that there are too many unknown factors at play to predict when sports will return.

“But know that one of the guiding principles for when sports will return is centered on the health and safety of all involved with athletics,” Carter

RCC assistant football coach dies Leaves behind legacy of strong leadership

said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RCC ATHLETICS Mike Richey is remembered as a mentor to countless athletes.