PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL 1 DOGGETT CIRCLE Leonard Rivers ’57 Thanks Coach Parker


with First-time Gift By Claire Burns


“WHEN I LEARNED that the College was planning to refurbish the wrestling room to honor Doug Parker, I didn’t hesitate,” says Leonard Rivers ‘57, about his decision to make his first gift to Springfield College—a leadership-level gift—to the project. “Coach Parker and the wrestling program were my ‘Linus blanket’ at a critical time in my life. He gave me direction, support, stability and a perspective on people that enabled me to have a tremendous career.” Rivers went on to a meteoric rise as a coach of high school and college football teams and college baseball teams, and also as community relations director for a professional basketball team. He was named New Jersey high school football coach of the year.


But, in the early 1950s, Rivers was an African-American kid from


Leonard Rivers


Princeton, N.J.,—a self-described “gym rat—with a dream of becoming a coach. At the recommendation of his high school coach, he applied to Springfield College.


“I should have waited and matured more,” he says. “I was in limbo at first—not doing my best—and dropped out. Coach Parker guided me back and treated me with warmth and support—the same way that he treated everybody. I was elected co-captain, even though I wasn’t the best wrestler in the bunch. I made good friends, and am still close to them.”


Reflecting back on the fifties, Rivers recalls the racial tension in America. “It was a different time,” he says. “But, Springfield was one of the first colorblind


didn’t see color, they saw people. They judged others for the ‘content of their character,’ as Dr. King [Martin Luther Jr.] would say.” “That tore down my animosity about what was going on in the fifties. It gave me experience in dealing with people that stuck with me throughout my years in coaching and public relations.”


In Rivers’ years as a winning coach, his Stamford (Conn.) Catholic team captured the state champi- onship and his Franklin Township (N.J.) teams took two state and seven conference championships. He was recruited to be the first black assistant football coach at the University of Connecticut, and the team won the 1971 Yankee Conference Championship. Princeton University recruited him to be assistant football coach, a


“Springfield College is a big part of me. It has an amazing legacy in people like Doug Parker. They are genuine. They have purpose and goals. They are supportive of others.”


colleges.” There were 31 black students on the campus then, he says, “and we had a sense of fraternity.” Through a local church, they were welcomed into the homes of African-American families for social events and dinners. “I had a feeling of camaraderie with them, and I felt the same sense of belonging with the wrestling program. The coaches and team members


position he held for 11 years, and also named him head baseball coach for five. His baseball teams won more than 100 games. In 1989, the New Jersey Nets asked Rivers to become its community relations director. “It was a seven-days-a-week job for nine years, and I loved it. We did Say No to Drugs and Stay in School programs, and the players gave clinics and talks.” Rivers returned to coaching and led the foundering Lakewood (N.J.) High School football team to the state playoffs within three years. After that, he became the school’s athletic director. In “retire- ment,” he became a consultant to Franklin (N.J.) Township for recruitment of minority teachers and administrators. “I grew up in a great age and have had


a fulfilling life,” Rivers says. “Springfield College is a big part of me. It has an amazing legacy in people like Doug Parker. They are genuine. They have purpose and goals. They are supportive of others. They smile at you and say hello. I still feel as close to it as I did when I was on that campus.”1


Office of Development, 263 Alden Street, Springfield, Mass. 01109 (413) 748-3124 or (800) 622-6072 17


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