Southwest Family Practice

Coach Richardson honored at funeral by family, friends, former players

Although they began differently, each story ended the same.

They attributed their growth as basketball players and more importantly to them, as men, to their former head coach, Donald “Duck” Richardson.

“He truly was a surrogate father to many of us,” former player Ivano Newbill said. Richardson died Sept. 4 of complications from pneumonia. The funeral for Richardson, who would have turned 76 this upcoming Friday, was held on the gym floor that bears his name -- “Duck’s Court” -- and beneath the banner commemorating the Patriots’ 1979 mythical national championship team.

Richardson coached at Southwest for 21 years after leading a successful Ballard-Hudson Junior High School program. He won 91 percent of his games in 13 years at Ballard-Hudson, then went 463-90 in his tenure at Southwest. The Patriots won six state championships and the mythical national title. He was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

A large number of former players and Southwest alumni attended the funeral, as did Macon Mayor Robert Reichert, Bibb County Commission Chairman Sam Hart and former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis, who spoke at the service.

Along with Ellis and Richardson’s confidant and assistant coach Ron Taylor, former players Lewis Linder, Norm Nixon, Myles Patrick, Sharone Wright and Newbill shared their memories of their coach.

With those who spoke Saturday, and likely with the many others who didn’t, Richardson’s success in terms of wins and losses was impressive. But they came from all corners of the country because of what Richardson meant to them as a person, Wright said.

“I would have become one of the statistics (if not for Richardson),” he said.

Former teammates Newbill and Wright told similar stories of success attributed to Richardson.

Newbill said he couldn’t “walk and chew bubble gum at the same time” when he got to Southwest. He was little more than a tall, skinny teenager looking for direction.

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