TREVOSE, Pa. (EYT) – Retire Clarion University men’s basketball coach Ron Righter was inducted into the Bucks County Sports Hall of Fame, a chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Thursday.
(Photo: Righter with his wife Julie at the induction ceremonies. Photo submitted by Julie Righter)
“To get inducted for the entire county was really rewarding,” Righter said. “It’s a very big county. You are in good company. There a lot of big schools and great athletes and coach who come out of the county. To be part of that group is kind of cool.”
A native of the Doylestown, Pa., area, Righter was a 1970 graduate of Central Bucks West High School where he scored over 1,000 points in basketball and was named all-state honorable mention.
“It’s, of course, exciting to get that news that you are being inducted, especially from an area that you were born and raised and grew up in,” Righter said. “Bucks County is where I had the heroes of older student-athlete who you looked up to. It all started there.”
Upon graduation from CB West, Righter went to Duke where he played basketball and baseball before transferring to St. Joseph’s where he was the leading scorer on a basketball team that competed in the NCAA Tournament.
Following graduation for St. Joseph’s, Righter eventually became the head men’s basketball coach at Wilkes College in Wilkes-Barre before becoming an NCAA Division I assistant coach for the legendary George Raveling at Washington State, Iowa and USC (Southern Cal).
Righter then became Clarion’s men’s basketball coach in 1989 and continued in that role until his retirement following the 2014 season, a span of 26 years. During his tenure at Clarion Righter became the all-time winningest coach at the school with 402 career wins. He was 402-299 in his time with the Golden Eagles with 17 seasons of at least 15 wins including three 20-win campaigns, three PSAC West titles (1997, 2000, 2005), one PSAC Title (2001), which is the only PSAC Champion in men’s basketball in school history, and a trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2001. Righter coaches the school’s all-time leading scorer Kwame Morton and three of the top 10 scorers in school history (Rollie Smith is sixth all-time and Oronn Brown is eighth).
Following his retirement in 2014 as Clarion’s basketball coach, Righter spent a year as the university’s Coordinator for Athletic Department Relocation Logistics and Summer Camps.
He is currently the athletic director at Norfolk Christian Schools in Norfolk, Va.
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