Dorothy Gay Richardson is an American physician and former two-time gold medal-winning Olympian softball player at shortstop. Richardson is currently the head coach at Liberty. Richardson played college softball at UCLA and won the inaugural NCAA Division I Softball Tournament in 1982. She is a USA Softball Hall of Fame honoree. Because Richardson’s father was an air force mechanic, she spent her early years on various military bases in the United States and abroad. She began playing softball competitively at age 10 and became, at age 13, the youngest player in the Women’s Major Fast Pitch League.
After graduating from the University of Louisville (Kentucky) Medical School, Richardson interrupted her residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Southern California to compete in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The games marked the Olympic debut of softball, and the U.S. team dominated. Richardson hit a two-run home run to seal the team’s gold-medal win. In 2000 she claimed a second gold medal as a member of the U.S. team.
Richardson was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame in 2006. In addition to her continuing participation in the world of softball, she worked as the medical director of the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, a large health and fitness complex, from 2001 to 2012. She also served (2002–09) as the vice chair of the President’s Council on Fitness. In 2013 she became coach of the women’s softball team at Liberty University.
| Dot Richardson Bio | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dot Richardson |
| Full Name | Dorothy Gay Richardson |
| Age (As in 2021) | 60 years |
| Date of Birth | 22-09-1961 |
| Height | 5' 5" |
| Hometown | Orlando, Fla |
| Education | |
| School | UCLA |
| Graduation | University of California, Los Angeles, Adelphi University, University of Louisville, University of Southern California |
| Playing career | |
| 1980 | Western Illinois |
| 1981–1983 | UCLA |
| Position(s) | Shortstop |
| ACCOMPLISHMENTS | Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (1996, 2000) |
| Three-time World Champion (1986, 1990, 1994) | |
| Four-time Pan American Gold Medalist (1979, 1987, 1995, 1999) | |
| Member of the National Softball Hall of Fame | |
| Earned ASA All-American honors 16 times | |
| EXPERIENCE | 2000: Gold medalist at Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia |
| 1999: Gold medalist at Pan American Games, U.S. Olympic Cup and Canada Cup | |
| - Hit .342 with six RBI and team-high 11 runs scored | |
| 1996: Gold medalist at Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia | |
| - Hit the game-winning home run against China in Gold Medal game | |
| - Batted .273 with seven RBI and nine runs scored | |
| 1995: Gold medalist at Pan American Games and Superball in Columbus, Ga. | |
| - Hit .469 with 10 RBI and six runs scored (Pan Am) | |
| 1994: Gold medalist at ISF World Championships | |
| - Went 13-for-33 (.394) with nine runs scored and three RBI | |
| 1992: Gold medalist at Women's World Challenger Cup | |
| 1990: Gold medalist at ISF World Championship | |
| - Hit .500 with four runs scored and three RBI | |
| 1987: Gold medalist at Pan American Games | |
| - Hit .280 with 10 runs scored and three RBI | |
| 1986: Gold medalist at ISF World Championship | |
| - Posted a .318 average with three RBI and five runs scored | |
| 1985: Gold medalist at South Pacific Classic and World Games II | |
| 1984: Gold medalist at International Cup | |
| 1983: Silver medalist at Pan American Games | |
| - Hit .213 with 12 runs scored and five RBI | |
| 1982: Finished fourth at ISF World Championship | |
| 1981: Gold medalist at Tri-Nation Challenge | |
| 1979: Gold medalist at Pan American Games |
