Thanks, Rick, for the memories and for all you've done to raise the profile of Appalachian in both athletics and academics. Mountaineers everywhere are proud of your accomplishments and grateful for your many contributions.
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Though Rick Beasley leaves, love for ASU remains
By Brant Wilkerson-New/Winston-Salem Journal
Rick Beasley might be moving out of his office Tuesday afternoon, but rest assured, he’ll still have a presence at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
After all, he’s only missed one Appalachian State home football game since he finished his career as an All-America wide receiver with seven school records in 1980.
“I was there before I came back, and I’m sure I’ll be there again,” Beasley said with a laugh. “It’s going to be kind of fun going back to being just a fan and enjoying and supporting the programs that I love.”
Beasley, a deputy athletic director, is retiring today after returning to ASU in 2006 as an associate athletic director. He took over as interim athletic director in August following the resignation of Charlie Cobb until Doug Gillin assumed those duties in April.
Gillin credited Beasley with helping the Mountaineers’ athletic department move into a new era in the Sun Belt Conference.
“Oh man, he did a lot; not just internally,” Gillin said. “We were entering a conference that nobody knew anything about. I think it can’t be understated the way he represented Appalachian at conference meetings, so not just locally, regionally, but nationally.
“The way that he represented our interests at the conference, his fingerprints are all over our entry into the Sun Belt; the way we’ve been able to enter and be successful.”
Beasley’s fingerprints are all over the sparkling new athletic facilities at ASU — although that wasn’t necessarily the plan when he was serving as the city manager in Conover.
After finishing a Master’s degree at ASU, he immediately went to work in local government as an assistant city manager in Lenoir before becoming city manager in Scotland Neck.
“I really enjoyed building communities and serving the public; I’ve kind of always had that public service mentality in terms of trying to make people feel good about themselves,” he said.
But in 2006, Chancellor Kenneth Peacock, Vice Chancellor Jerry Hutchens and Cobb approached him with their vision for what ASU athletics could become with Beasley as its chief fundraiser.
“Really, I never thought about getting back into athletics,” Beasley said. The chance to build and serve at ASU was too good to pass up, though.
“It was awesome to come back to my alma mater and try to play a small role in what they were planning on developing in terms of facilities and improving scholarships for student-athletes,” he said. “It was something near and dear to my heart, because it had such an impact on me coming from Virginia Beach a long time ago.”
What began as a $32 million campaign for facilities improvements eventually ended up at $65-70 million as the athletic program picked up steam on the strength of three straight football national championships.
“It really was the consistency; we won three straight national championships and of course in that third year, we beat Michigan,” Beasley said. “That was like icing on the cake, and took us to a different level from that perspective.”
The 2007 victory at Michigan was a signature moment of the run that took ASU’s fundraising to new heights under Beasley’s leadership.
Before his arrival, the Yosef Club had never raised more than $700,000 in a full year. Since 2006, it has raised over $1 million every year, and surpassed $3 million each of the past two years.
“It’s allowed us to have done a lot of things for our student-athletes, for the university, for the community, we might not have otherwise been able to do,” Gillin said. “If you look at what he’s been able to do here compared to our peer institutions around the country, it’s remarkable.”
Reflecting on the time he spent at ASU, Beasley pointed out that when he arrived in Boone as a freshman in 1977, the west side of Kidd Brewer had only one small level of bleachers, and there was no locker room at the stadium.
“The first couple of years, we had to walk up from Varsity Gym to the games, because we didn’t really have a locker room,” he said.
Now, the 120,000 square-foot Appalachian Athletics Center — completed in 2009 — towers over a stadium that seats more than 24,000.
“To see the difference between what we had then and what we have now, is incredible,” Beasley said. “The academic support programs, the things that Appalachian is able to provide not just student-athletes, but athletes in general, is incredible.
“For me, I love all parts of Appalachian, so it’s been fun for me to watch Appalachian grow as a university and people understand that Appalachian is a player, in terms of academics and athletics in the state.”
Beasley isn’t sure what his next move is, but his hope is to stick around and enjoy a little tailgating now that his Saturdays are free.
“I’m sure I’ll pop up here sometime soon to do something. It’ll probably be on the private side, and I hope it’s going to be here in Boone because I’m planning to be a supporter for a long time,” he said. “The Appalachian family took a chance on a scrawny kid from Virginia Beach, and the university transformed my life.”
bwilkerson@wsjournal.com
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