Dorothy “Dot” Richardson ’84

Dorothy “Dot” Richardson ’84 is widely regarded as the most prolific softball player in the history of the sport. As a collegiate athlete she was named MVP of the UCLA women’s softball team three times and was selected as an NCAA All-American in those same three years from 1980-1983. Richardson and the women’s softball team won the NCAA national championship in 1982 and she was named co-winner of the All-University Athlete Award at UCLA in 1983, sharing the award with Jackie Joyner-Kersee ’86. She was even named the NCAA Player of the Decade for the 1980s.

As an Olympian, Richardson competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The games in Atlanta saw the debut of softball as an Olympic sport, and in the final Richardson hit the home run that won the game and the first ever Olympic gold medal in softball for the United States. At the games in Sydney, which would be her last, Richardson won her second Olympic gold medal ending a fruitful international athletic career. In addition to her two Olympic gold medals, she won five Pan American gold medals and three World Champion gold medals in an international career that spanned over two decades.

Perhaps Richardson’s athletic prowess and drive for competitive achievement is only matched by her passion for academic growth and her career in medicine. After graduating from UCLA in 1984 with a B.S. in Kinesiology, Richardson went on to earn a master’s degree in exercise physiology and health from Adelphi University and a subsequent medical degree from the University of Louisville, School of Medicine. Since 2001 she has been the Director and Medical Director of the National Training Center, a part of South Lake Hospital Sports, Health and Education Campus in Clermont, Fla. Between 1997 and 2005 Richardson was awarded four honorary doctorates.

Richardson was a founder and is acting commissioner of the ProFastpitch X-treme Tour, the professional softball tour that brings amateurs and professionals together to meet and compete in the same event. She served as a softball commentator for the 2004 Olympics in Athens for NBC, and works as a commentator for ESPN at the NCAA College World Series for softball.

She gives back to her community as a motivational speaker at local schools and organizations, and was even named an honorary deputy for the Orange County, Florida Sheriff’s Department.

Richardson was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996. She and her husband Robert Pinto live in Clermont, Fla.