Hazelton, Trinity Director of Athletics Since 1982, to Retire Following 2009-10 Season
Courtesy Trinity Sports Information
HARTFORD, Conn. - After 28 years as department chair and director of athletics at Trinity, and 36 years of total service to the college, Rick Hazelton will retire effective June 30, 2010. The third athletic director at Trinity in the last 74 years leaves behind a tremendous career that has included astounding academic and athletic success by Trinity’s student-athletes, unprecedented opportunities for female athletes, and over $40 million of investments in expanding and improving athletic buildings, stadium, and fields.
“Retirement is something that everyone is faced with at some time in his or her life, but I feel honored to have spent the majority of my professional life at Trinity College,” states Hazelton. “There is such a great academic and athletic tradition here, and I have had the pleasure of seeing some of the best student-athletes in the nation compete for Trinity. The success we have enjoyed and all that we have been able to accomplish as a department would not have been possible without the tremendous support we receive from the faculty and administration, and our alumni, parents, and friends.”
Hazelton took over as the department’s interim director in January of 1982 and was hired on a permanent basis later that year, following the retirement of director of athletics Karl Kurth who had held the position previously for 16 years. During his tenure, Hazelton has fostered a winning environment at Trinity College, which competes on the NCAA Division III level and sponsors 29 intercollegiate sports: 15 for men and 14 for women. In addition, there are numerous intramural and club sports in which non-varsity athletes can participate. The school has also enjoyed tremendous success on the playing fields, capturing 14 national championships and 79 conference championships during Hazelton’s time as director of athletics.
“Both the Dean of Faculty, Dr. Rena Fraden, and I have enormous respect and admiration for Rick as a leader of student-athletes and their coaches, and as a human being,” says Trinity College President James F. Jones, Jr. “He has led Trinity athletics with enormous distinction and class for nearly three decades. This College owes Rick and his wife, Anne, a large debt of gratitude for representing Trinity and Trinity athletics in such an extraordinarily positive and accomplished way. His retirement is justly earned, but his loss will be immense for Trinity, including for the hundreds of student-athletes who compete each year.”
Hazelton oversaw Trinity’s seamless transition to NCAA post-season competition, as the Bantam men’s basketball and field hockey teams were two of the first NESCAC programs to compete in an NCAA Final Four in 1993 and 1995. Fifty-seven Trinity teams have qualified for NCAA Tournament play since it was allowed by the conference in 1993-94, and Trinity’s men’s rowing and men’s and women’s squash teams now find themselves among the elite programs in all of intercollegiate play. The men’s squash program has risen to the apex of all sports with an unprecedented 11 consecutive national titles and 202 triumphs in a row, covering a span of 11-plus years. The women’s squash team won national titles twice and annually finishes among the top four teams in the nation, while the women’s cross country and women’s crew teams have finished as the NCAA National Runners-Up three times between them. Trinity field hockey reached its second final four in 1998 and the men’s ice hockey squad reached the Final Four in 2005. Trinity’s football team received national attention for its recent four-year string of NESCAC crowns and undefeated seasons that included a New England-record 31 wins in a row. The Bantam baseball squad completed arguably the best season in NCAA sports history with its 45-1 campaign in 2008 that culminated in the College’s first NCAA Championship title.
“Rick has dedicated his career to Trinity athletics and during that time has created a successful and equitable program of which we are all proud,” says Trinity Associate Athletic Director and former Bantam head field hockey and women’s lacrosse coach Robin Sheppard. “His leadership and creativity in our department have encouraged our student-athletes to excel both academically and athletically, and, as the veteran voice within NESCAC, he has the admiration of his fellow administrators. Rick has inspired all our coaches to remain passionate, professional, and committed over the years, and his office door is literally open to us for any reason. We are not prepared to lose him, but I am incredibly excited for Rick and his family to spend more time together.”
Not to be outdone by the coaches he hired, Hazelton’s accomplishments as an administrator at the College are numerous and impressive. He spearheaded the increase in women’s sports from 10 to 14 and oversaw the expansion of the athletic department staff. Trinity has added $40 million of new or renovated athletic buildings during Hazelton’s tenure, including an all-weather, artificial turf field with lights for field hockey, women’s lacrosse, and countless intramural sports, Robin L. Sheppard Field; the first FieldTurf playing surface in the NESCAC for Trinity’s football and men’s lacrosse teams on historic Jessee/Miller Field; two of the premier facilities in the nation for rowing and squash; Friends of Trinity Rowing Boathouse & Kellner Squash Center; and the College's newest facility; Koeppel Community Sports Center, which opened in 2006 to give the Bantam ice hockey teams their first on-campus home ice and provide a fantastic venue for skating and other activities for the campus and the Greater Hartford communities.
Hazelton coordinated the National Youth Sports Program at Trinity College during the summer months from 1977 to 2006, which provided Hartford youth with a day camp that included sports instruction by qualified coaches and counselors free of charge and also provided free transportation and meals. The NYSP camp was held each year from 1970 to 2006 on the Trinity campus and served as a precursor to the College’s nationally-renowned Dream Camp program. Hazelton also enhanced the lives of all students at the College by greatly expanding Trinity’s fitness center, its sports medicine department, its club sports program, its intramural program, and its physical education program. A black belt in the sport, Hazelton continues to teach Tae Kwon Do and other physical education classes at the College. In addition, he serves as a trustee for the Hartford Boys & Girls Clubs and the Doc Hurley Scholarship Foundation and is a core-consulting faculty member for Charter Oak State College.
Hazelton has been extremely active on various committees throughout the region and the nation. Former chairman of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) North/South Hockey Tournament (1987-91) and a member of the ECAC Finance Committee (1993-96), Hazelton has also served on the NCAA Voting Committee (1987-90), the NCAA Football Rules Committee (1996-00), the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee (1998-00), and NCAA Committee on Committees (1990-93). In addition, Hazelton was the chairman of the NECAC selection committee for Division III Male Athlete of the Year from 1988-92 (member 1985-93), chairman of the ECAC Division III lacrosse tournament in 1990 and 1996-98, and a member of both the ECAC East-West Hockey Tournament Committee from 1996-99 and the ECAC Ice Hockey Executive Committee (1990-98). Hazelton has been chairman of the ECAC Collegiate Rowing Championship Regatta Board of Stewards (member since 1995) and was a member of both the ECAC Football Executive Committee and the ECAC Marketing Committee. From 1982-1999, Hazelton served as the treasurer for the New England Small College Athletic Conference, and was president in 1990-91 and 2005-06. In 2002, Hazelton was awarded the General Robert Neyland Athletic Director Award by the All-American Football Foundation, and he was honored as an ECAC Administrator of the Year in 2009.
Hazelton graduated from Marietta College in 1966 and earned his master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Massachusetts in 1976. He taught history and served as an assistant football coach at Lancaster High School in Ohio from 1969-73 before becoming the head freshman football coach at Amherst College in 1973. In 1974, Hazelton came to Trinity when he was named an assistant professor of physical education, head track & field coach, and assistant football coach. For eight seasons, Hazelton worked under former Head Football Coach Don Miller, helping Trinity record six winning campaigns and a 42-21-1 record, a .664 winning percentage. He was instrumental in the addition of women’s track and field and the varsity indoor season for both men and women while serving as head coach for all four track squads. Hazelton and his wife, Anne, have three sons, all of whom have studied at Trinity and played varsity lacrosse: Tad ’92, who also played football, James ’93, and Alex ’99.
“I am truly honored to have worked with the people in the Trinity athletic department, whom I consider to be the greatest athletic department staff in America,” added Hazelton. “I will sorely miss those interactions with my friends and colleagues.”
Trinity will initiate a national search for a new director of athletics in early 2010. More details will be forthcoming at that time.
