LAKEPORT — Ryan Richardson found the headlines often during his Clear Lake High School athletic career. It”s not hard when you star in football, basketball and baseball.
Richardson, 18, is the Lake County Record-Bee Athlete of the Year for boys” sports based on his accomplishments on the field and court during the 2009-10 sports season.
Along with earning All-North Central League I South first-team honors in three different sports this past season, Richardson became the first Lake County basketball player to score 600 or more points in back-to-back seasons. Many other talented county players have tried and not come close, but Richardson did it with ease, scoring 652 points as a senior, the second-highest single-season total in Lake County history, and tops among boys.
Richardson averaged a county-best 22.5 points a game as the Cardinals, 3-11 after their first 14 games, came roaring back to win 10 of their final 15. They finished second in the NCL I South standings behind powerhouse Cloverdale — who the Cardinals almost beat in the title game of the NCL I South postseason tournament — and went on to lose to North Coast Section Division IV runner-up Salesian out of Richmond in a first-round playoff game.
His career total of 1,463 points is second best among Clear Lake athletes and tops among Clear Lake boys. It also ranks him fifth on the Lake County list of all-time scoring leaders.
As a football player in the fall of 2009, Richardson played quarterback and defensive back for the Cardinals, who also qualified for the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs as an at-large team, losing to St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo in the first round. While he didn”t put up the kind of numbers he did his junior year when the Cardinals had a much better team, Richardson was a force in the Clear Lake secondary, intercepting a team-best four passes and also recovering two fumbles.
In the spring of 2010, Richardson split time between the mound and shortstop as the Cardinals earned a share of the NCL I South title and reached the playoffs as an at-large team, losing to Berean Christian in a first-round game that concluced a 17-8 season. Richardson went 5-2 on the mound as the Cardinals” No. 2 starting pitcher and he was among team leaders in hits (31), doubles (3) and RBIs (20).
With sports dominating just about all of Richardson”s time, what does the son of John and Amanda Richardson do when he”s not passing, shooting or hitting a ball of some sort?
“When I”m not doing sports, I”m doing more sports,” said Richardson, who has two brothers — Andrew, 14, and Jason, 2, and two sisters, Miranda, 17, and Faith, 4.
As active a youngster as you”ll ever find, Richardson remembers the time — he was 11 — when he played Little League in Folsom and Lakeport in the same season. And in eighth grade he wrestled and drove go-karts along with playing football, basketball and baseball. His wrestling career lasted only two years but he lost only two matches in that time. And as a go-kart driver, he won two points championships.
“I hate losing … at anything,” Richardson said. “Not just sports, anything. There was a time when it got the best of me. I”d let it (losing) or a bad performance ruin my week. But I”ve gotten better with it. I”ve got control of it now.”
Glenn Wienke, the varsity boys” basketball coach at Clear Lake, helped Richardson in that regard.
“He”s a mentor, a second father,” Richardson said. “He tells me to let it go when I don”t do well. Pros never carry it with them. Since my sophomore year I”m a lot better.”
“He”s so competitive, he takes every loss real personal,” Wienke said. “It”s good to keep a certain amount of emotion, of fire inside you, but too much is poisonous and counterproductive. About midway through his junior season that started to change and he went through a huge maturing process. With the maturity came leadership.”
Wienke said he was lucky to get the Clear Lake coach varsity job when he did early in the 2008-09 season, Richardson”s junior year.
“He”s one of the reasons I wanted to get into coaching (at Clear Lake). It fulfills one of the things I wanted to do, be a part of his last two years,” Wienke said.
“I”ve known him since he was 6 or 7 and we would shoot baskets every day,” Wienke said. “He”s such a wonderful kid to coach and he”s a leader out there. I really enjoyed having him around.”
Richardson”s next stop is college and San Francisco State University is the leader for his services at present. The only question now is will he be playing basketball or baseball at the collegiate level, because he can”t do both.
A coaching change in basketball at San Francisco State has left Richardson in a bit of a quandary.
“I had a tryout with the old coach and they wanted me to red-shirt my freshman year and I would want to do that,” Richardson said.
But with the coaching change, Richardson isn”t sure exactly where he stands. “I”m going to work out for him (new coach). I haven”t yet.”
If the Gators can”t use Richardson in basketball, he”ll likely take the baseball route. If San Francisco wants him in both sports, don”t be surprised if he chooses baseball.
The reason?
“After I saw what Robby did, I want to give it a shot. It”s there, not too far out of reach,” Richardson said of friend Robby Rowland, a hard-throwing pitcher who graduated last month from Cloverdale High School.
Rowland, who had the attention of major league scouts throughout the 2010 season, was selected in the third round by the Arizona Diamondbacks during the June draft.
“Right now I”m throwing in the mid-80s and sometimes in the high-80s,” said Richardson, who is spending part of his summer playing for the Sonoma County Rebels” 18-and-under Connie Mack team as both a pitcher and infielder.
While Richardson hopes to keep playing sports as long as he can — and if that means a possible minor league stint even better — he”s also got an eye toward his future in terms of an occupation.
“I want to be a bone surgeon,” he said.
Born in San Rafael, Richardson”s family relocated to Lake County when he was in the first grade. They stayed for a few years but then moved to Folsom. Richardson returned to Lake County as a sixth-grader. He”s played sports since he can remember, including a year of soccer, which he didn”t like.
“But I had started the season and my dad”s rule was if I start something, I see it through. I don”t quit,” Richardson said.
His dad is his biggest fan, something Ryan appreciates.
“I think I”m the luckiest kid in Lake County to have a dad like that,” Richardson said. “It”s fun having him there. A lot of dads don”t even show up, so I”m thankful he can find the time to do that.”
