LAFAYETTE — World Series Champion and Lafayette native Clayton Richard was in his preferred element on Wednesday during a warm afternoon at Loeb Field.
Wearing a sleeveless cutoff and his eyes buried deep beneath his sunglasses, Richard was coaching his sons Cashton, 11, and Cannon, 10, in baseball with a group of fifth graders.
“I know how much fun I had playing the game and I saw the places it took me and I saw the places where it took the people I played with,” Richard said. “If we could have one kid come from town do the same thing and I were to have a small part in that, it would be all worth it. Reality is when you learn the game of baseball the right way, the lessons you learn from the game will help you become a better man, father, brother and uncle.”
Before the tan, Richard received an honor three days prior last Sunday when he was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame. He was named to the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023. Cashton eulogized his father with a speech, using eloquent diction and showed charisma in front of hundreds of peers and student-athletes.
Cashton spoke and when he glanced down, sitting front row was Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter and his legendary Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame predecessor Gene Keady.
“His mother (Ashley) helped him and he did most of the leg work and he did a very nice job,” Richard said. “It was a very proud moment to watch him go up and do that in front of so many distinguished people.”
While Richard is almost universally recognized in the sports world as a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox, he also is considered one of the greatest high school quarterbacks the Lafayette area has produced.
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Richard threw for 10,777 yards and 92 touchdowns during his high school career and was named Indiana’s Mr. Football his senior year by completing 182 of 306 attempts for 2,933 yards and 27 touchdowns while rushing for 467 yards and 12 touchdowns on 120 carries.
A true juggernaut, Richard was Mr. Football and Mr. Baseball that same school year while managing to become McCutcheon’s valedictorian.
Richard went on to play football at Michigan and completed 8 of 15 passes for 52 yards during his college career before getting drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2005.
Richard has returned to Lafayette and serves as head baseball coach and quarterbacks coach at Lafayette Jeff.
One of the first people to watch Richard’s ascension was his former McCutcheon assistant coach Kevin O’Shea, an Indiana Football of Famer himself who has won five IHSAA 1A State Championships at Central Catholic and is head coach at Twin Lakes.
O’Shea would drive Richard home from school accompanied by his two children Ryan and Kaitlyn after getting done with classes at Mayflower Mill Elementary School.
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“It was a good player-coach relationship during that time and it’s now friends which is more important during this time during this time in our careers,” O’Shea said. “He is the epitome of the student-athlete.”
Richard is surrounded by his friends, family and mentors here in Lafayette. He could have pursued a second career managing and coaching baseball in the minor leagues given his experience in both MLB and working his way up the ladder while battling various ailments to his left throwing shoulder.
Instead, he chose to follow in the footsteps of his father. Barry Richard was a former police officer who also managed residential buildings and helped operate a variety of small businesses around town.
“My parents were integral in every part of my development growing up,” Richard said. “Despite working very long hours in multiple occupations, he always found time for my sisters and myself. My mother always took care of myself and everything that came with that. We really learned the value of hard work and doing that consistently day after day.”
Richard recalled the days he spent learning how to not only keep this home clean and neat but actively contribute to the community in ways that didn’t require a bank account or a large group of workers.
“The majority of our childhood was picking up trash in parking lots,” Richard said. “We did that for a lot of the gas stations around town and some of the residential areas. It was really a great opportunity for my sisters and I to learn how to work and how to make things better than they were before when you leave them. When you see a dirty lot, a dirty curb, you sweep, you pick up and you see the place looks better.
“When you mow grass, you see the impact your work has. For him to bring us along and see what hard work provides was invaluable to our development.”
Making competitive baseball affordable in Indiana is a primary mission of Richard.
The price of competing in youth tournaments has skyrocketed in the last decade across a multitude of sports, including baseball. A survey collected by the Aspen Institute estimates the average family spends at least $883 per sport to supply the necessary funds for travel, lessons, tournament registration and gear.
The key to reducing these costs and getting more kids involved is introducing baseball in elementary schools.
Richard is currently sponsoring youth baseball programs and lessons at Vinton, Miami and Earhart Elementary School.
“Growing up here baseball was so strong for the children in the community,” Richard said. “There were so many opportunities and places you could play and the demographics in how Lafayette is made up has significantly altered. We are looking for ways to bring baseball back to the families that aren’t experiencing it right now.”
Youth programs led by Richard were started at Vinton Elementary two years ago and expressed plans to get more schools involved throughout Lafayette.
“That’s the way we get baseball to them is to eliminate the travel,” Richard said. “Eliminate the cost hurdles to the families, get them involved, get them coached, get them to be part of a team, get them coached and get them all the benefits of playing a team sport at a young age. That way when they get up to high school and want to play, they have that general skillset and basic knowledge of the game.”
There was rarely a time a young Clayton Richard could travel north to watch the Chicago Cubs or Chicago White Sox during the summer.
Instead, Richard found his sports heroes heralded in the gyms and fields of Harrison, Lafayette Jeff and McCutcheon.
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It was athletes like Mavericks baseball star Onix Aviles, who played for the 1994 state runner-up team; Kentucky baseball star Josh Loggins; 13-year MLB outfielder Todd Dunwoody, who played Harrison; Purdue star Ryan Cole; Middle Tennessee State University standout Clay Snellgrove of Lafayette Jeff; and 6-foot-7 forward Greg Schornstein, who captured Richard’s imagination at a young age.
“All those student-athletes when you’re young – 9, 10, 11, 12 years old – are magic,” Richard said. “That’s what I hope we can get back to is having a community that’s more involved going and watching the games. Because it’ll generate that next generation that wants to play and provide value to the future generations that this game can bring.”
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached atehanson@gannett.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
