As the 1976-77 basketball season was approaching for Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), head coach Ben Pomeroy assembled his team and asked for nominations for team co-captains.
“Richard is our captain. No need to vote,” was the response.
That announcement from the players was an outward display of the respect they all held for Richard Battle.
“Richard was an exceptional athlete who led the team statistically in many ways,” former teammate Butch Ligon wrote in one of the many letters of recommendation for Battle’s inclusion into the Barton College Athletic Hall of Fame. “But more than that, my memory reflects profoundly upon his character, conduct, leadership and sportsmanship.
“As our captain, Richard was both a fierce competitor and a confident leader. He led by example with his work ethic, humble spirit and an unwavering respect for authority on and off the court. Never boastful and a man of few words, he let his actions do his talking.”
Battle’s leadership was desperately needed for a program that saw a number of players leave and several others fall victim to injury.
“We had challenges of personnel,” Pomeroy said. “There were a lot of kids who came in and out of the program. Richard’s leadership was invaluable during that four-year period. He was the stabilizing force on the team. He made my job easier as a coach, because he typified the positive standards that I expected of our players. The fact that he was there for four years and served as captain, that meant so much to me.”
Pomeroy had come to Atlantic Christian in the summer of 1972, and Battle was in his first recruiting class the following spring. At the time, Battle was a skinny 6-4 kid playing at a small school, West Edgecombe High School, but ACC’s coach saw something special there.
“Richard played in Rocky Mount and didn’t have a lot of attention in terms of recruiting activity, but what I recognized was that he just had skills,” Pomeroy said. “I felt like he was just going to get better and better. The potential was there. He didn’t have a lot of weight on him, but I felt like his athleticism and demeanor on the court was exceptional for a high school senior.”
Battle had planned to attend North Carolina Central University simply as a student, but was quick to change his mind after being offered a basketball scholarship to Atlantic Christian.
“I was happy to have the opportunity because I loved the game so much,” Battle said. “Like any young, naïve kid coming out of high school in those days, it was a study in maturation. You didn’t have a lot of responsibilities back then. My biggest job was to be a student first and then stay in condition to play basketball.
“I was always in love with basketball, so I worked hard at the other challenges. Although I came from a fairly small school, I had a great background in academics, so academics wasn’t a big deal. It was just balancing the time. And then just trying to fit into the team. I had no idea I would start as a freshman. But I just got better, got stronger and played hard.”
The team’s top achievement during Battle’s time at Atlantic Christian came during his freshman season when it upset the defending NAIA national champions, Guilford College, 82-74 after erasing a 17-point first-half deficit and outscoring the Quakers 20-7 in the game’s final five minutes.
Battle scored eight points in that contest and contributed significantly on defense.
“Guilford had Lloyd Free and Greg Jackson, who both went on to play in the NBA (Free became known as World B. Free and was an NBA All-Star),” Battle said. “We upset them in the Carolinas Conference Tournament, and they needed to win the tournament in order to get back to the NAIA playoffs.
“It was just one of those nights when everything we had worked on and tried to be consistent with came together. And of course, we made national headlines because they were the defending national champions. That was really big.”
Individually, Battle would develop into one of the top players of his era. He finished Atlantic Christian with nearly 1,400 points and 600 rebounds.
His best season came in his junior year, when he averaged just under 19 points and six rebounds per contest. He posted a career-high 31 points on two occasions.
“I got a lot more confidence on offense,” Battle said. “I had been a center in high school, so I had to work real hard on my ball-handling skills and my jump shot.”
His teammates appreciated the fact that Battle never quit trying to improve.
“Even as a senior, Richard never stopped approaching basketball as a student of the game,” Ligon wrote in his recommendation letter. “He was open to instruction and continually teachable … even to the final game. Yet, all the while, he had the ability to teach others and mentor young players both on and off the court.”
Despite being one of the top players of his decade, Battle says he hasn’t thought of himself that way. He’s just grateful he had the chance to play.
“I look back on my experience and I recognize all the opportunities I had,” he said. “I got a great education that taught me a lot of things. I met some great people, and still stay in touch with some of them. And we had some really funny times.
“I don’t see myself as a Hall of Famer. I just see myself as a kid who came out of school with a chance to play ball, get a good education and meet some really, really great people.”
For those who played around him, it was Battle who was one of those “really, really great people.”
“Our senior year was a tough season in terms of games won and lost, but through it all Richard never wavered in his role,” Whit Kenney wrote in his letter of recommendation. “He worked harder than any of us. He picked us up when we fell, both as a team and individually. He led us in scoring and most everything else throughout the year, but mostly he showed us by his example of what we should all strive to become.”
To no one’s surprise, Battle has been a shining example in life as well. He used his degree in business administration to begin a successful career in the financial services industry, and is currently a senior credit manager at VF Corporation.
His high school sweetheart, Brenda, is now his wife of 34 years, and they have two accomplished children. Their daughter, Kristen, became a dance champion and is now an honor roll student at North Carolina A&T State University. Their son, Turner, became an All-American basketball player at the University of Buffalo, and is currently an assistant basketball coach with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Like his dad, Turner scored around 1,400 points in his college career, and like his dad, he excelled in the classroom, earning Academic All-America honors as well. He was inducted into the Buffalo Hall of Fame in 2010, and now that too will be … just like his dad.
