|
RICHEY-WALTON |
Kathleen Richey-Walton, a 1974 Bellefontaine High School graduate, recently earned her 300th coaching win at Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, Ga.
Richey-Walton has been the head coach at Southwest DeKalb since 2002. Presently, she has a record of 310-98.
Her teams won three straight Georgia Class AAAA state titles from 2008-10. Her squad returned to the title game in 2012 and finished as runner up before winning a Class AAAAA state championship in 2013. DeKalb followed with a runner-up finish in 2014.
After graduating from BHS, Walton attended Ashland College and earned a bachelor of science degree. She went on to receive a master of arts degree at the University of Iowa.
She then embarked on what has become a long basketball career. She had a two-year stint as a talent scout with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association before spending 20 years of coaching at the collegiate level.
She was the head coach at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and also was a top assistant at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa. In addition, she served as an instructor/coach and athletic director at Spelman College in Atlanta.
Richey-Walton has coached the Georgia Metros 16-and-under team to four national championships and was the head coach at the 2005 USA Olympics Youth Development Festival. She also served as head coach at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010.
The Bellefontaine native has been tabbed with numerous coaching honors during her career. She was selected the 2008 and 2010 Atlanta TipOff Club Garland F. Pinholster coach of the year, the 2009 Black Coaches and Administrators national coach of the year, the 2009 Bobby Cremins Georgia coach of the year and has been the DeKalb County coach of the year three times.
Her teaching honors have included being named the Georgia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance teacher of the year in 2009 and the Southwest DeKalb County high school teacher of the year in 2014.
The daughter of the late Jack and Ruth Routt Richey, she resides in Decatur with her husband William and children Richey, Stephan and Sydnee.
>