Savannah Beaumont

Off the Court

Richmond alumni, as Savannah Beaumont tells it on the shows. Each story was checked against its source.

• Leland D. MelvinNASA astronaut, NFL draftee

  Five, six, seven, eight! Leland Melvin came to Richmond on a football scholarship, earned a chemistry degree, got drafted by the Detroit Lions in eighty-six, then flew two shuttle missions and logged over five hundred sixty-five hours in space!

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• Brett Wigdortzfounder of Teach First

  Brett Wigdortz, class of ninety-five, founded Teach First. One, two, three cheers for a Spider who put teaching right there in the name!

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• Frank E. ResnikPhilip Morris USA chairman and CEO

  And a one, and a two. Frank Resnik, master's degree, nineteen fifty-five, went on to be chairman and CEO of Philip Morris USA. Yes, that Philip Morris. We'll just keep marching.

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• E. Claiborne Robins Sr.A.H. Robins CEO, record donor

  E. Claiborne Robins did his undergraduate studies at Richmond, and in nineteen sixty-nine gave the school fifty million dollars in company stock plus ten million in cash, then the largest gift ever made to an American university. Now that's a halftime show!

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• Bruce Hornsbysinger and pianist

  Bruce Hornsby, the singer known for his time with the Grateful Dead, briefly attended Richmond but did not graduate. Short solo, Spiders, but we're counting it!

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