After Nine Years, Harold Richardson Steps Down From the East-West Shrine Game
Longtime College Administrator Bob Roller Takes Over at Shriners Hospitals for Children
TAMPA, Fla., March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The East-West Shrine Game®, the longest-running college all-star football game in the country, announced today that Executive Director Harold Richardson, who has enjoyed a successful nine-year tenure with the Game, will step down. Bob Roller, who was hired in January as the director of national sports management for Shriners Hospitals for Children®, will take over on an interim basis, and oversee the 2020 Game.
Under Richardson's leadership, the East-West Shrine Game saw increased attendance and an improved and strengthened relationship with the National Football League (NFL) and NFL Network. Richardson joined the Game following a storied football career, highlighted by serving as the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons and coaching stints with the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos. Richardson also coached for more than a decade at various NCAA Division I schools and played collegiately at Southern Methodist University.
Roller joined Shriners Hospital for Children after serving as an NCAA Division I athletic director (AD) for the past 20 years. He spent the last eight years at Campbell University in North Carolina and was the AD at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, from 1999-2010. He has also worked with the Orange Bowl Committee in Miami and spent seven years as vice president for college sports at Host Communications/AdCraft. Roller holds a Master of Science in education administration from Samford and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Virginia Tech.
Roller was hired to oversee the signature national sporting events for Shriners Hospitals for Children, one of which is the East-West Shrine Game. The others are the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which is a PGA TOUR FedExCup event in Las Vegas, and the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic, held each March at Minute Maid Park in partnership with the Astros Foundation in Houston.
We are grateful for Harold's dedication to the East-West Shrine Game, and all his efforts that have helped make it such a great event for the players, coaches and fans for the past nine years.
About the East-West Shrine Game
The East-West Shrine Game is the longest running college all-star football game in the nation. Since 1925, the game has benefited Shriners Hospitals for Children and its mission to provide advanced care for children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate. For more information, please visit http://www.shrinegame.com.
About Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Hospitals for Children is changing lives every day through innovative pediatric specialty care, world-class research and outstanding medical education. Our health care system provides advanced care for children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the families' ability to pay. Shriners Hospitals for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and relies on the generosity of donors. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. For more information, please visit http://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.
Mel Bower, Shriners Hospitals for Children 813-281-8643 [email protected]
SOURCE Shriners Hospitals for Children
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