Randolph Wilbert Staten, Sr. (January 24, 1944 – May 29, 2020) was an American politician and football player. Staten served in the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

from 1981 to 1987 and was a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. He was the only African-American to be elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1980. Staten was tried and convicted for writing bad checks and for shoplifting in 1985 and 1987.

Background

He was previously an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. He played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in 1967. Staten was born in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

and graduated from Second Ward High School in Charlotte in 1962. He received his bachelor's degree in speech and advance communications from

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Staten went to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

to graduate school for business management. Staten lived in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and was a businessman. He died on May 29, 2020, in

, at age 76.

References

1944 births 2020 deaths African-American state legislators in Minnesota Businesspeople from Minneapolis Politicians from Minneapolis Politicians from Charlotte, North Carolina New York University alumni Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina American football defensive ends Minnesota Golden Gophers football players New York Giants players Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Minnesota politicians convicted of crimes {{Minnesota-politician-stub