Steven Earl Riddick (born September 18, 1951) is an American athlete and winner of the gold medal in 4×100 meter relay at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

Personal life

Riddick was raised in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

. His father was a Church of Christ minister there."Feeling Fit To Hurt A Lot Of Feelings"
Joe Marshall, Sports Illustrated, March 28, 1977. Riddick was a late starter in track, concentrating on team sports until his junior year at high school. After high school, Riddick attended at

Norfolk State University Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 ...

, having been recruited by coach

Dick Price Richard Price (October 12, 1930 – November 25, 1985) was co-founder of the Esalen Institute in 1962 and a veteran of the Beat Generation. He ran Esalen in Big Sur for many years, sometimes virtually single-handed."Dick's life in the late 1960s ...

. There he met his wife Theresita Renee Coleman. For the last year of his psychology degree course he ran for the Philadelphia Pioneers track club because his college eligibility had ended. It was a move engineered by Coach Price who put Riddick in contact with the Philadelphia Pioneers coach Alex Woodley. After graduation in 1975, Riddick moved first to Washington D.C. and then Philadelphia and continued to run for the Philadelphia Pioneers club.

Track career

Riddick attempted to qualify for the 1972 Munich Olympics but was eliminated at the semi-final stage in both the 100 and 200 m at the United States Olympic Trials.The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field
R Hymans, USA Track & Field, 2008 In 1975, in Zurich, he ran the fastest automatically timed 100 m of the year at 10.05 s, a time that remained his personal best. He had started that year by causing some amazement and amusement when he ran and won an indoor race in his sweat pants. The reason: he had forgotten his shorts. He won the final in borrowed shorts. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Steven Riddick was eliminated in the semi-final of the 100 m race, but ran the anchor leg in the gold medal-winning American 4 × 100 m relay team (with

Harvey Glance Harvey Edward Glance (born March 28, 1957) is a former American sprint runner. He won gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay at the 1976 Olympics, 1987 World Championships, and 1979 and 1987 Pan American Games. Track and field career Glance equaled th ...

, Johnny 'Lam' Jones and

Millard Hampton Millard Frank Hampton Jr. (born July 8, 1956) is an American former athlete, winner of gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay and the individual silver medal in the 200 meters at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Born in Fresno, California, Millard Hampton was ...

). Riddick had finished third in the 100 m final at the United States Olympic Trials. He narrowly missed-out on doubling-up at 200 m at the Olympics by finishing fourth in the 200 final - he was narrowly passed in the closing stages by Mark Lutz. Riddick was a member of American 4 × 100 m relay team, which won the 1977 IAAF World Cup with a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

of 38.03 s (with

Cliff Wiley Clifford 'Cliff' Wiley (born May 21, 1955) is a former American track and field athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the men's 400 metres event at the 1981 Athletics World Cup in Rome and ...

, Bill Collins and Steve Williams). He was also a member of American 4 × 100 m relay team, which won the 1979 Pan American Games(with Mike Roberson,

and

) and placed second in 1979 IAAF World Cup (with Mike Roberson,

and

Mel Lattany Melvin Lattany (born August 10, 1959) is a former United States, American track athlete. He was one of the world's dominating Sprint (running), sprinters in the early 1980s. Early years Lattany attended Glynn Academy, where he was a standout spri ...

). In 1978, he won the 100 m and anchored the United States 4 × 100 m relay team to victory in the USA versus USSR meet at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Edwards Stadium Edwards Stadium (also referred to as Edwards Field) is the track and field and soccer venue for the California Golden Bears, the athletic teams of the University of California, Berkeley. This Art Deco-styled stadium was designed by architects W ...

, and so helping the United States to its first overall victory in the dual meet series since 1969. Riddick attempted to qualify for the 100 m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics but was eliminated at the quarter-final stage at the United States Olympic Trials. Surprisingly, Riddick never achieved much success at the USA National Championships outdoors during his career - his best was fourth in the 100 m (in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979) and fifth in the 200 m (in 1977 and 1979)A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2003
, Track and Field News. - he was, however, twice United States champion indoors at 60 y in 1977 and 1979. His indoor successes in 1977 led him to being voted Track and Field News's indoor athlete of the year. Riddick ran for his college

until 1974 winning NCAA division titles. He then joined the Philadelphia Pioneers track club. The Philadelphia Pioneer Educational Athletic Development Club, the proper name for the Philadelphia Pioneers, were the brainchild of Alexander J. Woodley. During the period 1977–1981, when Riddick was a member, they were the premier track club in the United States. In 1980, Riddick was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame of The Lower Virginia Peninsula. In 1997, Riddick was inducted into the Hampton Roads African American Sports Hall of Fame.

Rankings

Riddick was ranked among the best in the US and the world in both the 100 and 200 m sprint events from 1973 to 1979, according to the votes of the experts of ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

''.

Coaching career

After his athletics career, Riddick was a coach at

. Riddick enjoyed some early success in the role, but his reputation was tarnished when he was embroiled in a scandal over the misappropriation of university travel funds for which he was sacked.

Money laundering and bank fraud scandal

In 2006, Riddick was indicted and arrested on fraud charges for his alleged involvement in a

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

scheme. His former student,

Tim Montgomery Timothy Montgomery (born January 28, 1975) is an American former track sprinter who specialized in the 100-meter dash. In 2005, he was stripped of his records—including a now-void men's 100-meter world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002—a ...

, was also a defendant in the case and Montgomery's former girlfriend, 5-time Olympic medalist sprinter

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 200 ...

, was also found to have been involved in the operation. In 2008, Riddick was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison for counterfeiting checks."The hard truth for Marion Jones is a 6-month term"
''

Virginia Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia ...

''. January 12, 2008.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riddick, Steven 1951 births Living people American male sprinters American people convicted of fraud American sportspeople convicted of crimes Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Hampton High School (Virginia) alumni Medalists at the 1973 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Pan American Games Norfolk State Spartans men's track and field athletes Norfolk State Spartans track and field coaches Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for the United States USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Sportspeople from Newport News, Virginia Track and field athletes from Virginia