UWF HALL OF FAME - CLASS OF 2009-10
Richard Berg first joined UWF as Athletic Director in July of 1988, as he inherited a growing athletics program. Under his watch the department grew from nine teams and an annual budget of just under $500,000 to 14 teams and a budget of over $3 million. UWF hosted six national championships during his tenure, including the 2006 NCAA Division II National Championships Festival. Berg led the Argonauts in their transition from the NAIA to the NCAA in 1994-95, and during his years as Athletic Director he also led numerous facility renovation projects in the UWF Field House and Sports Complex.
During Berg’s tenure as Athletic Director, the Argonauts captured NCAA Division II national championships in men’s golf (2001) and men’s tennis (2004, 2005), as well as an NAIA national championship in softball (1993). After the school’s transition to Division II and the Gulf South Conference, UWF tallied 41 conference titles under Berg’s direction, as well as three GSC Commissioner’s Trophy winners and eight GSC All-Sports Trophies. In his final year before retirement in 2006-07, the Argonauts claimed six GSC championships, the most during one academic year in school history.
Berg is internationally renowned for his work in promoting athletics and health and fitness. He has lectured in sixteen different countries and was among the first American coaches to speak at the Physical Education Institute in Budapest, Hungary when the country was behind the Iron Curtain. He has also been extremely active in International Sports and the Olympic movement over the past 25 years. He was involved in the National Sports Festival in 1978 and, since coming to Pensacola, has been active with sports in Northwest Florida.
In addition to his over 30 years of work in athletic administration at the NAIA and NCAA Division I and II levels, he also coached men's basketball for 20 years while at Dowling College and Hofstra University in New York. Berg served on many NAIA and NCAA committees, including a stint as the South Region Chair of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee while at UWF.
He has also been inducted into the Pensacola Sports Association Hall of Fame (1998) and the Dowling College Athletics Hall of Fame (2000). He was also selected to the Pensacola News Journal Top 10 Coaches/Administrators of the 1990s. In 2002, he received the Marion Viccars Prize by the University of West Florida.
A native of New York, Berg received a B.A. in Social Sciences from Mansfield University in 1964 and an M.A. in Sociology from Adelphi University in 1972. Berg was a three-sport student-athlete at Mansfield, playing for the basketball, football, and track and field teams.
Richard and his wife Sandra will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in April. They have three children, Bonnie, Dawn, and Brett, and six grandchildren (Shane and Jordan Scorzelli, Bobby and Isabella Vose, and Hayden and Charlotte Berg).
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Hall of Fame Questionnaire
1. What was your most memorable moment in UWF Athletics?
There were many memorable moments, including adding programs and watching them grow to be nationally competitive, hosting the first ever Division II Sports Festival, and having student-athletes return and say thank you to the University and their coaches for a great experience.
2. Being a former student-athlete, how has it helped you in your life after college?
It gave me discipline, organization skills, and the ability to understand what student-athletes go through and the important relationship they have with their coaches.
3. Are you still involved with your sport? If so, in what capacity?
I am still involved with the National Association of Basketball Coaches. As an administrator I am President of the First Tee Golf Program of Northwest Florida and President of First City Sports.
4. Please list any other information you would like to share.
It has been very rewarding watching the UWF athletic program grow to be competitive on a national level and win over 50 GSC championships.  I am very appreciative of President Dr. Judy Bense’s support for the athletic program.
