Richard Berg, long-time athletic director for the University of West Florida, died last week at the age of 81.
Berg, a native of New York, spent 19 years at the helm of UWF’s athletics program, beginning in 1988.
During his tenure, the program grew from nine sports to 14 and transitioned from NAIA to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference in the fall of 1994.
The program won more than 40 conference titles and collected four national championships under Berg’s leadership, including softball in 1993, men’s golf (2001) and men’s tennis (2004, 2005).
Berg retired in 2007. Subsequently, he was elected to the University of West Florida Hall of Fame as part of the 2009-10 Class. In 2014, he was inducted into Gulf South Conference Hall of Fame, part of its 10-member inaugural class.
After his retirement in 2007, Berg talked about his legacy as UWF athletics' director with WUWF’s Sandra Averhart.
Note: Berg was UWF athletic director in 1997, when Averhart was hired as a public address announcer for the athletics program.
