Richard D. Capps From the 1971 Ranger yearbook

Richard excelled in sports, received several trophies and letters, in football, he played quarterback, and around Camp Hill and LW, he was called 'Little Broadway Joe' (for professional player, Joe Namath).     In the autumn of 1970, when he was home on leave, Richard took our mother, his girlfriend, and me to the Alabama State Fair. Because of Joe Namath's popularity, the big midway game that year was 'football passing'. You had to throw a regulation-sized football through the exact center of a tire; if the ball touched the tire, you lost. I guess there were 20 booths offering that same game.     RD never missed! He won so many teddy bears that night that we couldn't carry them all. We were giving bears away to passers-by, and we had a small following of people wanting a bear or to just watch somebody beat the system.     After RD won a few times at a single booth, they would refuse to let him play again, wouldn't take his 50 cents, so we would move on to the next booth.     We went home with a car full of prizes and smug smiles.......and never again have I seen football-passing on the midway at the Alabama State Fair.

Note: Richard D. Capps '71 passed away on June 28, 2002. Click here to read Richard's TAPS page notice.

Richard's sister, Linda Capps Drummond, was kind enough to write this story for the LWMA Alumni Stories page. She asked me to post her e-mail address here in case any of RD's friends should want to write her.

Richard's wife, Virginia Len Capps, has also asked us to post her e-mail address and would like to hear from Richard's friends too.

Click on either name above and the e-mail window will pop up.

We thank Linda for her story and we want to let her and Virginia know that Richard's passing leaves a large hole in the ranks of the LWMA Alumni. I also told Linda, Virginia, and Shannon, Richard's daughter, this; "The LWMA extended family is quite large, even if our school is small, and you, and all of R.D.'s family, are a part of it."

Brian V. Brunner '64 - 7/26/2002

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