By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
Opposing defenses could never get a hold of him and competing runners could never catch up to him, but on Friday the elusive Joe Randolph will be standing still for at least a few minutes as fans honor his induction into the Washington Walk of Fame during halftime of the Pam Pack-West Craven game.
Joining Randolph in the class of 2010 will be Earl Randolph (track and field), Ed Lucas (football) and Justin “Weasel” Moore (wrestling).
One of the finest natural athletes Washington has ever produced, Randolph was named to the all-conference and Washington Daily News all-area football teams before while being tabbed as one of the top sprinters in the state.
Randolph played wide receiver and starred as a punt and kick returner for the Pam Pack and tallied over 2,500 all-purpose yards playing for coach Bob Hannah in his senior year.
Seeking a way to improve his speed on the gridiron, Randolph joined up with Hannah again on the track team and instantly took off.
Despite lacking in the fundamental aspects of track and field, Randolph quickly wrote his name in the Washington record books where he set standards in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. In his senior year, Randolph was ranked the top sprinter in the state, and finished the season second in the state in both events.
Despite his success, Randolph said he was shocked to find out his was going to be enshrined in the Washington Walk of Fame.
“I was surprised because I really didn’t know about it,” Randolph said. “I got a letter and was just surprised, it was great.”
Randolph, who early in his track and field career didn’t even use the starting block, said running just came easy to him.
“It just came a natural,” Randolph said. “After football season coach told me track would help me in football. When I started running it was brand new to me, but once I caught on it just came natural. The first couple of meets I didn’t even use the blocks.”
Randolph’s abilities did not go unnoticed, and upon graduation he signed on to run track and play football at Taft Junior College in California. During his year-and-a-half stint there he was named to the JUCO all-America team as a return man and set an Taft record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10:20.
After that, Randolph transferred to Elon University, where he stared in both areas once again. Randolph was named team MVP and all-conference, which led the speedster to make an early exit from Elon.
In 1994 Randolph was selected in the ninth round of the NFL draft by Minnesota Vikings and made the practice squad during the ensuing training camp. The 5-8 wideout’s NFL career came to a halt the next season when a shoulder injury sidelined him for good.
Randolph, who currently lives in Washington and has three children, Yasmine, 16, Joseph, 12, and Antwone 8.