The sportswriter and later sports editor at the Cortland Standard from 1928 to 1976, Rol Randall, who becomes the sixth honorary C-Club Hall of Fame inductee, began covering SUNY Cortland athletics a few years before the then-Cortland Normal School teams adopted their nicknames of “Red Dragons” and “Red Mules.” He would follow the fortunes of Cortland athletics for the next half-century.
In fact, Randall’s 48 years as a local sportswriter spans nearly half of the first 100 years of the College. It is fitting, then, that Randall becomes the 100th C-Club Hall of Fame inductee because during his decades as sports editor he wrote about nearly all of the Cortland Hall of Famers, competing on the many great Red Dragon teams, who preceded him.
A native of Cortland, N.Y., Randall followed the professional footsteps of his father, also a newspaperman, and began as a general assignment reporter and a part-time sportswriter for the Standard in the 1920’s. In 1940, he became wire editor and, three years later, added the sports editor title to his chores as front page editor. For the next three decades, he covered the Cortland sports scene as a “one-man” sports department.
Beyond SUNY Cortland sports, Randall wrote about and helped promote the athletic careers of many Cortland scholastic standouts, including such locals as former National Football League players Gary Wood and Jack Call.
A charter member of the Cortland Bowling Hall of Fame, Randall served on the New York State Bowling Association Board of Directors for 30 years and was secretary of the Cortland Bowling Association for 37 years. His daily sports column, “Down the Sports Alley,” grew from strictly a bowling news column to eventually encompass the wide gamut of sports topics.
In 1977, Randall became the 23rd recipient of the Cortland County Sports Award for his many contributions to the local sports. A former secretary in the Kiwanis Club, Randall, for many years, served as a national weather observer for Cortland.
Randall, a widower, has three children: David, Judy and Karen.
UPDATE: Randall passed away on December 5, 1992
