Dr. Linton’s Passions are Academia and Sports
Jun 27, 2022 | Sports Extra, Athletics
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State University President Dr. Richard Linton is energized. He is traveling around Kansas shaking hands and listening. He has been on the job for nearly five months and his calendar is packed. However, that doesn't stop Linton from taking a few moments to pause and discuss a topic dear to him: Sports, and more specifically, baseball.
"It's hot dogs, cherry pie, and Coca-Cola, and every once in a while, a cold, chilly beer," Linton says. "It's the American Way. It's the American dream."
Linton began his duties at K-State on February 14 after serving 10 years as Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Science at North Carolina State University. He served as professor of food sciences at Purdue University between 1994 and 2011, and then spent a year as department chair of food science and technology at Ohio State University before heading to NC State.
But Linton, who received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in food science from Virginia Tech, is also very passionate about his sports — he has visited more than 200 ballparks across the United States.
Linton speaks with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen about growing up with sports, college life, and his love for America's National Pastime:
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: During your introduction to the Kansas State Athletic Department shortly after your hiring, it became clear that you are quite a sports fan. How did your love of sports first begin as a child?
PRESIDENT LINTON: I grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and my dad was a huge sports fan, and I grew up watching the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Philadelphia 76ers in the late '70s, and they were just some of the best sports teams in the country. My grandfather and grandmother's love and my dad's love for sports got me hooked. I just loved sports from the beginning. My idol was Larry Bowa, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was a great shortstop. Larry Bowa was a guy who had a real hard time making his high school team, in fact, I don't think he made his high school team, and it was just his tenacity and how hard he worked to be able to practice and to be excellent. He knew he'd never be a great hitter, but he still focused on hitting and tried to be a switch hitter to accommodate some of those challenges, but he became one of the best shortstops in baseball. That was kind of the way that he made it in the big leagues. His tenacity and working hard and overcoming obstacles and the never-give-up attitude is what I liked.
I tried a lot of different sports myself. I started off playing Little League and played a lot of baseball. I played a little basketball and ran some track and field. Then I started playing a lot of soccer. I played a lot of soccer starting in the sixth grade and played in high school and in college as well. Baseball was my favorite to play. I was a shortstop, a second baseman and a pitcher. My claim to fame was I needed a good defense behind me because I threw it over the plate most of the time. But I loved pitching. Always loved to play shortstop.
FRITCHEN: What are a couple of your most memorable moments playing sports?
LINTION: Without a doubt, we were state champions (in soccer) my 11th-grade year at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, and what was so exciting about the event was it was a 2-2 game, and it went through seven overtimes. The game had to be postponed to be played two days later with two 20-minute halves. The other team scored one goal in the first half, and we scored two goals in the second half to win. That was exciting. We also won the Little League state championship when I was in the seventh grade and that was great, too.
FRITCHEN: That soccer state championship had to be one of the longest state championship games in American history.
LINTON: It is the only game in state history that had to be postponed in order to play it another day. It had never been done before or since, but you think about it, after seven overtimes, that's a lot of playing time, and at some point, they weren't just worried about the athletes being tired, but folks in the stands were pretty tired, too.
FRITCHEN: At what point did you decide you would no longer pursue sports and pursue other interests?
LINTON: My dad was an All-American in soccer, so my dream was to play soccer in high school and in college and to have a very successful career. I had a hard time my freshman year managing the challenges of playing college sports and I was also pledging a fraternity and also majoring in biology and chemistry — all of those things — so my grades weren't as good as they could be. I came home for Thanksgiving, and let's just say my grades were far less than what my parents were expecting. Because of that, my dad had a long heart-to-heart talk with me that I probably wasn't going to be a professional soccer player, and if I put my energy into school that was probably a better decision. I took his advice, as I always did.
FRITCHEN: What role did sports play in your life as a Virginia Tech Hokie? What were some of your favorite times?
LINTON: I loved to watch the Hokies when I was there. When I was there, I was able to watch Del Curry, who's Seth Curry's father. Bimbo Coles was another great basketball player I had the chance to watch for several years. Virginia Tech had a great football team. Just as I was ending my college career, we went from one of the worst football teams in history, kind of like K-State, and turned it around to get to a couple bowl games. Then, of course, Frank Beamer took them to 25-plus bowl games in a row. There are a couple memorable wins against the University of Virginia — 42-10 was a win I remember. It was a pretty exciting win in the 1980s. Probably my most favorite game was when Michael Vick was quarterback and we were playing against West Virginia, our main rival, and we were down a couple touchdowns with just a couple minutes left, and he came back and won it almost by himself with his athletic skill. That was pretty amazing to watch. That was the year they played in the national championship game against Florida State.
FRITCHEN: It certainly sounds like you've been to some great sporting events. I understand you have a unique passion when it comes to baseball. Can you tell us about your baseball travels?
LINTON: I've been to all the major-league parks except for Oakland and Anaheim. I've been to 200 minor-league parks, the College World Series a couple times, and probably my highlight is the Field of Dreams. That was kind of an amazing experience to play 7-on-7 baseball at the Field of Dreams. That was pretty neat. How it began was I had a college roommate and him one night on a whim while out having fun at a restaurant decided why don't we drive from Virginia to Chicago and see a Cubs game. While we were there, we saw a White Sox game, and zipped around and came back the long way and hit St. Louis and Kansas City to see two more games. Every year we'd take five or six days and try to tackle as many major league parks as we could. We'd make the drive out there, so we'd hit some minor league parks. There'd be some days that we'd actually see three games — a minor league game and then maybe a major league game and if the timing worked out, we could catch another minor league game as well. It was a whole lot of fun.
FRITCHEN: Do you still have a chance to go out and enjoy some baseball?
LINTON: Well, I went to a Cubs game three weeks ago with a few colleagues and went there a night early to catch up with some friends. I haven't had a whole lot of time since I've been President, but I'm hoping when my son comes in August that we can make some more time and find an opportunity to zip out to some minor league parks that might be near Manhattan.
FRITCHEN: What makes baseball in summer so awesome?
LINTON: It's hot dogs, cherry pie, and Coca-Cola, and every once in a while, a cold, chilly beer. It's the American Way. It's the American dream. A lot of times I'll go to a game and just shut my eyes and listen for half an inning and listen to the game and the fans. It's who we are as Americans. It's something we enjoy that's quite different from anywhere else in the world. It's not only watching the game in a stadium but there's nothing better than listen to an announcer call a baseball game. I was a big Richie Ashburn fan. He used to do the Philadelphia Phillies. Of course, listening to Vin Scully at the Dodgers and listening to the guy who used to do the St. Louis Cardinals' games was great, too. I loved listening to a ballgame and imagining what was going on. I think those announcers who do it very well can have you completely envisioning what's happening.
FRITCHEN: What's your favorite all-time sports movie?
LINTON: Field of Dreams, no question. There's not even a second or third behind that. Field of Dreams is just a great movie. I watched it as soon as it came out. Actually, one of the scenes is at a bar at NC State, so it's kind of neat to revisit that as well.
FRITCHEN: Obviously, your favorite major league baseball team is the Phillies. Who's No. 2?
LINTON: The Atlanta Braves would be No. 2. I went to school in Atlanta my freshman year. I had a sister and brother-in-law who had season tickets and went to a bunch of World Series back in the 1990s.
FRITCHEN: How many Phillies games have you seen in person?
LINTON: Probably 150 to 200. It's interesting, my dad and I would go to every single twi-night doubleheader that we could back in the day that they played two at night, started at 5:35 p.m. and played two games. We went to probably 20 of those when I was a kid, and the Phillies never lost a single game. I'd gone to 45 baseball games before they ever lost a game. That's how awesome they were. I used to pray at night that the Phillies would win. Somehow it was working.
FRITCHEN: Before we know it, fall will be here. What are some of your favorite college football games you've ever attended?
LINTON: Michael Vick against West Virginia. Another one that comes to mind is I was at Purdue when Drew Brees was there, and he was behind by 16 points and less than 2 minutes left and everyone was leaving the stadium and he scored two touchdowns and a field goal and still had about 15 seconds left on the clock. It was a pretty amazing comeback. Any of the bowl games I've gone to with Purdue or NC State or Virginia Tech, all the games were super, super exciting to go to. Even the ones they didn't win, it was just great to be there and to root really, really hard for your team. Certainly, going to the national championship game when Virginia Tech was leading after the third quarter. I was embracing people I never even knew. Any game I've had a chance to root for my team. That's why K-State is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to be one of the biggest cheerleaders in the history of K-State sports.
FRITCHEN: You've been across the country in your career. Have you been able to identify what makes K-State fans unique?
LINTON: Well, I'll quote my wife. When we were here, we didn't actually go to a football game here on campus, but we were here visiting at the Baylor game, and met a lot of fans and did the tailgating, and we did go to the Texas Bowl game. My wife's comment was, "These folks are crazy. These folks are over the top." Then she looks at me and says, "Isn't it great?" I think there's a lot of passion. They're rooting as hard as they can for K-State. I was actually at dinner with a couple friends of the university last night and their comment was the fans are just really good people and they're good people to each other and to opposing fans that come in. I think that's kind of the K-State way. I saw a little bit at the Baylor game, but I'm really looking forward to embracing that culture as the season starts.
Kansas State University President Dr. Richard Linton is energized. He is traveling around Kansas shaking hands and listening. He has been on the job for nearly five months and his calendar is packed. However, that doesn't stop Linton from taking a few moments to pause and discuss a topic dear to him: Sports, and more specifically, baseball.
"It's hot dogs, cherry pie, and Coca-Cola, and every once in a while, a cold, chilly beer," Linton says. "It's the American Way. It's the American dream."
Linton began his duties at K-State on February 14 after serving 10 years as Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Science at North Carolina State University. He served as professor of food sciences at Purdue University between 1994 and 2011, and then spent a year as department chair of food science and technology at Ohio State University before heading to NC State.
But Linton, who received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in food science from Virginia Tech, is also very passionate about his sports — he has visited more than 200 ballparks across the United States.
Linton speaks with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen about growing up with sports, college life, and his love for America's National Pastime:
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: During your introduction to the Kansas State Athletic Department shortly after your hiring, it became clear that you are quite a sports fan. How did your love of sports first begin as a child?
PRESIDENT LINTON: I grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and my dad was a huge sports fan, and I grew up watching the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Philadelphia 76ers in the late '70s, and they were just some of the best sports teams in the country. My grandfather and grandmother's love and my dad's love for sports got me hooked. I just loved sports from the beginning. My idol was Larry Bowa, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was a great shortstop. Larry Bowa was a guy who had a real hard time making his high school team, in fact, I don't think he made his high school team, and it was just his tenacity and how hard he worked to be able to practice and to be excellent. He knew he'd never be a great hitter, but he still focused on hitting and tried to be a switch hitter to accommodate some of those challenges, but he became one of the best shortstops in baseball. That was kind of the way that he made it in the big leagues. His tenacity and working hard and overcoming obstacles and the never-give-up attitude is what I liked.
I tried a lot of different sports myself. I started off playing Little League and played a lot of baseball. I played a little basketball and ran some track and field. Then I started playing a lot of soccer. I played a lot of soccer starting in the sixth grade and played in high school and in college as well. Baseball was my favorite to play. I was a shortstop, a second baseman and a pitcher. My claim to fame was I needed a good defense behind me because I threw it over the plate most of the time. But I loved pitching. Always loved to play shortstop.
FRITCHEN: What are a couple of your most memorable moments playing sports?
LINTION: Without a doubt, we were state champions (in soccer) my 11th-grade year at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, and what was so exciting about the event was it was a 2-2 game, and it went through seven overtimes. The game had to be postponed to be played two days later with two 20-minute halves. The other team scored one goal in the first half, and we scored two goals in the second half to win. That was exciting. We also won the Little League state championship when I was in the seventh grade and that was great, too.
FRITCHEN: That soccer state championship had to be one of the longest state championship games in American history.
LINTON: It is the only game in state history that had to be postponed in order to play it another day. It had never been done before or since, but you think about it, after seven overtimes, that's a lot of playing time, and at some point, they weren't just worried about the athletes being tired, but folks in the stands were pretty tired, too.
FRITCHEN: At what point did you decide you would no longer pursue sports and pursue other interests?
LINTON: My dad was an All-American in soccer, so my dream was to play soccer in high school and in college and to have a very successful career. I had a hard time my freshman year managing the challenges of playing college sports and I was also pledging a fraternity and also majoring in biology and chemistry — all of those things — so my grades weren't as good as they could be. I came home for Thanksgiving, and let's just say my grades were far less than what my parents were expecting. Because of that, my dad had a long heart-to-heart talk with me that I probably wasn't going to be a professional soccer player, and if I put my energy into school that was probably a better decision. I took his advice, as I always did.
FRITCHEN: What role did sports play in your life as a Virginia Tech Hokie? What were some of your favorite times?
LINTON: I loved to watch the Hokies when I was there. When I was there, I was able to watch Del Curry, who's Seth Curry's father. Bimbo Coles was another great basketball player I had the chance to watch for several years. Virginia Tech had a great football team. Just as I was ending my college career, we went from one of the worst football teams in history, kind of like K-State, and turned it around to get to a couple bowl games. Then, of course, Frank Beamer took them to 25-plus bowl games in a row. There are a couple memorable wins against the University of Virginia — 42-10 was a win I remember. It was a pretty exciting win in the 1980s. Probably my most favorite game was when Michael Vick was quarterback and we were playing against West Virginia, our main rival, and we were down a couple touchdowns with just a couple minutes left, and he came back and won it almost by himself with his athletic skill. That was pretty amazing to watch. That was the year they played in the national championship game against Florida State.
FRITCHEN: It certainly sounds like you've been to some great sporting events. I understand you have a unique passion when it comes to baseball. Can you tell us about your baseball travels?
LINTON: I've been to all the major-league parks except for Oakland and Anaheim. I've been to 200 minor-league parks, the College World Series a couple times, and probably my highlight is the Field of Dreams. That was kind of an amazing experience to play 7-on-7 baseball at the Field of Dreams. That was pretty neat. How it began was I had a college roommate and him one night on a whim while out having fun at a restaurant decided why don't we drive from Virginia to Chicago and see a Cubs game. While we were there, we saw a White Sox game, and zipped around and came back the long way and hit St. Louis and Kansas City to see two more games. Every year we'd take five or six days and try to tackle as many major league parks as we could. We'd make the drive out there, so we'd hit some minor league parks. There'd be some days that we'd actually see three games — a minor league game and then maybe a major league game and if the timing worked out, we could catch another minor league game as well. It was a whole lot of fun.
FRITCHEN: Do you still have a chance to go out and enjoy some baseball?
LINTON: Well, I went to a Cubs game three weeks ago with a few colleagues and went there a night early to catch up with some friends. I haven't had a whole lot of time since I've been President, but I'm hoping when my son comes in August that we can make some more time and find an opportunity to zip out to some minor league parks that might be near Manhattan.
FRITCHEN: What makes baseball in summer so awesome?
LINTON: It's hot dogs, cherry pie, and Coca-Cola, and every once in a while, a cold, chilly beer. It's the American Way. It's the American dream. A lot of times I'll go to a game and just shut my eyes and listen for half an inning and listen to the game and the fans. It's who we are as Americans. It's something we enjoy that's quite different from anywhere else in the world. It's not only watching the game in a stadium but there's nothing better than listen to an announcer call a baseball game. I was a big Richie Ashburn fan. He used to do the Philadelphia Phillies. Of course, listening to Vin Scully at the Dodgers and listening to the guy who used to do the St. Louis Cardinals' games was great, too. I loved listening to a ballgame and imagining what was going on. I think those announcers who do it very well can have you completely envisioning what's happening.
FRITCHEN: What's your favorite all-time sports movie?
LINTON: Field of Dreams, no question. There's not even a second or third behind that. Field of Dreams is just a great movie. I watched it as soon as it came out. Actually, one of the scenes is at a bar at NC State, so it's kind of neat to revisit that as well.
FRITCHEN: Obviously, your favorite major league baseball team is the Phillies. Who's No. 2?
LINTON: The Atlanta Braves would be No. 2. I went to school in Atlanta my freshman year. I had a sister and brother-in-law who had season tickets and went to a bunch of World Series back in the 1990s.
FRITCHEN: How many Phillies games have you seen in person?
LINTON: Probably 150 to 200. It's interesting, my dad and I would go to every single twi-night doubleheader that we could back in the day that they played two at night, started at 5:35 p.m. and played two games. We went to probably 20 of those when I was a kid, and the Phillies never lost a single game. I'd gone to 45 baseball games before they ever lost a game. That's how awesome they were. I used to pray at night that the Phillies would win. Somehow it was working.
FRITCHEN: Before we know it, fall will be here. What are some of your favorite college football games you've ever attended?
LINTON: Michael Vick against West Virginia. Another one that comes to mind is I was at Purdue when Drew Brees was there, and he was behind by 16 points and less than 2 minutes left and everyone was leaving the stadium and he scored two touchdowns and a field goal and still had about 15 seconds left on the clock. It was a pretty amazing comeback. Any of the bowl games I've gone to with Purdue or NC State or Virginia Tech, all the games were super, super exciting to go to. Even the ones they didn't win, it was just great to be there and to root really, really hard for your team. Certainly, going to the national championship game when Virginia Tech was leading after the third quarter. I was embracing people I never even knew. Any game I've had a chance to root for my team. That's why K-State is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to be one of the biggest cheerleaders in the history of K-State sports.
FRITCHEN: You've been across the country in your career. Have you been able to identify what makes K-State fans unique?
LINTON: Well, I'll quote my wife. When we were here, we didn't actually go to a football game here on campus, but we were here visiting at the Baylor game, and met a lot of fans and did the tailgating, and we did go to the Texas Bowl game. My wife's comment was, "These folks are crazy. These folks are over the top." Then she looks at me and says, "Isn't it great?" I think there's a lot of passion. They're rooting as hard as they can for K-State. I was actually at dinner with a couple friends of the university last night and their comment was the fans are just really good people and they're good people to each other and to opposing fans that come in. I think that's kind of the K-State way. I saw a little bit at the Baylor game, but I'm really looking forward to embracing that culture as the season starts.
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