Beattie takes reins after surprise resignation by Ralph

It’s not often that RPI loses one of its treasured leaders, but just under two weeks ago, the athletic director Ken Ralph left for the same position at Colorado College. After just five years of work for the department, and just as the East Campus Athletic Village was breaking ground, he surprised everyone with his decision to leave for Colorado Springs.

Hockey is a Division I sport at both RPI and Colorado College. The men will actually meet in Tampa, Fla. at the Lightning Classic on December 29.

While a national search committee headed by Director of the Union Rick Hartt ’70, is slated to conclude before the next calendar year, current Sports Information Director Kevin Beattie has taken the reins in a smooth transition.

“I was disappointed both personally and professionally,” said Beattie on Ralph’s abrupt departure. The two had become close friends over the years, and Beattie was just as surprised as everyone else at Ralph’s decision. “We wish him well at Colorado College, and of course the goal is to not lose any of the momentum … to continue things moving forward at a high rate.” As Beattie has worked at the Institute for nearly a decade, his knowledge of the inner workings of the system in place was vital to the easy shift.

“It speaks volumes of Rensselaer that other schools and businesses come to recruit our people,” said Beattie. Ralph was likely recruited by Colorado College after he worked closely with both Colorado College hockey program and the Johns Hopkins lacrosse program to amend Proposition 65 three and a half years ago. The proposition was to be enacted by the NCAA in order to level the playing field for Division III schools as a part of the wide-ranging reform package. Twelve programs, four of which were hockey, at eight separate schools were in danger of losing their ability to award scholarships to their D-I athletes.

The amendment was voted on by the schools at a convention in Nashville. Before the convention, Ralph helped contact over 300 schools and their sports departments to try and convince them of their idea. Dr. Miles Brand ’64, the chair of the NCAA, made clear just how much work Ralph did in order to accomplish this task. “He did a lot of homework, and called a lot of people.” He also credited the influential teamwork of President Jackson and Ralph: “Ken Ralph and President Jackson were quite the force,” said Brand of their presence at the convention.

Ralph also was an influential force on campus. He endorsed several beneficial changes, including the expansion of national recruiting and involvement of the admissions office, while working with Vice President for Enrollment Jim Nondorf.

Vice President of Student Life Eddie Knowles credited Ralph with, “a dramatic increase in numbers” plus an increase in geographic and ethnic diversity. “He was an integral part of what we accomplished” said Knowles of the five years of success that Ralph brought to RPI athletics.

An important initiative for taking Rensselaer’s athletic program to the next level was the extensive planning and preparation involved in the design of the East Campus Athletic Village. “He worked closely with administration and architects to articulate our vision for our athletics” said Knowles. “He looked well beyond varsity athletics” said Knowles of the design of ECAV. Looking forward, the school hopes to build on the legacy Ralph’s built.