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GLENWOOD SPRINGS Colorado — With tears in their eyes and sadness in their hearts, the Glenwood Springs High School cheerleaders gathered on the court of the Demon gym Thursday morning and sang the school’s fight song in tribute to Kim Richardson.
The night before, those same cheerleaders convened with coaches Lynn Goluba and Jody Jordan and swapped stories about Richardson, their former coach who died on Wednesday at age 46 after a nine-month battle with cancer.
Both exercises proved cathartic for the grieving team and its coaches.
“She was such a fun and unique person,” Goluba said. “It helped all of us just to talk about her. It’s hard, as a coach, to help kids through the loss of Kim when we’ve had a big loss as well.”
“We shared funny stories,” Jordan added, “things the girls never heard about Kim. It was a good process for them. We know how tough a thing it is on high school girls to go through.”
Richardson, who coached the Glenwood cheer squad for more than 15 years, recruited Goluba and Jordan to her coaching staff in 1997. Both Goluba and Jordan held their peer in the highest of regard, not only for her coaching prowess but for the quality of her character.
“She was just very motivating and high energy with the girls,” said Jordan, who had known Richardson since childhood. “She had very high expectations. She wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best.
“On the other side, she had this loving side. She deeply cared and she never wanted anybody to be left out (of the cheer program), in regards to money or where they came from, if they had family problems. She wanted everybody to be included.”
Richardson stopped at nothing when it came to helping others.
If one of her cheerleaders couldn’t afford something like a trip to nationals, she’d often reach into her own pocket to make it happen. Richardson is also known to have funded uniform purchases and even helped Glenwood alumnae with their college tuition.
“Any time somebody needed something, she was there to pick them up,” Jordan explained. “She just really touched so many people. There’s so much people don’t know, just all the little things she did. She didn’t want a lot of credit for what went on.”
Lyndsey Wesson, a senior on the Demon cheer squad spoke to her classmates during pep rally on Thursday about her coach, her life mentor and a her teacher who taught her life lessons she’ll never forget.
“I thought it would be good to address everyone and tell them how we were feeling. It was really nice, it was sad, but it was a really good thing,” Wesson said. “It has been really hard. She is a role model to work really hard. She always said no excuses and to form a habit of excellence instead of just going through the motions. I think that it transfers to our everyday lives, everything we learned.”
The night before, those same cheerleaders convened with coaches Lynn Goluba and Jody Jordan and swapped stories about Richardson, their former coach who died on Wednesday at age 46 after a nine-month battle with cancer.
Both exercises proved cathartic for the grieving team and its coaches.
“She was such a fun and unique person,” Goluba said. “It helped all of us just to talk about her. It’s hard, as a coach, to help kids through the loss of Kim when we’ve had a big loss as well.”
“We shared funny stories,” Jordan added, “things the girls never heard about Kim. It was a good process for them. We know how tough a thing it is on high school girls to go through.”
Richardson, who coached the Glenwood cheer squad for more than 15 years, recruited Goluba and Jordan to her coaching staff in 1997. Both Goluba and Jordan held their peer in the highest of regard, not only for her coaching prowess but for the quality of her character.
“She was just very motivating and high energy with the girls,” said Jordan, who had known Richardson since childhood. “She had very high expectations. She wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best.
“On the other side, she had this loving side. She deeply cared and she never wanted anybody to be left out (of the cheer program), in regards to money or where they came from, if they had family problems. She wanted everybody to be included.”
Richardson stopped at nothing when it came to helping others.
If one of her cheerleaders couldn’t afford something like a trip to nationals, she’d often reach into her own pocket to make it happen. Richardson is also known to have funded uniform purchases and even helped Glenwood alumnae with their college tuition.
“Any time somebody needed something, she was there to pick them up,” Jordan explained. “She just really touched so many people. There’s so much people don’t know, just all the little things she did. She didn’t want a lot of credit for what went on.”
Lyndsey Wesson, a senior on the Demon cheer squad spoke to her classmates during pep rally on Thursday about her coach, her life mentor and a her teacher who taught her life lessons she’ll never forget.
“I thought it would be good to address everyone and tell them how we were feeling. It was really nice, it was sad, but it was a really good thing,” Wesson said. “It has been really hard. She is a role model to work really hard. She always said no excuses and to form a habit of excellence instead of just going through the motions. I think that it transfers to our everyday lives, everything we learned.”
What those who knew her said
On Wednesday, Kim Richardson, a longtime Glenwood Springs resident and coach of the Glenwood Springs High School cheerleading team, passed away after a nine-month battle with cancer. The following quotes are from a handful of people whose lives where touched monumentally by Richardson:
• “Everybody has their attributes and everybody tries to be a good person, but she just went overboard.” — Mike McCallum, work associate of Richardson’s and father of three cheerleaders who cheered for her • “I would say it is extremely hard to sum up the impact she had on my or anyone else’s life. One really remarkable thing about who Kim was and she will continue to be is her amazing ability to bring out the absolute best in any young person. She had unrelenting expectations to be the best as a coach and for us.” — Molly Ackerman, former GSHS cheerleader • “Before I had my drivers license, she would drive me home every day and she was just like a mom more than a coach. We told her happy Mothers Day.” — Lyndsey Wesson, GSHS senior • “She was passionate with the kids and coached hard work and dedication and passed on the idea that you get what you work for.” — Kevin Flohr, former GSHS classmate • “Besides just being the cheer coach, she was just a Glenwood Demon. She grew up here, went to school here, competed here. She certainly had a love for Glenwood Springs as much as she did for cheerleading. She was just a Glenwood Demon.” — Steve Cable, GSHS athletic director • “Really, her passion was helping young people. We just used cheerleading as an avenue to connect with the kids. We tell our kids every year when they’re working on jumps or stunts that we don’t expect them to do that when they’re 30 or 40, but we expect them to know discipline and dedication and that’s probably what I learned from Kim, to instill really important values in life.” — Lynn Goluba, current GSHS cheer coach • “She’s just the type of person that I think all parents dream of finding to help raise their own kids.” — Goluba • “I have known Kim since she was 12. … First as her junior high teacher, then as an athletic club member and, for the past 21 years, as her co-worker and friend. There are too many superlatives that come to mind right now and the loss is so fresh. To paraphrase Sara Lee, ‘Nobody does it like Kim …’ She cared so much and so hard — for her family, dogs (hers and anybody’s), co-workers Mike, Brent, Tracey were like family, her clients, her cheer girls. And everyone I knew loved her back. She had high expectations (but none higher than those she placed on herself) and was the most incredible mentor for the young cheer women in Glenwood — perhaps the most influential mentor in their lives. It seems to me that Kim brought kindness and caring and growth to all who knew her, near and far. “She touched so many in work and life and play and coaching. That is our gift — and, hopefully, we can focus on having had Kim in our lives rather than having lost her way too soon.” — Sumner W. Schachter, Stifel Nicolaus senior vice president/investments and Richardson’s former co-worker • “We’ve always kept Kim close to our hearts. Actually, this year the girls put a K on their skirts (during competitions) to help remember that Kim was there with them, in spirit.” — Jody Jordan, current GSHS cheer coach • “We had to write a speech in one of my classes and it was about someone that we admired and that influenced our lives and I wrote about her.”— Wesson |
Putting the GSHS cheer program on the map
Richardson brought life and success to the cheer program at GSHS. The Demons won the Class 4A state title three years in a row (2002-2004) and has made it to the finals (which is the top four) every year in the last decade. They have also competed at nationals those years. The Demons were state runner-up in 2005 and took third the past two years and are considered a powerhouse in the state.“She was the driving force behind the program and I think out of the time that I was on her team, she missed two practices in three years,” said Wesson, a four-year Demon cheerleader. “So that just said a lot and she taught us all about sacrifice and dedication. My mom used to quote me all the time that ‘coach Kim taught us this.’”
In 2004, after guiding her team to back-to-back-to-back state titles, the state awarded her with the Colorado Spirit Coaches Association Coach of the Year.
Ten girls who cheered for Richardson went on to cheer for Division I programs in college. Molly Ackerman, a 2004 GSHS graduate who went on to cheer at the University of Colorado in Boulder, had trouble putting Richardson’s influence on her life into words.
“It’s unbelievable to think she’s gone. There are so many times in life when things don’t work out and it seems like the end of the road for a certain dream, but Kim never thought like that,” Ackerman said. “That’s why when she was diagnosed, it was hard to think that her life would end. Even though she’s gone, she’s really not because she’s such a huge part of all of our lives.”
Mike McCallum, who worked with Richardson at Stifel Nicolaus and knew her for 20 years, watched all three of his daughters go through Glenwood’s cheer program. Carly, who went on to cheer in Montana, Courtney, who is now a cheer instructor, and Madison, a senior at GSHS, all were privileged to Richardson’s tutelage.
“We really did look at her as part of our family,” Mike said. “She took my daughters under her wings and helped with everything.”
“She was like a second mom to me,” Madison said. “She was an amazing woman.”
Coaching cheerleading and leaving an everlasting footprint of wisdom and kindness were the only things Richardson was good at. As the senior sales assistant at Morgan Stanley, she received the Outstanding Sales Assistant Award from Registered Representative Magazine in 2001.
She went onto work for Stifel Nicolaus as an investment executive and, according to McCallum, she went just as much out of her way to help her clients as she did her cheerleaders.
“She was one of the brightest people I have ever worked with. She was so smart,” he said. “Her ability to connect and talk with people was amazing.”
Ackerman said, “She was a woman we could all aspire to be professionally and athletically. She was the epitome of grace and beauty.”
Condolences
• Visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/kimrichardson1 to leave a message and share memories of Kim Richardson.
• As of press time late Thursday, funeral/memorial service details for Richardson had yet to be finalized. |
Bleeding red and white
GSHS athletic director Steve Cable fondly recalled Richardson’s immeasurable school spirit. “Besides just being the cheer coach, she was just a Glenwood Demon,” he said. “She grew up here, went to school here, competed here. She certainly had a love for Glenwood Springs as much as she did for cheerleading. She was just a Glenwood Demon.”
Cable had known Richardson, a 1979 GSHS graduate, since he started at the school as a teacher in 1978. He remembers her being just as spirited and affable in her days as a student as she was as a coach.
“She was a good kid back then,” he said. “She was a dynamite cheerleader. She was red and white.”
And that Demon pride never wavered.
“Kim just loved to be at the high school, whether it was for football, volleyball, basketball” Goluba said. “She just loved the community, and it’s a great place to be part of the community. She just had a desire to be with young people and to keep up with them and know what’s going on in their lives. I can truly not think of anybody more loyal to Glenwood.”
Sunday fundraiser still a go
Sunday’s haircut-a-thon fundraiser to help offset Richardson’s medical expenses is still on.The event, sponsored by Creekside Hair and Skin Day Spa (New Castle) and Floyd’s of Mayberry (Carbondale), will run from noon to 4 p.m. at Glenwood Springs High School. Discount haircuts (by local professionals), hot dogs and burgers and a bake sale will be available.
For more information on the haircut fundraiser, please call Connie Gilstrap at 625-5252 (home), 618-0683 (cell), or 984-3625 (work). Any local hairstylist wishing to donate their services for the fundraiser are encouraged to show up.
Donations will be accepted for the Kim Richardson account at any Alpine Bank.
All proceeds go toward Richardson’s medical expenses and the establishment of a cheerleading scholarship fund that will bear her name. It was Richardson’s dying wish to create a scholarship that will be awarded to a Glenwood Springs High School cheerleader at the end of every school year.
Said McCallum: “Even in the end she was trying to help and that’s why I loved her.”
