Gold Jacket Spotlight: Randy Moss traces his education to ‘Rand University’
Gold Jacket Spotlight
Published on : 2/3/2025
In media guides and other sources, Marshall is accurately listed as the university Hall of Famer RANDY MOSS attended. While introducing himself as a San Francisco 49er during a game in his final NFL season, however, he named “Rand University.”
Rand University referred to Randy’s hometown and the lessons he learned while growing up in the unincorporated area in West Virginia.
The “curriculum” Randy experienced in Rand is the focus of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.
During an episode of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, Randy identified Rand as “…a place you don’t have a lot to look forward to,” and believed that “one of the things I liked about being from here is you got a fork in the road and you’re going left or you’re going right. I decided I was going to go right, but I was about to go left.”
One of the early influencers in providing Randy direction was his first youth coach, Sam Singleton Sr. Randy, along with Singleton’s son, Sam Jr., and Bobbie Howard would perform impressive athletic performances together at DuPont High School.
“There was a certain game that we played called ‘Razzle-Dazzle,’ where we’re allowed to throw the ball anywhere. In real football, that’s considered a forward lateral,” Moss explained in the ESPN episode.
Sam Singleton Jr. added, “If you scored a touchdown, that means a ‘straight,’ and they kick it off (to the scoring team) again. If you get somebody like me and Randy on the same team, we’re going to get four or five ‘straights’ at one time. Everyone gets tired playing against us.”
“The razzle-dazzle straights I am telling you about, that’s how I developed my game,” Moss said.
Citing the bigger lessons learned while playing “straights,” Rand resident Donnie Jones observed, “You learn how to block, you learn how to tackle, you learn how to run, you learn how to cheat, you learn how to live.”
Singleton Sr. remarked, “When they used to leave and go play a game (for DuPont), they would cut the lights out in Rand because everybody was gone. That’s how special they were.”
Among the athletic accolades Randy achieved at DuPont were a pair of football state championships, two-time West Virgina player of the year status in basketball, state titles in the 100- and 200-meter track events and inclusion on both Parade Magazine and USA Today’s All-America teams.
Randy learned other difficult life lessons at DuPont as well.
In his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement speech in 2018, Randy shared his belief in the role God played in those early life experiences saying, “He brought me through some tough times — social, economic ignorance, racism.”
“That’s kind of the way it was in Rand. The common bond was the athleticism and the spirituality,” observed Chuck Landon of the Huntington Herald-Dispatch newspaper during the ESPN show.
Although Randy was nearly misdirected to a permanent left turn at that fork in the road, the concerted efforts of community members, church leaders and college coaches Lou Holtz (Notre Dame), Bobby Bowden (Florida State) and Bob Pruett (Marshall) detoured Randy toward a forward-moving pathway.
“His talent is what saved him,” Minnesota Vikings teammate CRIS CARTER said after Randy was selected in the 1998 NFL Draft. “It was an opportunity for Rand to get on the map and for him to make his family and to make his mom proud.”
“For me to be able to say I’m from Rand University, all that is, is people without no daggone degrees that didn’t go to school. I know them all and could easily been right there with them,” Randy once said.
“After coal, DuPont star Randy Moss could be the mountain state’s top natural resource,” a news report declared about this student from Rand.
“If you understand where I come from and the road that I had to travel, you would nothing but give props to Rand, West Virginia, because that’s who made me. I never forget where I come from.”
Rand University referred to Randy’s hometown and the lessons he learned while growing up in the unincorporated area in West Virginia.
The “curriculum” Randy experienced in Rand is the focus of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.
During an episode of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, Randy identified Rand as “…a place you don’t have a lot to look forward to,” and believed that “one of the things I liked about being from here is you got a fork in the road and you’re going left or you’re going right. I decided I was going to go right, but I was about to go left.”
One of the early influencers in providing Randy direction was his first youth coach, Sam Singleton Sr. Randy, along with Singleton’s son, Sam Jr., and Bobbie Howard would perform impressive athletic performances together at DuPont High School.
“There was a certain game that we played called ‘Razzle-Dazzle,’ where we’re allowed to throw the ball anywhere. In real football, that’s considered a forward lateral,” Moss explained in the ESPN episode.
Sam Singleton Jr. added, “If you scored a touchdown, that means a ‘straight,’ and they kick it off (to the scoring team) again. If you get somebody like me and Randy on the same team, we’re going to get four or five ‘straights’ at one time. Everyone gets tired playing against us.”
“The razzle-dazzle straights I am telling you about, that’s how I developed my game,” Moss said.
Citing the bigger lessons learned while playing “straights,” Rand resident Donnie Jones observed, “You learn how to block, you learn how to tackle, you learn how to run, you learn how to cheat, you learn how to live.”
Singleton Sr. remarked, “When they used to leave and go play a game (for DuPont), they would cut the lights out in Rand because everybody was gone. That’s how special they were.”
Among the athletic accolades Randy achieved at DuPont were a pair of football state championships, two-time West Virgina player of the year status in basketball, state titles in the 100- and 200-meter track events and inclusion on both Parade Magazine and USA Today’s All-America teams.
Randy learned other difficult life lessons at DuPont as well.
In his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement speech in 2018, Randy shared his belief in the role God played in those early life experiences saying, “He brought me through some tough times — social, economic ignorance, racism.”
“That’s kind of the way it was in Rand. The common bond was the athleticism and the spirituality,” observed Chuck Landon of the Huntington Herald-Dispatch newspaper during the ESPN show.
Although Randy was nearly misdirected to a permanent left turn at that fork in the road, the concerted efforts of community members, church leaders and college coaches Lou Holtz (Notre Dame), Bobby Bowden (Florida State) and Bob Pruett (Marshall) detoured Randy toward a forward-moving pathway.
“His talent is what saved him,” Minnesota Vikings teammate CRIS CARTER said after Randy was selected in the 1998 NFL Draft. “It was an opportunity for Rand to get on the map and for him to make his family and to make his mom proud.”
“For me to be able to say I’m from Rand University, all that is, is people without no daggone degrees that didn’t go to school. I know them all and could easily been right there with them,” Randy once said.
“After coal, DuPont star Randy Moss could be the mountain state’s top natural resource,” a news report declared about this student from Rand.
“If you understand where I come from and the road that I had to travel, you would nothing but give props to Rand, West Virginia, because that’s who made me. I never forget where I come from.”
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