Texas A&M University Director of Recreational Sports Retires After 43 Years of Service

After more than 40 years with the Department of Recreational Sports (Rec Sports), Rick Hall has retired as director.

Hall says he fell in love with intramural sports during his senior year at Virginia Tech before starting his career at Texas A&M University in 1979 as assistant director of Intramural Sports. At the time, he reported to Dennis Corrington, the previous Rec Sports director who held the position for 45 years and became Hall’s mentor.

After five years with intramurals, Hall agreed to a job rotation with a colleague and took responsibility for facilities in 1984, a time of phenomenal growth at Texas A&M. “We had a facility that had about seven basketball courts, which were packed every night with students playing intramural basketball,” Hall said. “We knew we needed more space and had to act.”

During the 1980s, select universities across the country established their own rec centers, which inspired Hall and Corrington to envision and later create a rec center at Texas A&M. “This trend across the country of building a stand-alone rec center on campus involved about five universities: U.T., Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA,” Hall said. “We accomplished it by going to the students with a referendum.”

The $36.4 million project was presented to the students of Texas A&M in the spring of 1987, which was the largest student body election of its time. The Student Rec Center was approved with an overwhelming majority and sent to the state capital to be codified into law, where it was signed by Gov. Ann Richards in 1991.

“The Student Rec Center opened a new door for me,” Hall said. “I had never done any project like it before and was suddenly given the opportunity to work with facilities, planning and construction as a senior member of the facilities team, which involved attending every meeting and heavy involvement in the design and construction process.”

Later, Hall became associate director of facilities, a position in which he excelled. As the demands of an ever-growing student body expanded over the next 20 years, he took on more responsibility, including growing the Rec Sports team and expanding the Student Rec Center to over 400,000 square feet. Corrington retired in 2018, and the division hired Hall as director after a competitive selection process. As such, he served as part of the Division of Student Affairs leadership team.

In this role, he managed the department’s adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of a popular Rec Sports app, construction of the Polo Road Rec Center, expansion of the Rec Sports minimum wage, and the creation of the Southside Rec Center. While his directorship only spanned the last few years, his commitment and service to Texas A&M, the Division of Student Affairs and the Department of Rec Sports traverses decades of facilities innovation, departmental adaptation, university-wide change, and compassionate leadership.

What began as a fledgling organization operated by a close circle of colleagues has soared to accommodate multiple program areas, a thousand student workers, and dozens of full-time staff. “My longevity, commitment and ability to navigate significant growth and change on behalf of this team, for the Division of Student Affairs, and for Texas A&M University makes me proud,” he said.

From the late 1970s, the pioneering generation of Rec Sports staff has continued to develop alongside one another, guiding the next generation of employees in the culture and values of Texas A&M Rec Sports, Hall said. The team has worked together, risen together, led together, and one by one, now retire together. “We are like glue; they are some of my best friends and like a second family. I am grateful to be part of Rec Sports and will miss these people, the view, the access and the awareness,” he said.

In retirement, Hall hopes to learn Spanish, play guitar and spend time with his wife Mel, who he met at Texas A&M during his early days in Rec Sports.