The Lambda-Lambda Alumni Association of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity announced today that Richard Beck of Nashville, Tennessee has been named the recipient of the Alumnus of the Year Award for 2021. Richard is a 1972 graduate of Elon University, a founding father of Lambda-Lambda, and the 8th initiate of the Kappa Sigma chapter at Elon.

Following graduation from Elon in 1972, Richard followed in his father’s footsteps and became the youngest advertising sales rep for L.M Berry Co, The Yellow Page Advertising Agency for most national AT&T/Bell operating telephone companies. After his 18 year tenure there, which included relocation to Nashville, Richard went to work for Athlon Sports Communications in 1992 as a national advertising/marketing sales manager for the Southwest & West Coast. The company offered integrated sports marketing packages to Fortune 500 companies that included national media in 16 national newsstand preseason sports publications, along with onsite hospitality, athlete engagement appearances/meet & greets, and main event tickets. In 1997, he launched a new sports collectibles division as a Division President, Stockholder and VP International Media Sales, enjoying long term client relationships with companies like Southwest Airlines, Dr. Pepper, E.A. Sports, Mazda, Fan Duel, and Draft Kings Fantasy Sports.

Richard opened three Athlon Sports Collectibles retail stores in the late 1990’s when Nashville welcomed the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators to the sports scene. During the course of his 25 years, he became a partner and helped build the Athlon Media Group and Parade Magazine acquisition from $8M to over $130M in annual revenue.

In 2016, as the corporate strategy shifted away from sports, Richard traded his stock ownership in all of the magazine publications and acquired, via an asset purchase and licensing agreement, the collectibles division and full inventory. He then downsized from 30K square feet to 5K square feet and continued with his long term passion, in a much lower key environment, via multiple website sales, regional charity events/silent auctions/player appearances, national wholesale and sports media consulting. Richard established the single member/owner RDB Holdings & Consulting, LLC, d.b.a. Athlon Sports Collectibles. Richard has now expanded from sports to include military, historical, presidential, celebrity, music, etc., offering over 9,000 hand signed authenticated items.

Richard enjoys international travel and seasonally works from his Gulf Coast beach condo. He is a strong man of faith and has enjoyed expanding his music interest in his beloved city of Nashville for almost 50 years. He still cherishes and sees his Sigma Mu/Kappa Sig roommates and other brothers annually and strongly feels those brotherly fraternity relationships are equally important to being blessed with building successful businesses in his career. He remains on the path to figuring out the next chapter in his life and the appropriate retirement plan, and looks forward to attending Elon Homecoming 202