Kevin Richardson, one of the Exonerated Five, will now have a legacy at his dream school, Syracuse University, after being honored by the school's community.
Richardson dreamed of attending the university in New York as a student-athlete and musician, but those dreams were thwarted when he and four other Black boys — Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Yusek Salaam, and Korey Wise — were wrongfully convicted of a rape in Central Park.
Enduring brutal mistreatment at the hands of law enforcement, injustice in the legal system and staunch vilification from the public, they became known as “The Central Park Five.”
“I was just ecstatic about it just to be connected that way and know that I was helping out generations to come. It's a big thing, so that was my highlight. Just to know that my name will be carrying on a legacy for others,” Richardson told InsideEdition.
Thirty years later, Richardson’s dream came true when the university hosted a reception to honor the 44-year-old.
According to LocalSyr.com, Rachel Vassell and the Office of Multi-cultural Advancement spurred into action to invite Richardson after talking with Black and brown Syracuse alumni.
During the event, Richardson was given a custom jersey with the number 44, which represents the university’s top sports legends and the “Orange spirit of determination.” He was also gifted with a Yamaha trumpet to honor his love and dreams of playing music for the university.
“The question always asked is why I'm not bitter. And I always say I have to take that energy and channel that into something positive. So now that people see my story and the rest of the brothers, they wanna do something to help. People that was around at that time, they might feel bad or wish they could've done something to help,” Richardson said.
In an emotional conclusion to the reception, the university announced that the Kevin Richardson Scholarship Fund would be named in his honor to provide aid to Black and Latino students at Syracuse.
“What’s nice about it is once it’s endowed, it’ll exist in perpetuity. So, you know, as long as the university is here, we will use the money to support students who are going to be very similar to the kind of student that Kevin would’ve been if he had the opportunity to be at Syracuse. So he wasn’t able to be here, but he’s allowing others to be here on this great campus,” Vassel said.
“Right now we have $25,000. We’re continuing to fundraise so that we have to endow it, and then we will continue to grow it over the years, so initially probably only be able to support four students, but we hope that it grows and we continue to get donations so we can help a lot more. The scholarship program overall, we had 60 students in the cohort last year. So these students will be part of that cohort,” Vassel continued.
Richardson, who still has dreams of being a student at the university, said he plans to make that dream become a reality.
"That's my homework. I'm gonna go start studying, and start playing the trumpet, again because I wouldn't say I lost that passion, but I'd say I put it on the back burner. So now I wanna pick it back up and be re-acquainted."
