Not everyone at Dupont liked the idea of black and white students intermingling. “Red Neck Alley” was a section of the school aptly nicknamed. Lockers were decorated with Confederate flags and Ku Klux Klan symbols. Randy was a primary target for the kids who inhabited that area.
Randy found safe haven on the football field, where he led the Panthers to state football titles as a sophomore and junior, in 1992 and 1993. He and Williams nearly delivered a state hoops crown in 1993-94, when they paced Dupont all the way to the finals. By Randy’s senior year, he was West Virginia’s best schoolboy prospect, earning Player of the Year recognition in both football and basketball. He had given up baseball and track by this point, though he demonstrated all-state ability in both.
Randy was recruited by most of the major college football powerhouses, including Notre Dame and Florida State. The Mountaineers of West Virginia were also in hot pursuit. When Randy opted for the Fighting Irish, fans in his home state weren’t happy.
At Dupont, the kids from Red Neck Alley now had another reason to dislike Randy. They already were incensed by his choice of girlfriends, a white girl name Libby Offutt. (She and Randy already had a child.) In March of 1995, a fight broke out at school, and Randy jumped into the fray. When the police showed up, he was arrested. Since Randy was 18, he was charged as an adult. With public sentiment against him, the teenager felt he had no choice but to plead guilty. Randy was sentenced to 30 days in jail and got expelled from school. Alarmed by the turn of events, the administration at Notre Dame rescinded his scholarship.