Randy Boyles

Duke University, BS, 1973
UNCG, MA, 1999

Ida Belle Moore. Over the years I have come to realize what a positive impact that lady had on my life and how much she has to do with any success I may have enjoyed. I never told her, but I wish I had. Watching my friends Ralph and Lindsay succeed on the football field and basketball court respectively. Bein' on the freakin' Traffic Squad - thanks Ralph!

Man, I have sat on this for over 40 years and now I think it is time to let the cat out of the bag, but back in 1968, .... oh hell, now I forgot! Isn't getting old wonderful?

Sailboat Racing - J/30 (Rocket J), Sunfish
Cycling
Golf

Looking back, I have had a pretty good ride. First, my wife Joni and I have been happliy married for 29 years and together for 34. After a degree in zoology, I backed into computers and spent the rest of my career there, first with the airlines (Piedmont, US Airways, and Sabre) and then with trucking, President of a Dispatch Software firm, starting my own systems integration business and winding up in my present job, the best combination of technical innovation and working with people that I could ever have imagined.

Along the way, Joni and I have spent a lot of time in wildlife rehabilitation (squirrels, flying squirrels, and chipmunks) and I have spent a lot of time racing sailboats. Sailing brought me back together with several classmates/Grimsleyites. Lindsay Cook, David Richbourg, Mike Robinson, Skip Byerly, Rodger Aydelette, and Neal Craven - three years ahead of us and still my foredeck crew.

Monte Hall - (Let’s Make a Deal) bought my dad and me lunch at the Brown Derby in LA (that had mostly to do with my dad, but I did find out Monte had a degree in botany – go figure).

Nate McMillan (NC State, Seattle Supersonics, etc) - Ralph Voight and I ( mostly Ralph….., no wait, entirely Ralph) coached a Pop Warner football team in Raleigh in the 70s. Nate was our wide receiver. My job was taking care of the medical kit and yelling "good job, boys" after each team bathroom break. Ralph’s teams, he inherited the league doormat, won two and maybe three Raleigh City Championships, much to the chagrin of the previously dominant, affluent neighborhood team. When you see Ralph, ask him how the other league coaches described his playbook. In my opinion, Ralph missed his calling and should have been coaching lo these many years.

Capt. Tony Terracino, bar owner, mayor of Key West.

The rest are sailing figures – America’s Cup skippers John Kolius, Tom Blackhaller, and Kevin Mahaney as well as Gary Jobson, America’s Cup tactician to Ted Turner, sailing author and allaround sailing guru.

In 2003, the crew of Rocket J was awarded US Sailings' Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal for three on the water rescues during racing events.