Oral History with Maurice King (R'85)

Oral History with Maurice King (R'85)

In this oral history interview, Maurice King (R’85) spoke with Keith Oddo (’19) via telephone on March 7, 2019. Over the course of the fifty minute interview, King speaks about his transition to Richmond from his hometown in northern California, coming to the University of Richmond as a non-student athlete, his first year on the wrestling team and the disbanding of the team, joining the basketball team as a manager, becoming involved with the student radio station (WDCE), enrolling in the interdisciplinary studies program, the difficulty of adapting to the environment at Richmond after growing up on the west coast, joining the Student Organization for Black Awareness (SOBA), getting involved in fundraising and mentoring on campus, forming friendships on campus, and maps out his career trajectory from the University of Richmond to his current role at Nike.

Maurice King was born in Berkeley, California and raised in the East Bay. He graduated from the University of Richmond in 1981, with a degree in speech communications. He has had a long career, in everything from apparel production for the Gap, The Limited, and Nike, to sales and commerce at Benetton, Christal Radio, and Disney. In 2004, he returned to Nike and has worked in Regional, National, and Global Sales as well as Management.


He is also active in his community, including being a senior leader for the Nike School Innovation Fund (NSIF); and a board member and chair for All Hands Raised, an educational equity organization in Portland, Oregon; and a Parent Leadership Board member and co-chair at Pitzer College. King also makes time to speak with University of Richmond students about his career, guest lecturing to classes at the Robins School of Business.  

This oral history is available for academic purposes--including but not limited to research by students, faculty, and staff--by permission from the interviewee (Maurice King). The interviewee maintains the copyright, and must be contacted via the Race & Racism Project (urraceproject@gmail.com) for permissions for use outside of academic purposes.

English

KingMaurice_Oddo_Public_20190307.mp3

Richmond (Va.)

Maurice King

50:27

March 7, 2019