Spring 2022 By DREW LYON '06 A model of determination, patience and affection for the University, Richard Raffesberger finally became a University graduate after enrolling in the late 1970s.
Richard Raffesberger’s long and winding journey toward earning his degree took its share of back roads and discouraging detours—spanning six decades.
“Things never clicked,” Raffesberger said of the gaps in courses. “The timing just was never right.”
The stars eventually aligned for Raffesberger, thanks in part to virtual education options accelerated by the pandemic. In November of 2020, Raffesberger officially became a Minnesota State Mankato alum. And that’s all that matters. Better late than never, he says.
“No one can take it away from me,” he said “I’m a Maverick.”
A native of western Wisconsin, Raffesberger came to Mankato on a football scholarship in the summer of 1979. He’ll never forget the digs in his sweltering Gage Towers dormitory.
The new student, 1979.
“I can still picture the view from my seventh-floor window,” he said.
He may have been bereft of air conditioning, but Raffesberger bonded with his fellow athletes and took to the bucolic campus right away.
“Whenever you’re on a team, the minute you step on campus, you already have 50 friends,” said Raffesberger, who played tight end and offensive tackle. “I fell in love with the campus immediately.”
A series of concussions ended Raffesberger’s football career. In hindsight, he regrets not taking a medical absence to retain his scholarship. Alas, he quit the team and hung up his football spikes. The effects from the concussion made studying difficult, and Raffesberger lost his scholarship following his junior year.
“I was 19, 20, and stupid,” he said.
Heartbreak
Raffesberger left Mankato a year shy of graduation and took a job in the Twin Cities. In the 1980s, he took another step toward his degree, attending the University’s Extended Campus program and taking courses at the University of Minnesota. In 1987, Raffesberger returned with renewed vigor to Mankato to complete his studies. He came back to a different campus, with the Ostrander Bell Tower and Wissink Center having been recent additions.
“It still felt like home,” Raffesberger said. “I felt like I was back on a mission.”
Raffesberger, then 27, immersed himself in his curriculum and the campus community. He joined Mankato’s Toastmasters Club, sat on a student-athlete relations committee, penned articles for the Reporter and made the Dean’s List.
“Those two quarters writing for the Reporter were some of my fondest memories in Mankato,” he said. “The University was giving me a real sense of drive, purpose and leadership.”
In spring 1988, Raffesberger donned his cap and gown for graduation, confident he’d earned passing grades in all of his courses. A few weeks
later, his report card stunned him. While he scored eight A’s, Raffesberger failed his ninth course, rendering him credits shy of graduation.
“I was heartbroken and discouraged,” he said. “I felt like a failure.”
He moved back to the Twin Cities before settling in his hometown of Osceola, Wis. The years, then decades, passed. Raffesberger raised a family, found steady work. Yet the blight on his résumé gnawed at him. Every few years, he worked up the halfhearted urge to contact University administrators to discuss options on how to finish his courses.
“It just became a broken cycle,” he said. “I’d just go back to my little hole with my tail between my legs.”
But Raffesberger still felt connected to the University. An ardent follower of Maverick athletics, he visited Mankato a handful of times to attend homecoming events and football games. Yet, he says, the missing credits made him feel like an outsider at his alma mater.
“There was always an open gap in my life, even in my adult trips to Mankato,” he said. “The sense of not belonging.”
‘It’s never too late’
Then the pandemic hit, altering Raffesberger’s job prospects. Laid off from work, he decided once and for all to finish the job he started during the Carter administration.
“I just needed the right person with the right spark to think outside of the box,” he said.
He found the faculty he needed in Ann Kuzma, chair of the Marketing & International Business Department, and Student Relations Coordinator
Linda Meidl, who worked with Raffesberger to figure out a way to convert his 1970s and 1980s studies into a 2020 diploma. It was a complex, albeit rewarding, task for Kuzma and Meidl.
“This took a long time,” Kuzma said. “But everyone wanted to have this happen, because he had such a positive attitude about it.”
Raffesberger started pursuing a degree in applied leadership. Two semesters later, he deemed himself an outsider no longer. Raffesberger returned to Mankato with his wife, Deb, and daughter, Emily, for fall virtual graduation, reuniting with the campus he first encountered 41 years earlier.
“I revel in being able now to type '20 after my name in University correspondence,” he said. Raffesberger capped the day with confetti, a meal at his favorite Mankato pizzeria and a socially-distanced visit with the two faculty members who helped make his graduation dream a reality.
“Richard was a joy to work with,” Meidl said. “He was very thankful, very gracious and appreciative.”
Kuzma agreed.
“It felt so good to get that gratitude,” Kuzma said. “Richard even gave us a box of candy.”
Raffesberger felt at home again roaming the campus halls and walkways. The job was complete—at the right place and time.
“I was adamant about the full circle of Mankato,” said Raffesberger, who used his degree to find a new job. “I started a Mav and wanted to finish a Mav. I was serious about that. I really wanted to close it here.”
For inspiration, Raffesberger kept a newspaper obituary he clipped, honoring a 101-year-old woman who finished her college studies at age 92.
He hopes his story of perseverance motivates other Mavericks.
“It was stuff like that obituary that stuck with me to keep that flame alive, get back to Mankato and finish,” he said. “It’s never too late.”