Richard “Rikki” DelVecchio, Baseball
Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball alum Richard “Rikki” DelVecchio attended Northwestern from 1990 to 1993 after transferring from the University of Connecticut, where he was a two-sport athlete playing baseball and hockey.
In his three years with Northwestern, DelVecchio was a catcher for the Rangers.
The Braintree, Massachusetts, native finished his first season with the Rangers hitting .356 with 62 hits, 16 doubles and 31 RBI.
He played in 55 of the 56 games that season before being selected to the 1st Team All-Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference and All-District 9 team as the only sophomore on the team.
The following season began his two consecutive years to be named to the 1st Team All-OIC team and 1st Team All-District 9 with a .448 batting average with 77 hits, 17 doubles, 52 RBI and a walk-to-strikeout ratio of 34-7 in 212 at-bats.
In his final season, DelVecchio was named to his third straight 1st Team All-OIC team after hitting .402 during the season. He was also named to the 2nd Team All-District 9.
Upon graduating from Northwestern, DelVecchio continued his success in the sport of baseball as the head coach of the South Shore Seadogs in Hingham, Massachusetts, for eight seasons.
Later, he coached the East Cobb Astros in Georgia, where his team won multiple tournaments and 12 national titles.
His final occupation was a collegiate umpire.
DelVecchio was inducted into the Braintree Hall of Fame for both baseball and hockey in 1999, as well as the Cranberry Baseball League Hall of Fame in 2009.
He was named Umpire of the Year for the Cape Cod League in 2015.
DelVecchio died on May 1, 2020.
John Mazzocca, Baseball
John Mazzocca graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 1992, following a two-year baseball career as the team’s first baseman.
In two seasons, Mazzocca set numerous school records and left his mark on the program.
He is second in batting average with a .420 over the course of the two seasons.
He set school records at the time for most RBI in a single season with 76 in 1991 and total career RBI with 137.
In the 1991 season, Mazzocca was named OIC Player of the Year with a .435 batting average; 76 RBI, which was a school record at the time; 77 hits and 14 home runs.
He also hit 15 doubles and struck out only 12 times in 196 at-bats.
He was named to the OIC First Team for the second straight season in 1992 after adding 61 RBI from 60 hits and 14 home runs.
The Ranger first baseman finished his career hitting .420 with 137 RBI, which was a school record for career RBIs at the time.
Mazzocca remains in the top five in his career for batting average, home runs and RBI for the Ranger baseball program.
The Boston, Massachusetts, native is currently self-employed and owns Kelly’s Inc.
Garin Higgins, Football
Garin Higgins joined Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s football coaching staff in 1994 as the running backs/quarterbacks coach before being promoted to the offensive coordinator coach.
Higgins then worked his way up to be head coach from 2000 to 2004.
Higgins helped the Rangers improve by four wins from his first season in 1994 and then another three wins in 1996 for an 8-3 season, making the NAIA playoff for the first time.
In his third year as the offensive coordinator, the Rangers won the 1999 NAIA Football Championship with a perfect 13-0 season and the program’s first national title.
The following season in 2000, Higgins was promoted to be head coach of the football program.
Higgins continued the program’s success with a 13-1 season and led the Rangers to be NAIA championship runners-up.
In five seasons as the head coach, he accumulated a final overall record of 51-9 and finished with a 25-0 conference record, winning five straight CSFL Conference titles.
The Rangers were national runners-up again in 2003.
In five years, Higgins coached 18 All-Americans, including eight first-team and 10 second-team members.
In his Northwestern coaching tenure, he had 39 All-Americans.
Higgins is the all-time winningest coach by winning percentage for Northwestern football.
Following his time with the Rangers, Higgins became the offensive coordinator at Minnesota State University and Northeastern State University before taking the head coach position in 2007 at his alma mater, Emporia State University, where he has been since.
Higgins’ overall head coach record is 148-86 for a winning percentage of .632 at the collegiate level in 20 total seasons.
He currently resides in Emporia, Kansas, with his wife, Heather, and their three children: Halen, Harlee and Gracyn.
Brandon Brown, Men’s Basketball
Known for his scoring ability on the court, Brandon Brown was a student-athlete on the Northwestern Oklahoma State University men’s basketball team from 2006 to 2010.
During his career, Brown stamped his name in the all-time record book for Ranger basketball in many categories.
As a point guard, Brown helped lead the Rangers to a 22-12 season and to the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament runner-up in 2007.
He was named to the 2006-07 SAC 1st Team All-Tournament team, along with being named the 2006-2007 SAC Freshman of the Year.
As a four-year basketball letterman, Brown started in three of his seasons. Over the course of his time at Northwestern, Brown earned all-conference honors in each of his four seasons with the basketball program, including second Team All-SAC twice and third team All-SAC. Brown is still the Rangers’ all-time steals leader with 187 steals, and he is the sixth all-time leading scorer with 1,448 career points. He is one of 23 players to reach 1,000 points at Northwestern.
Brown graduated with a health and sports science degree from Northwestern in 2010 and became a teacher and coach with the Houston Independent School District.
He is currently the junior high athletic coordinator and a coach at Hogg Middle School in Houston, Texas.
He resides in Houston with his wife, D’Shanna, and their three children: Ky’Lee, Kaden and Bella.