Randy Wilcox

Born Randall Rispoli in San Francisco Randy began a life filled with encounters with the famous and infamous alike. His parents divorced shortly after his birth with his mother resuming a modeling career which provided her with a chance to date Joe DiMaggio. Meanwhile his father settled in the new gaming town of Las Vegas where he worked as a cabbie and other odd jobs that brought him in touch with Bugsy Siegel and various entertainers; including Sammy Davis who once borrowed forty dollars and never paid it back. He truly enjoyed the casinos and developed a technique for pulling the lever on the slot machines that allowed him to hit jackpots so consistently that he was barred from the casinos. Randy remembers a rare visit from his father when Randy was a teenager. Randy, his dad and grandmother went up to Lake Tahoe and as they entered a casino they were met by some burly gentlemen who announced, “We know who you are, and you’re welcome to come in, but don’t you dare touch our slot machines!” At which point Randy’s grandmother began hitting them with her purse for being mean to her son.

Randy attended St. Joseph’s Military Academy for the primary grades. After the school was closed by the archdiocese due to the poor condition of the buildings he returned to live with his mother. She left modeling and began work with the fraud division of the San Francisco Police Department. During his childhood he was an avid baseball fan and has the Duke Snider autographed baseball to prove it. He was ecstatic when the Dodgers and Giants came to California. His mom let him cut school to attend the first major league game played in Seal Stadium: “an 8-0 drubbing of the Dodgers,” he gloats. He remarked that he also attended the first game played at Candlestick where he remembers the Giants defeated St. Louis and Orlando Cepeda hit a home run. He also finagled a ticket to a 1959 World Series Game played in the Coliseum in Los Angeles.

His love of baseball contributed to his being a starting outfielder on his junior high school team and for his first two years at Riordan High. Then he was introduced to a different sport at Westlake Bowl and a life long relationship with bowling competitions began. Throughout his life he has continued to bowl on a regular basis; maintaining an average above 200 for the last 35 years and racking up over a dozen perfect 300 games.

While Randy was in high school his mother married a SF police detective she met on the job. Detective Wilcox adopted Randy and had a major influence on him although he tragically died only three years later.

After high school without a clear idea of what he wanted to do with the rest of his life Randy enrolled at City College of San Francisco; taking classes in restaurant and hotel management. He also applied for a job as a bank teller with Bank of America. At the last minute they called to say he needed to report to the Geneva Mission Branch for his training. He soon learned that a pretty teller there lived near him in Mount Davidson and he quickly suggested they share a ride. After nine months as a bank teller he was convinced of two things: banking was not his career choice and the pretty teller was his choice for a lifetime companion.

He and Peggy were married in January of 1964 and recently celebrated their 45^th anniversary. A good friend of Randy’s, Jim Pistolesi, eventually married Peggy’s younger sister, Barbara. Over the years the foursome maintained a close friendship. They have never lived more than five minutes apart and at one point shared a common wall. Jim passed away in1998 and Barbara lives here in Sun City.

Randy began his 30+ year career at Sears as a salesman in the appliance department and worked his way up to management at one of the two San Francisco branches that were union shops. The corporate offices were anti-union and closed down both stores to break the union. Randy transferred to the Mountain View store and went back into sales; realizing he could make more money with his commissions than as a manager.

As he worked and started his family he continued to bowl and played a bit of slo-pitch. When his second son, Steve was born two months premature he paid the hospital bill by winning a thousand dollars in a bowling tournament.

His first born son, John, is 44 and a financial planner in the Boston area. Randy and Peggy try to vacation there regularly: (always including a visit to Fenway Park.)

Their second son, Steve, owns a financial planning company in Danville and is the father of their three grandchildren: two boys and a girl. Before Steve became a financial planner he worked for Safeway and put his younger brother, Kevin to work as a box boy. At the age of 32, Kevin now works the IT division of Safeway’s corporate offices in Pleasanton.

Bank of America offered Peggy a managerial position at their new branch in Foster City. However, due to bureaucratic red tape there was no building for the branch for several months so she had to bring the bank to the city every day: driving a fully-equipped 22’ by 30’ motor home.

While Randy raised his boys in Foster City he gave up softball to work two jobs: at Sears and at Westlake Bowl where he originally learned to bowl. He enjoyed the opportunity to run the 52 lane complex, especially organizing the Blue Chip Tournaments. He earned enough extra money to finance a down payment on a house; but best of all he got free bowling.

Always gregarious Randy enjoyed getting to know his many neighbors including many on the Giants Major League roster. He especially remembers sharing rides to many pick-up basketball games with the colorful Tito Fuentes.

As Randy approached retirement in 2000 he and Peggy began looking into retirement communities. After visiting SCLH he was back in three days to put a deposit on a lot with a bit of open space and no premium. They invited Peggy’s sister, Barbara, to check out the community. Upon seeing the Springcrest with its two master suites they decided it was perfect for the three of them. In June of 2001 Randy moved in while the women commuted for several months to give their employers ample notice. In fact Peggy’s employer, Link Allen Benefit Brokerage Group refused to let her retire and set it up so she works from home. Several of Randy’s friends and fellow ball players are glad that she does as she has been able to get them affordable dental insurance.

After moving in Randy lost no time in getting involved with both softball and bowling. He was one of the original Coyotes and had his most successful season last summer winning a state championship ring with the 65’s as they won a record-breaking seven tournaments. He bowls in two Sun City bowling leagues: Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.

As he became more involved he got to know George Bungarz , whom he had played against for several years in Bay Area Slo-pitch tournaments. George and his wife, Susan, became close friends and the foursome has traveled together on several trips. Randy now enjoys traveling though his first trip was less than exciting. Shortly after high school his mother forced him to accompany her on a six week trip through remote areas of Italy visiting relatives and friends of his grandparents. Fighting boredom throughout the trip about the only thing he remembers is one tiny village where he saw every resident parade down the main street behind a casket during a funeral. In the same village he realized his grandparents’ friends were known as the “rich Americans” because they owned a washer and dryer.

George’s quartet, Hard Travellin’ have a standing invitation to sing the National Anthem at a Giants’ game every season. Randy has filled in for ailing members on two occasions. He also was a key member of E-five, a singing group of ballplayers who have entertained at several opening day ceremonies and other softball functions. He still sings with a Coyote trio that rehearses a repertoire of 35 to 40 songs at George’s house and performs for various Sun City activities. (“We’re available for private parties,” he jokes.) He enjoys performing musically as well as announcing for special softball games such as All-Stars and tournaments. He says it reminds him of his days performing in the Sears Talent Shows. “He did a mean impression of Jerry Lee Lewis,” Peggy brags.

Another hobby Randy, Peggy and Barbara share is gaming. They are frequent visitors to Thunder Valley where Peggy recently won a $10,000 jackpot. Randy, not to be outdone, came up with a royal flush on a video-poker machine at Harrah’s which won him an all-expenses paid trip to New Orleans in March where he competed for a million dollars. That is the good news. The bad news is he didn’t win.