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UWI to confer Honorary Degree on Sir Richie Richardson

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Antiguan and Barbudan cricketing great Sir Richard “Richie” Benjamin Richardson is to be honoured by the University of the West Indies with an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree (LLD).

He is among sixteen “outstanding global citizens”, including Dr. Joy St. John, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, who will be recognised by UWI for their contributions to sports, law, business, culture and science.

The UWI’s 2022 Graduation Ceremonies will take place between 8th October and 5th November. With the exception of the Open Campus, which will hold a virtual graduation ceremony, the landed campuses will return to face-to-face graduations, therefore, the honourees will be able to attend this year’s ceremonies.

Sir Richie is one of two persons who will be recognised at the UWI Five Islands Campus on 8th October. The other is Alston “Becket” Cyrus of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who is being honoured for his contributions as a Soca Artiste and Composer. The popular musician will receive a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) honorary degree.

Sir Richie began his professional cricketing career in 1983 under the West Indies Cricket Board of Control captaining the West Indies Team from 1991 to 1996. In a career spanning three decades, he went on to play and coach professional club cricket in the United Kingdom and South Africa and played in three ICC Cricket World Cup Tournaments. 

Sir Richie has also served as Senior Team Operational Manager with the West Indies Cricket Board Inc.; CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Sport Tourism Authority and has been an International Elite Panel Match Referee with the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2016. 

His passion for the development of West Indies Cricket, together with a heart for mentorship, led him to establish the Richie Richardson Scholarship Foundation (1998) and facilitate two Antiguan and Barbudan youth cricket teams on tours to the UK (1987, 2002). 

He is also the founder of The Annual Antigua and Barbuda International Masters Cricket Festival and the Richie Richardson Cricket Academy. 

A profile prepared by the UWI said, “From his boyhood days as captain of his school cricket team to his esteemed present-day role as Ambassador at Large of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Richard B. Richardson KCN, GCM has spent a lifetime committed to the sport of Cricket. In his own words, he desires to one day see cricket become a ‘fully globalised sport’.”


Antigua and Barbuda awarded Sir Richard Richardson the Grand Cross of the Most Illustrious Order of Merit (GMC) and the Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of the Nation (KCN) in 2003 and 2014 respectively.

He was also appointed Ambassador at Large by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.

In October, 2021, cricket legend, Sir Andy Roberts, and physician, Dr. George Mansoor, were conferred Honorary Doctorate Degrees by The UWI Five Islands. 

In July that year, The UWI FIC conferred an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree on Antiguan and Barbudan psychiatrist, Dr. Ruby Lake-Richards. She is one of the first 33 medical students to attend The UWI (then University College of the West Indies). She is also the first female UWI graduate from Antigua and Barbuda.

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