In 2008-09, the Trinity athletic program flourished as its varsity teams compiled a stellar 539-234-3 record (.716 winning percentage).  The Bantam men's cross country, baseball, and women's rowing teams earned berths to the NCAA Division III Championship, while several individual athletes qualified for their respective sport's championships.  The 2008 NCAA Champion baseball team returned to the Division III World Series for the fourth time, while the women's rowing squad qualified for a seventh consecutive NCAA National Regatta and finished third, and the men's crews took home the New England Championship Overall Points Trophy.  The Trinity men's squash team captured its 11th consecutive national title with a 19-0 record and extended the nation's longest winning streak in any collegiate sport to 202 triumphs in a row.  Both the men's and women's squash teams and the baseball teams won NESCAC titles. Since 1982, Director of Athletics Richard J. Hazelton has taken strides toward creating a winning environment at Trinity College.  Competing on the NCAA Division III level, Trinity College sponsors 29 intercollegiate sports, 15 for men and 14 for women.  In addition, there are numerous intramural and club sports in which non-varsity athletes can participate.  In Hazelton's tenure, the College has constructed an eight-lane, 37-meter swimming pool, 16-seat rowing tanks, a vastly improved fitness room, the nation's top squash facility, two synthetic turf fields, a rowing boathouse, and numerous improvements to the playing fields and facilities.  The College's newest facility, the Koeppel Community Sports Center and Williams Rink, opened in 2006 to give the Bantam ice hockey teams their first on-campus home ice and provide a fantastic venue for skating and other activities for the campus and Hartford communities.  
     
Hazelton earned his bachelor's degree from Marietta College in 1966 and received a master's of science degree in sports administration from the University of Massachusetts in 1976.  Hazelton taught history and was an assistant football coach at Lancaster High School in Ohio from 1969-73 before becoming the head freshman football coach at Amherst College in 1973.
     
In 1974, Hazelton came to Trinity when he was named an assistant professor of physical education, head track & field coach, and assistant football coach.  For eight seasons, Hazelton worked under former Head Football Coach Don Miller, helping Trinity record six winning campaigns and a 42-21-1 record, a .664 winning percentage.
     
In January 1982, Hazelton assumed the duties of the acting associate athletic director when Karl Kurth took a sabbatical leave.  Kurth subsequently retired, and Hazelton was named Trinity's director of athletics and department chair.  In 1989, Hazelton was promoted to professor of physical education.  He has been a Core Consulting faculty member of Charter Oak State College since 1997.
     
During his tenure, Hazelton has been extremely active on various committees throughout the region and the nation.  Previously the chairman of the ECAC North/South Hockey Tournament (1987-91) and a member of the ECAC Finance Committee (1993-96), Hazelton has also served on the NCAA Voting Committee (1987-90), the NCAA Football Rules Committee (1996-00), the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Commitee (1998-00), and NCAA Committee on Committees (1990-93).  In additon, Hazelton was the chairman of the NECAC selection committee for Division III Male Athlete of the Year from 1988-92 (member 1985-93), chairman of the ECAC Division III lacrosse tournament in 1990 and 1996-98, and a member of both the ECAC East-West Hockey Tournament Committee from 1996-99 and the ECAC Ice Hockey Executive Committee (1990-98).  Hazelton was chairman of the ECAC Collegiate Rowing Championship Regatta Board of Stewards (member since 1995) and was a member of both the ECAC Football Executive Committee, the ECAC Marketing Committee, and the ECAC Division III Basketball Tournament Committee.  From 1982-1999, Hazelton served as the treasurer for the New England Small College Athletic Conference, and was president in 1990-91 and 2005-06.  In 2002, Hazelton was awarded the General Robert Neyland Athletic Director Award by the All-American Football Foundation.
           
Hazelton and his wife, Anne, reside in nearby Windsor and have three sons, all of whom have studied at Trinity and played varsity lacrosse: Tad ‘92, who also played football, James ‘93, and Alex ‘99.