Don Richards

"Gather round me everybody/Gather round me while I preach some/ Feel a sermon comin' on me/The topic will be sin/And that's what I'm agin/If you wanna hear my story/Then settle back and just sit tight/While I start reviewin'/The attitude of doin' right/"

"You got to ac-cent-u-ate the positive/ e-lim-nate the negative/ latch on to the affirmative/ and don't mess with Mr. in-between." These are the opening words of a Johnny Mercer song popular in the mid-40s.

Rich Melzer, a UWRF graduate, is a member of the UWRF Hall of Fame and CEO at YouthLink, which is a "safe, non-judgmental place for youth, 16-24 years old, from all backgrounds, races, genders and orientations," according to their website. He knows from experience how to latch on to the affirmative. A south Minneapolis native, he experienced some challenging situations in his teen years and found himself in the same position as the young people experiencing homelessness who frequent YouthLink's Drop-In Center on a daily basis.

In an effort to stabilize his future, Melzer moved to River Falls as a teenager where he excelled in basketball and finished high school. He then enjoyed a standout career as a member of the UWRF basketball team where he received NCAA Player of the Year honors.

"I was fortunate enough that my basketball career after college offered me the opportunity to see the world," Melzer said.

He played professionally in several countries including Germany, Israel, and Australia.

Neither does he mess with Mr. in-between: "One of my favorite sayings is 'the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.' I embrace the responsibility of pushing the mission forward at YouthLink and providing resources for young people whose stories were once mine."

After Melzer's eligibility ended, he was still a few credits short of a degree, so he returned later to gain the missing credits. Motivation for that came from former mentors such as Rick Bowen, his college coach, and his uncle Ron Thielen and aunt Susan.

"I felt I personally owed it to the people who had invested in me," he said.

Another motivator was that when his name came up for induction into the UWRF Hall of Fame he was passed by because he had not graduated. He said he was hurt and confused by his non-inclusion in the Hall of Fame, assuming UWRF authorities had thought he was "just loafing around, not interested in returning to school when in fact I had been starting companies, competing professionally and living a life of meaningful service and work."

"So I composed a timeline of my accomplishments, including being the Executive Director at YMCA of the North in Minneapolis, the second largest YMCA in the U.S, showing that I was publicly representing UWRF to the best of my ability."

He accentuates the positive by saying that he appreciated and understood why it happened and that it was a meaningful learning experience for all involved.

In discussing his role as CEO of YouthLink he said, "I was groomed for this role. As a person that was once housing insecure as a young adult, surrounded by addiction and violence to now be serving others in this space, experiencing homelessness and trauma is truly rewarding.

"What I love about YouthLink and the communities we serve is that all of us, no matter where we're from, what color we are, what political party we align with, age or otherwise we all have someone in our family or immediate network that's struggled with something. We serve all, and we serve them tirelessly and without judgment.

"Every engagement and act from the board room to the front door involves love, compassion and benevolence, words that aren't always peppered into business but should be regardless of the industry. This is some of the most challenging and meaningful work I've ever been a part of in my life and I'm grateful every day to be able to serve others as others nurtured me during times of need when I was young."

In the two years he's been CEO, "We've seen 106% growth in total visits, we've remedied historical turnover with high rates of staff retention and our programming and network has grown a great deal. We've done this while operating rather lean and trying to remedy some previous obstacles the organization was faced with post-Covid."

In addition to all this he has been assistant basketball coach at Holy Angels Academy where former NBA player and long-time friend Troy Bell is coach.

Melzer's future plans? "I'm currently considering high school and college level coaching opportunities to lead a program. I love coaching."

He obviously has many choices, unlike the guy behind the grocery store counter who responded to the customer's indecision about whether she wanted plastic or paper by saying "baggers can’t be choosers." That guy is no Mr. in-between either.