Richard (Rich) Becker, Class of 1990, was one of West Aurora's most exceptional baseball players ever to play at West Aurora High School. In fact during his high school career he was also a standout football player as well as a baseball star.

Rich's outstanding baseball career statistics make him one of the all time leaders in almost all pitching and hitting records in West Aurora baseball history. For example, Rich is the all-time leader in career runs scored (102), slugging percentage for a season, and stolen bases(49). He led the team to a 66-22-2 record during his three varsity seasons, batting .420 and compiling a pitching record of 20-4. For his achievements Rich was a first team All Conference selection in 1990, the team's Most Valuable Player, and named to the All State team by the Tribune and Sun Times.

Rich was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 1990 amateur draft and 85th pick overall. He made his major league debut that year, appearing in 3 games with 7 at bats, getting 2 hits. After several trips between the major and minor leagues, Rich's first full year with the Twins was in 1995. In 1996, Rich preceded Kirby Puckett as the Twins' starting center fielder and had his best year as a major leaguer, batting .291 with 12 home runs, 79 RB1, and 19 stolen bases. Rich was traded to the New York Mets in 1997 and played with other Major League Baseball teams in the next five years including the Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, and Detroit Tigers.

At the end of the 2002 season, Rich retired. After 13 seasons in professional baseball, He finished his major league career having appearing in 789 games with 2,227 at bats, 570 base hits, including 45 home runs with a .256 batting average.

His minor league numbers for 770 games reflected 2,851 at bats, 821 hits, including 75 home runs and a .287 batting average. As a point of distinction, Rich was the only player to come out of the 3rd round of the 1990 draft and sustain any sort of long-term career.

Rich presently is a firefighter in North Ft. Myers, Florida and resides in Cape Coral, Florida with his wife and three children.