People in Sandestin come from all walks of life and we interact with them everyday without knowing their backstories. This column tries to highlight some of those stories of your neighbors who are “Extraordinary People”. This is one of them.

Randy Fichtner grew up in Western Pennsylvania. His father was a professional football player and coach, so his whole life revolved around football. As an outstanding player in high school, he was awarded a scholarship to Purdue University. There, he was moved from offense to defensive back.

When he finished Purdue, Randy was asked to stay on as a graduate assistant for two years, then was hired by the legendary coach, Bo Schembechler, at Michigan. That was followed by a stint at the University of Southern California, then UNLV, then Memphis, back to Purdue, then to Arkansas State, then back to Memphis, where his offensive expertise enabled the team to rewrite the Memphis record book. Coach Fichtner was then hired by a close friend, Mike Tomlin, who had just taken over as head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He stayed for 14 years and retired from there.

He was the Quarterbacks coach and Offensive Coordinator, and the Steelers were led by a great quarterback, Ben Rothlisberger. In year two, the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Randy never had a losing season after that before he retired in 2021.  He has an encyclopedic knowledge of football, the X’s and O’s, and can relate to you the details of how the quarterback receives plays, calls defenses, and changes routes and plays within seconds. He reminds us that these are professionals who train every day all day and all year. If they don’t, their professional career will come to an end quickly.

So, how did he come to live in Sandestin? A wealthy University of Memphis booster offered him, his wife Jennifer, and his family a place to stay for a vacation here. Once they got here, they all fell in love with it and continued coming every year until he retired. They all decided that this was the place they loved most. Since then, he has become active at Burnt Pine Country Club and two of his three children live and work in this area. He is an investor in some local business ventures and just loves Sandestin and the people.