Singing, rollerblading icon ‘Beltline Kevin’ becomes signed athlete with $100K/year deal

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - An Atlanta Beltline legend is getting the deal of a lifetime with the help of a local taco chain.

Kevin Randolph, 61, known on the Eastside Trail as Beltline Kevin, is a singing and skating sensation.

“I can usually hear him before I can see him, and it brings me joy,” said Lauren Palmer, a community member and Beltline regular.

Gliding, spinning, and dancing on wheels, Randolph spends his afternoons spreading positivity to fellow pedestrians.

He’s been skating this trail since the pandemic, making it his mission to reconnect a community pulled apart by quarantine.

“I started singing at them and saying hello, and greeting them with song, and trying to get them out of their shell, and soon they started high-fiving, and now I have to high-five everyone,” Randolph said.

He’s become a sort of unofficial mascot for this 22-mile-long multi-use pathway, catching not just community attention, but local businesses as well.

“We just kept seeing him on the Beltline while we were doing the construction here, and one day we just had a conversation with Kevin and we asked him if he wanted to be in a few of our videos,” said Miguel Hernandez, Chief Operating Officer of Rreal Tacos.

With post after post featuring Beltline Kevin going viral, Hernandez said they wanted to give Randolph proper recognition.

The company took to social media, sharing the moment Kevin received a $100,000 deal to be Rreal Tacos’ first-ever sponsored athlete.

Randolph said he wants to use his new ambassadorship to give back to metro Atlanta’s schools, something near and dear to his heart after several years as a middle school teacher.

“You never know what people are going through, and this is why I do it,” Randolph said.