Richard Martin (Class of 2014)

Richard came to Richmond from Madison Heights where he graduated Amherst County High School in 1964 before earning his Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Economics from Lynchburg College in 1970. He began his career with the Virginia Department of Social Services and spent countless hours working with the Virginia General Assembly supporting legislation for his Department until his retirement on September 1, 2010. He worked primarily with support services for At-Risk youth and adults with disabilities and helped to grow the efforts of the Christian education programs of the non-profit HopeTree Family Services based in Salem, VA. Away from his desk he found his passion for soccer carrying his expertise as a referee into the classroom as a USSF certified Instructor rising to become the Area Director of Instruction. He authored the training program “Kinesis & the Soccer Referee” in 2001. He was President of RISOA after serving a term as Secretary in 1992. On the pitch as a referee he logged his 2,000th career match in a high school match during 1999 working the Girls’ AAA Championship to culminate that season.