Richard B. Lynch; was CHS principal, R.I. Interscholastic League director
The Rhode Island Interscholastic League on Wednesday announced the passing of former RIIL Executive Director Richard B. Lynch.
Recognized by the Providence Journal in 1999 as one of “Rhode Island’s Top 100 Most Significant Sport Figures in the 20th century,” Mr. Lynch’s contributions to the Rhode Island sports community and the state’s student-athletes were innumerable and unquantifiable.
“Dick Lynch was a role model, friend and hero to countless people from all walks of life,” said current RIIL Executive Director Thomas Mezzanotte. “He championed the cause of education-based athletics throughout his long-decorated career. Rhode Island will sincerely miss his presence, his personality, and his commitment to student athletes. He will remain to all the standard of excellence that we strive to attain.”
Mr. Lynch’s retirement from the RIIL in 2004 marked the end of a 46-year career in education and athletics that included teaching, coaching officiating football and basketball and serving as a school administrator.
A standout football player at St. Raphael Academy in the early 1950s, Mr. Lynch went on to play football at Boston College. He began coaching football soon after, both at the high school level and also as an assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island in the mid-1960s and for the Providence College club football team from 1967 to 1970.
He left the coaching ranks when he became principal of Cumberland High School in 1971 and from there, became superintendent of the Smithfield school system.
During that time, Mr. Lynch served for many years on the Interscholastic League’s Principals Committee on Athletics. He was then appointed as the RIIL’s first full-time executive director in 1994. Over the next 10 years, he worked to implement coaches’ education and sportsmanship programs, along with many other initiatives.
In addition, Mr. Lynch was a nationally recognized basketball official, refereeing games in the NCAA Division I, II and III national tournaments, as well as the Holiday Festival in New York.
He was honored numerous times by the organizations he served. Among the most notable honors, he was selected as recipient of the Pawtucket Red Sox Hometown Hero Award and the Rhode Island Sports Council’s Paul Kilcullen Sports Advocate Award. He is a member of the R.I. Interscholastic League High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Providence Gridiron Hall of Fame, R.I. Basketball Officials Hall of Fame, R.I. Football Hall of Fame and Cumberland High School Hall of Fame.
Funeral arrangements will be announced later.