Coaches in youth athletics have the potential to shape to the lives of their athletes, for better or worse.
If a child’s first exposure to a sport is negative, it may prevent them from ever giving it a second chance. Alternatively, positive coaching role models can both fuel a young person’s passion for a sport and instill key values to help their players succeed in life.
Ricky Thomas is one of those coaches that defines a community. The longtime White Plains coach has spent more than two decades leading the Raiders youth football team and the Pirates youth baseball team.
Thomas didn’t measure his teams’ success with championships, despite the fact that he has plenty of those to go around. Rather, Thomas aimed to teach, instill good morals and put the kids first.
His selfless work of more than two decades earned Thomas a spot in the Surry County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
“It’s an honor, especially looking at who else I’m inducted with and all they’ve done,” Thomas said. “That you’re respected that much to be put in with all the people that have done great things in this community and your name is going to be there with theirs is humbling. It’s a blessing too to know that it’s going to be there with a lot of great athletes and respected people in the community.”
Shrine Bowl star
Ricky Thomas was an accomplished athlete before he picked up coaching.
He grew up playing travel football for Guy Money and later played for Russell Thomas’ Franklin Bulldogs. He went on to play three varsity seasons at North Surry High School and was named to both the N.C. East-West All-Star game and Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.
Thomas was shocked to be picked for the Shrine Bowl because he didn’t even know what it was at the time. He said the football coach at Elkin High was the Shrine Bowl coach and picked Thomas over one of the Elkin players.
“I remember walking down the hall at North Surry and the principal, a guy named Robert O. Poplin, approached me and I thought I was in trouble,” Thomas said. “I thought, ‘Lord have mercy what have I done.’ He said congratulations and I said, ‘Yes sir, but for what?’ So, he told me I was picked for the Shrine Bowl and I had never heard of it.”
Ricky started and played “all but two or three plays.”
He began coaching after graduation by becoming an assistant to North Surry’s Carl Sanders. Ricky spent a few years coaching at North while working at the Proctor Silex plant.
Thomas believes it was 1989 that North Surry stopped allowing people from outside the school system to coach. This was around the time his oldest son, Matthew, was set to begin playing youth football.
Thomas ran into some of the guys that ran little league football while shopping and they asked if he would help out. When it was proposed he take over an entire team, Thomas obliged.
“My wife at the time kind of punched me and said you shouldn’t have done that,” Thomas said. “I said they shouldn’t have asked.”
A labor of love
Ricky ran a tight ship as coach.
On his team, there were expectations for everything from how players would get into stance to how they behaved on the sideline.
“Coaches at North Surry can tell if a player comes from White Plains because of how they get into stance. It just takes one look and they know,” Thomas said. “The other thing they started seeing was kids from White Plains never disrespected their helmet. Coaches say they never saw a White Plains kid throw a helmet, lay it on its top, drop it or anything.”
Thomas had a certain way of running things and let his kids know that early on. In addition to how to line up and how to treat equipment, Thomas wouldn’t tolerate players talking bad to the ref. Thomas also preached the importance of sportsmanship, both in winning and losing.
He considered his players family and would fight for them when it was necessary. He never said it was going to be easy, but Thomas guaranteed fair treatment for anyone who wanted to play for him.
He came back year after year because he wanted to help teach his players. Not just X’s and O’s, but important life lessons like how to work hard, how to push through adversity, how to play fair and how to respect yourself and your teammates.
“God’s blessed us,” Thomas said. “You’ve got to put God first in everything you do. Put Him first in everything and everything will work out. We try to teach kids that. We pray before and after every game.
“You’ve got a lot of kids that have split families or families where they don’t know where they’re going to be from one night to the next. Some don’t have a ride from here to there. We try to help that too. Kids have problems? We try to help.”
Thomas said he’s been stereotyped before as someone that’s hateful and intimidating, and that breaks his heart. Just as a parent wants what is best for their children, Thomas wants the best for each of his players.
“It’s about the kids; it’s not about wins and losses,” Thomas said. “My coaches know we are going to coach them all, not just the good athletes. We coach the ones that can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. We help them they can. That’s why I think the Lord’s blessed us in White Plains.”
It wasn’t an easy process, but Thomas took the Raiders to a regular season championship in just his third year as head coach after not winning a game in the first season. He went on to win so many Super Bowls he’s lost count.
Thomas insisted it had nothing to do with him, instead giving credit to having good kids and good parents. It was the kids, not the Super Bowls, that kept him in coaching long after his sons Matthew, Jacob and Caleb aged out.
“We’re just trying to be role models for the kids because you find that the kids don’t always have a great home life,” Thomas said. “Most of the time you’re trying to be a good father figure for them for two hours a day. We did it because we love them. We tell them that. If you ain’t heard you are loved today we are going to tell you: we love you.”
A family forever
Ricky Thomas may not take credit for the success of his players, but more than a few former Raiders/Pirates said Thomas’ influence on their lives was invaluable.
One such former player is Danny Lyons. Lyons, now an assistant principal at East Surry High School, coached football at North Surry High School for seven seasons.
“Once you get to know Ricky Thomas, you love Ricky Thomas,” Lyons said. “I think that’s just about the highest praise you can give someone. He had such a big influence on my life.”
Lyons played on one of Thomas’ first Raider teams in the early 1990s. Lyons originally didn’t want to play football because of the tough-looking coach he’d seen on the baseball field.
He later called the decision to play for Thomas “one of the best decisions of my life.”
“You cannot think about White Plains football or baseball without thinking of Ricky Thomas,” Lyons said. “I wanted to play everything for the man. He was tough, but you were okay with it because you knew he loved you and wanted the very best for you.”
Lyons recalls Thomas’ emphasis on practicing fundamentals over and over. Practices were hard, but it made the games on Saturday so much easier.
When he began coaching football, Lyons said he tried to give structure to everything like Thomas had. From how athletes stretched to how they behaved on the sidelines, Lyons mirrored Thomas.
“Even when I got to be head coach at North Surry, he would tell you what he thought,” Lyons said. “He’d pat you on the back when you did something right, and also tell you when he thought something was wrong. I didn’t always agree with him, but I respected him and his opinion so much.
“He still does things similar to the way he did 30 years ago. He’s hard, but never treats a kid the wrong way. They gravitate toward him because they see he cares so much.”
Lyons said Thomas didn’t need to talk about how much the community meant to him because it showed in his actions.
Thomas spent countless hours at ball fields with hopes of molding young minds. He wanted things done right so that would become the standard for his players moving forward. His lessons were always big picture, and Thomas made sure his players knew that he’d always be there for them.
“I tell everyone when we get together at the end of the year that we are a family,” Thomas said. “Not just the days we meet; we’re a family forever. I tell the kids if you ever need me anytime, all you have to do is pick up the phone and call. Doesn’t matter if its daytime, middle of the night, where you’re at, what kind of trouble you’re in or if you just need someone to talk to, I’m here for you because I love you.”
Thomas was humbled by his induction into the Hall of Fame. He said it wasn’t just about him, but so many other coaches that shared his passion for giving back to White Plains.
“All the guys that have helped me coach throughout the years, I’m grateful for them,” Thomas said. “It takes a village to make a team and look after all these kids. One person can’t do it alone when it comes to coaching little league.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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