A few weeks ago, my father-in-law (also named Bob Ring, not to be confused with my husband Bob Ring, and no, they’re not junior/senior) was inducted into the Cattaraugus County Sports Hall of Fame. The call for nominees stated: “Nominees should have at least 20 years of success as an athlete, coach, game official, sports administrator or any combination thereof.”

Bob (my father-in-law) has always been active in sports, whether he’s playing them on the various city leagues, running miles of Olean pavement, or preparing for triathlons, and he’s also been a coach for cross-country and track for literally forever (at least, longer than I’ve known him). It was really great to see him honored with the other inductees in the 16th annual Cattaraugus County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The honorees all seemed a little shell-shocked to be there. Most of them may be comfortable speaking at sports dinners and honoring the athletes they coach, but not many seemed comfortable talking about themselves. The coaches in particular were all united in underscoring adamantly that their students had changed their lives, that every student mattered, and just being able to coach was a tremendous honor. Other honorees included local athletes and game officials. I’m not sure if there was a sports administrator, per se, but there was a set of brothers who apparently brought soccer to Western New York – they also coached soccer.

It was a fun evening, and it was nice to take a little time out to celebrate Bob’s (my father-in-law) achievements.