Peter was born August 13, 1948 in Clinton, MA, the son of Warren and Constance (Patterson) Richards. He leaves his wife Mary L. (Kelly) of 40 years, daughter Jillian Lyons and husband Ricky of Fitchburg, two sons Jonathan Richards and wife Nicole of Florida and Jared Richards of Leominster, 2 grandchildren Ty and Ivy Lyons and his sister Jayne Richards of Bolton.
Peter graduated from Nashoba Regional High School in 1966. He went on to Central Connecticut State College graduating with a dual degree in Elementary Education and Physical Education in 1970. He obtained his Master’s Degree from Fitchburg State College.
For the majority of his career, Peter was the Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach at Nashoba Regional High School. Throughout his time at Nashoba he also held many other positions such as assistant football coach, ice hockey coach, Dean of Students and acting Principal. Peter also spent much of his time as a high school ice hockey referee, umping men’s softball and coaching his boys for many years with the Leominster American Little League, Twin City Hockey League, Leominster Babe Ruth and Leominster DEK Hockey. He was inducted into the Massachusetts’s State Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, received the MA Athletic Director of the Year and Eastern Seaboard Athletic Director of the year in 2007. Peter was a New England sports fan – through and through. He knew every statistic on every athlete and loved himself a true underdog story.
In his younger years, Peter spent many weekends playing in slow-pitch softball tournaments throughout the Northeast and was “feared” when he stepped up to the plate earning the nicknames of “Boomer” and “Tree Trunk”.’
After retirement, he took much pride in co-developing The Nashoba Regional High School Athletic Hall of Fame which he was named to the first induction class in 2009. His greatest joy was taking care of his grandchildren, often referring to himself as the owner of “Papa’s Daycare”. There is nothing more in life that he loved besides his wife, children and grandchildren.
The Greg Hill Foundation is collecting donations in memory of Peter Richards.
