Coach. Father figure. Role model. An inspiration.
Those were the words the Stroudsburg High School wrestling team used to describe their head coach Sean Richmond, who died after being struck by a tractor trailer on Interstate 380. Richmond had started coaching the Mounties in 2016, eclipsing the 100-win mark this season thanks to All-Area wrestlers Jack Jasionowicz, Hunter Brown and Zach Berwick, among others.
But anyone involved in sports knows that a coach spends most of their time with the team, from practices and film, to bus rides, to the one-on-one conversations. The Pocono Record sat down with the Mountie wrestling squad, who shared who Sean Richmond was to them, some of their favorite memories, and how they supported each other during a difficult time.
"We never really got to see the emotional side of him," senior Shaun Kelly said. "But there were times when he opened up and inspired us to keep wrestling. He even cried to us sometimes."
Freshman Chase Fetherman shared another time when Richmond let out the tears - when he earned his 100th-career win as head coach.
"I remember when we got that win, he started crying," Fetherman said. "But at the same time he said 'It's not done. We still have one more dual - let's try and win the whole thing and add on to that win."
It wasn't a wrestler that had the most memorable story though, at least not a current one. That belongs to assistant coach Cameron Enriquez, who was on the team in the earlier years of Richmond's tenure at Stroudsburg. Enriquez was a multi-time state medalist, including in 2018, when he lost his medal.
"After I graduated, I would always ask Richmond if one of the janitors ever found it, and he would always tell me 'no,'" Enriquez said. "But when I came back to coach this year, all of a sudden, he called me into his office and gave me this medal in a case which he had bought. There was a note on there as well that basically said, 'Cameron, I'm only giving this medal to you now and not before because you wouldn't have known how much this meant to me.'"
It was a secret Richmond kept for almost seven years, but it was evident that Enriquez appreciated the lesson he learned in the end.
Enriquez wasn't the only former wrestler on Richmond's staff; Jake Jones was a 100-match winner and another state medalist in the early days of Richmond's tenure, and now he just finished his first year as an assistant coach for his alma mater.
"I'm very grateful that I had a coach like him to mentor me and show me the right way," Jones said. "When I first met him, he just made me feel wanted and included. He took me out to dinner, called me on the phone and asked for my opinion: 'What are your thoughts on this?' 'What are your thoughts on the lineup?' What are your thoughts on someone going up or down a weight class?'
"He taught me how to be a coach and a leader for these guys. And he went above and beyond to show me the and lead me down the path to be a head coach one day."
Everyone's memories were positive when it came to their coach, but there was one topic that made the entire room groan: What was Richmond like when a wrestler didn't make weight?
It was comical to see how the tone changed when it everyone reflected on interacting with Richmond when it came to making weight. Sophom*ore Jack Jasionowicz recalled a time where the team was supposed to play basketball as a bonding experience, but his teammate Zach Berwick, who told Richmond he was only seven pounds above his goal of 113, stepped on the scale and weighed 130 pounds. As a result, the team didn't play basketball, instead they "ran for fun, because we don't run for punishment" as Jasionowicz put it.
Regardless of the situation though, Richmond would always look for the positives in his athletes, encouraging them, supporting them however he could. Moreover, he tried to be as inclusive as he could, most notably by not having any team captains. It's not uncommon for a team to go without a formal captain, but the team made it clear that everyone shared leadership responsibilities, from the seniors down to the freshmen.
Richmond built a strong bond with this year's team, so when the news hit about the accident and his eventual passing, it hit everyone hard.
"Having to be the one to have to tell everyone that our head coach died was just really hard," Jasionowicz said. "I know it was only a text, but it still hit me hard, and seeing everyone's reactions, being in disbelief, it was so sad to see it happening."
"I got the call Saturday night," Jones said. "I was honestly in disbelief. I didn't sleep much that night. I knew him for a while, but I really got to know him this year, and I was grateful for everything he had done for me. I was just eager to learn from him even more."
As hard as it was for him, Jones immediately thought about the wrestlers. "How are these guys handling it?" "How are they going to move on?" "How can we continue down the direction where he was leading us?" were some of the questions he asked.
Richmond died the day of Stroudsburg's prom, and some the students saw him only hours before the accident, including Kelly, who was a senior.
"Around the time we left before prom, I walked up to him and I shook his hand," Kelly said. "That was the first time I've ever done that because he's usually the one initiating. I shook his hand, he did his little grin at me, and sent me off."
The Monday following the accident, the team met for a closed meeting with Stroudsburg High administrators. Most of the wrestlers couldn't muster any words, but Kyle Clement felt "relieved" by everyone coming together and supporting each other in that moment.
But the wrestling team, as they learned from their beloved coach, knew that this couldn't be the end. Richmond encouraged them to keep moving forward, something Fabian Ortiz believes coach would want them to do
"Knowing him, he wouldn't want us to stay in the past, but thinking about what our next step is going to be," Ortiz said. "It's always about thinking ahead, like, 'Hey, you can't pull yourself back. You always push forward no matter what adversity you're going through.'"
