Richmond County lost one of its athletic ambassadors Tuesday when Bobby Rainey passed away.

Rainey was a member of the Richmond Senior High School athletic staff from 1972 through 1993. After he retired from teaching, Rainey continued to be involved in athletics by becoming a junior high and high school referee. Rainey was given the honor of being selected to be an official at the 1999 North Carolina/South Carolina. Shrine Bowl game.

During Rainey’s time at Richmond, he served as an assistant coach on the football team, including the 1972 team which captured the 4-A title. In addition, Rainey was an assistant baseball coach from 1972-1980 before being named head coach in 1981. He guided the Raiders to the 4-A baseball title in 1983, when they lost their first game of the season before rattling off 27 straight wins and a sweep of Greensboro Page in the championship series.

Tommy King, who earned the victory in the deciding game of the series with Page, remembered Rainey as a great coach and teacher of the sport.

“He would get more out of you then you thought you could ever give,” King said. “He gained my respect and the respect of everyone else. If you did something wrong in the game, he would ask you what you did wrong so you wouldn’t do it again. And if you did something right, he would say something too. He was a great teacher.”

Ronnie Yarbrough, who played and coached under Rainey, recalled a coach who made sure his team understood and practiced baseball fundamentals.

“We were more fundamentally sound baseball team then anyone else,” Yarbrough said. “He really stressed and taught the fundamentals. If scouts came to the games, they knew they were going to see players who were taught the right way to play. He taught the game by the book.”

Yarbrough added Rainey’s lessons extended behind the white lines of the baseball diamond.

“He was a Christian man and a family man,” Yarbrough said. “The one thing I remember him teaching outside of baseball was morals and values. He lived life by the book as well. He was a great person and will be missed around baseball in the county.”

King echoed Yarbrough’s sentiment about Rainey being an role model.

“He was an inspiration to a lot of kids out there at the high school,” King said.

Funeral services for Rainey will be held today at 4 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Rockingham with interment to follow at Eastside Cemetery.

Memorials can be sent on behalf of Rainey to the First Baptist Church of Rockingham or to The ALS Association Jim “Catfish” Hunter Chapter, 120-101 Penmarc Drive, Raleigh, NC 27603.