It’s a story as old as the Olympics, how athletics, a triumph in a contest of skill, can bring joy to a community.

Such was a moment in 2014 for Rick Boyd and his team in the ancient sport of wrestling. Hailing from Rural Retreat, a bucolic town of about 1,500 in Wythe County, 80 miles south and west of Roanoke, Virginia, Boyd’s Indians (310 students) scored an unforgettable victory, winning the Division I Virginia High School League state championship. It was the first state championship in any sport in the 140-year history of Rural Retreat High School, which has 310 students.

News of the victory got out fast. As the team made their way home around midnight in winter, the town prepared a full police escort at their I-81 exit and treated their kids to an impromptu parade and celebration. As Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame President Kevin Hazard remarked, “Can you say HOOOOOOOSIERS!?”

Coach Boyd is born and bred in his region, a southwest district champion at Richlands High School in Tazewell County. He split his college time between Carson-Newman in Tennessee and Bluefield State in West Virginia, earning a math teaching certificate that led to a teaching career, and finding his wife Denie, who is almost as fanatical about wrestling as he is.

A two-year tour at Northwood High School was quickly followed by the glory years at Rural Retreat. His high tides were the 2014-17 seasons with the breakthrough championship and three consecutive titles. Twenty-seven individuals combined to win 45 titles, including Boyd's sons Ty and Trey winning 6 titles between them. In addition to the four state titles, Boyd’s teams have finished second four times, and, by the time he retired in 2022 after 26 seasons, he could also look back at 11 regional championships.

An indication of the respect he has gained can be seen in the extravagant praise by his Hall of Fame neighbors and his membership in the Virginia High School League Legislative Committee.

It should also be noted that he put a lot of fans wearing red and black in the stands!