SKOWHEGAN — It’s been a good year so far for Rob Washburn.
Washburn, 60, took office as Somerset County Judge of Probate in January, elected in a four-way race in November.
Last week Washburn, who has coached youth football in Skowhegan for 29 years, was named state Citizen Volunteer of the Year at the annual conference of the Maine Recreation and Parks Association. Later that same day, Skowhegan selectmen picked Washburn as a recipient of the Spirit of America Foundation Tribute for community service.
Denise LeBlanc, director of the Skowhegan Parks and Recreation Department, nominated Washburn for the Citizen Volunteer award and kept the fact he’d won a secret from him. LeBlanc said she lured Washburn to the Citizen Volunteer conference in Portland by asking him to deliver a speech on the values of coaching youth football.
“I get down there and I’m sitting there talking to one of the people from the rec center, and all of sudden my family shows up,” Washburn said. “And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my God.’ It just took me back. I was in shock. I knew something was up then and was being honored for something.”
LeBlanc, who has been with the Parks and Recreation Department since 1989 and director for the past 13 years, was appointed president of the Maine Recreation and Parks Association for the coming year at the convention.
“Rob’s been here since before my time, and he just is very involved, very dedicated to the youth in our community. He has a big heart,” LeBlanc said. “He is involved in coaching and in other organizations in town, and it’s incredible how much he gives to our community as a whole in Skowhegan.”
LeBlanc said she called Washburn’s wife, who made arrangements to cancel all of his appointments for the day to make sure he could make the awards ceremony.
“It was a total surprise. He was shocked. He had no idea,” she said.
Washburn said youth sports has been a big part of his life for the past three decades.
“I’ve been coaching youth football in Skowhegan for 29 years. This year will be my 30th year and 40th football team in Skowhegan,” he said. “Some years I coach two teams.”
He has coached mostly fifth, sixth and seventh-grade parks and recreation teams, but he also has coached younger teams with players in kindergarten to fourth grade. For the past two years he has coached softball for 7- and 8-year-old girls. He has coached both girls and boys basketball and pee-wee wrestling.
He also established Grid Iron Skills and Diamond Skills, fundraising competitions that have raised more than $42,000 for local sports programs over the past 16 years.
“I’ve never done anything but volunteer work,” he said. “I feel like I can make a difference with the kids, and that’s where I put my effort. You can make a difference. One of my big sayings that the kids get sick of, I think, is ‘Be all you can be.’ That means, whether it’s school, whether it’s athletics, whether it’s being a good citizen, whether it’s your job, you strive to do your best.”
Aaron Chambers, a 2006 graduate of Skowhegan High School and a finalist that year for the James J. Fitzpatrick Trophy awarded to the top senior football player in the state, said Washburn would say “carpe diem” — Latin for seize the day — after each youth football session. Chamber had the words tattooed on his arm.
“It really hit home with me, and I just wanted to carry it forward and remind myself every day that I needed to seize the day.”
Chambers, 26, a running back at Skowhegan High School, was coached by Washburn in the fifth and sixth grade.
“He was amazing,” said Chambers, who’s a staff sergeant with the U.S. Air Force stationed in Florida. “He was very dedicated. He put everything into coaching that he had. He was very passionate. Not only did he teach us a lot about the game of football, he taught us a lot about life and how to be the best that we could be.”
Washburn grew up in Skowhegan, graduating from high school in 1973. He attended the University of Maine and later earned a law degree at Vermont Law School.
As an attorney, Washburn worked in family law and handled personal injury cases, divorce and eviction mediation. He is a past president of the Somerset Bar Association.
He is an avid collector of Skowhegan memorabilia and last year established the first annual Abner Coburn Day, remembering the philanthropist and one-time governor of Maine who lived in Skowhegan. Washburn is a member of the Bloomfield Academy board of trustees and the Heritage Council and is chairman of the Skowhegan Budget and Finance Committee.
Of all his roles in the community, however, Washburn said youth sports is where his heart lies.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
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