Richard Hereda

Richard B. Hereda has made a difference in Plum. He believes in making a difference and doing it with excellence. When it comes to seeing a need, he cannot just stand on the sidelines. And, that is what happened when his son reached football age. He just jumped in with everything he’s got. The result of this commitment is why the Plum Midget Football Association is where it is today. It is a testimony to what one person can accomplish in a lifetime and how it can affect the community.

Richard has committed 17 years of his life to the Plum Midget Football program and 14 of those years were as President. He also coached during the entire 17 years. He doesn’t claim all the credit, recognizing the number of community volunteers who sacrificed their time to build a solid community football program for the kids.

When Richard saw all the property around the Plum Borough Municipal Building, he said, “I had an idea that with all that property we could do something for the kids”. By this time he was a member of the Plum Borough Council, serving 1981 through 1994 and again from 2000 to 2005 [His term expires in 2006 and he is not running again]. Deeply involved in the community through public service and the midget football program, he led the Borough to purchase all the land from Consolidated Coal Company. The cost came to the grand total of $1.00 and led to developing the fields for baseball, football and other activities. He is very proud of this achievement because when he joined the midget football program there were only two fields.

In 1988 Richard received a great honor when Plum Borough’s Mayor named these fields after him. It is a further testimony to his labor of love for the kids of Plum Borough to have these fields named after him. In his typical manner, Richard said, “It’s better than having ‘Memorial’ in the name!”

Another aspect of his dedication to this program is how well the kids have been treated over the years. Richard said that they were among the first to purchase the Riddell Helmets that uses new technology, designed with the intent of reducing the risk of concussions. It is designed after the helmets the major leagues use and are priced over $125.00 each. It showed the concern for the safety of the kids playing.

Every year the Association takes the midget players on a big trip to interesting areas. Taking five days they have visited places such Langley Air Force Base and the Norfolk Navy Base. While at Langley they went into a wartime drill and everything was locked down with planes flying in and out practicing drills. That proved pretty exciting. At Norfolk Naval Base the kids visited a submarine and boarded an aircraft carrier.

Added to all of the above, Richard and his wife Dianne were both on the board of the Holiday Park Drum & Baton Corps. They served many years on the board of this award-winning group. Richard also previously served as Eucharistic Minister at Our Lady of Joy Roman Catholic Church.

Richard Hereda at interview

Before moving to Plum, Richard was raised in Lower Burrell. He played sports while in school and became a junior fireman. He continued to be a fireman until 1980. He still is a member of the Western Pennsylvania Fire Association.

Richard is very proud of his Plum community. He pointed out that it is the second largest Borough in Pennsylvania (population over 26,000) and has one of the lowest tax millage in Allegheny County.

He is married to Dianne and has one son who is a police officer in another borough and one daughter who is a homemaker. Richard is Vice President of Administration at Louis A. Grant, Inc in Export. Although Richard is 62, it looks like he may not be content sitting on the sidelines. Our guess is he may invest more his community.

Be sure to watch the video interview of Richard B. Hereda at:

http://www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1621

Plum Midget Football Association web site: http://eteamz.active.com/PlumMidgetFootball/index.cfm?

Plum Borough http://www.plumboro.com/

Go Plum Community Website http://www.goplum.com/