Researching Richard Holmes

A Fighting Scot from Edinboro State College, Holmes joined the Toronto Argonauts in 1977, but played only 3 games and rushed for 151 yards with them. He finished the year with the Ottawa Rough Riders, rushing for another 865 yards (giving him 1016 for the season) and scoring 11 touchdowns. He was an eastern all-star. He played 2 more season with Ottawa and finished 1979 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Holmes played one final season in the United States Football League, playing 18 games with the Tampa Bay Bandits.

While studying at the University of Cambridge, Holmes made a single appearance in List A cricket for the university cricket team in the 1974 Benson & Hedges Cup against Sussex at the County Cricket Ground, Hove. In a match which Sussex won by 186 runs, Holmes bowled eleven wicketless overs and was dismissed for just one run by Mike Buss. This was his only appearance for Cambridge University, with him not featuring in any first-class fixtures for the team.

Holmes was born about 1633, in York, England, the son of Francis Holmes and his first wife, whose name is unknown. Francis married a woman named Ann, and came to America with her prior to 1634. They originally settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1636, Francis and Ann moved from Watertown to Wethersfield, Connecticut Colony. In 1657, Francis and Ann with their four children moved from Wethersfield to Stamford, Connecticut. He was one of the earliest settlers in Stamford.

Richard Holmes bought his Norwalk lot on 12 October 1657, from Alexander Bryan of Milford. He was the settlement's blacksmith. He also built the settlement's first saw mill on the Five Mile River.

He is listed on the Founders Stone bearing the names of the founding settlers of Norwalk in the East Norwalk Historical Cemetery.

Holmes was appointed to replace Robert H. Kaul, joining the court at the same time as Kay McFarland.

Prior to the supreme court appointment Holmes had worked for the law firm Holmes, Mellor, Schaefer and Compton in Wichita, Kansas, and was also the chairman of the Wichita Bar Association's Ethics and Grievance Committee. In 1992 he was awarded the "Award of Merit" from the American Judges Association, an award that was renamed in 2000 to be the "Chief Justice Richard W. Holmes Award of Merit". In 1959 he founded the North American Judges Association, and was the chairman of the Kansas Judicial Council for two years.

Holmes retired from the supreme court on August 31, 1995, at the age of 72 when Kay McFarland took his place as Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court. He retired 16 months earlier than the designated term end after participating in over 3600 decisions. The vacant position was then taken by Edward Larson.

Holmes originated in Wichita, Kansas and during World War II served in the Navy. He obtained a degree in business administration in 1950 from the Kansas State University, then obtained his law degree from the Washburn University School of Law in 1953. He started his career practising law with his father, with a speciality in corporation and probate law.

He died September 4, 1999, at his home in Topeka, Kansas at the age of 76.