When Bob Sims retired from coaching soccer at Westminster High School in 1993, after 34 years of service, he was given a proclamation that said: “Coach Sims showed humor and grace under pressure and a human approach that made playing for him a pleasure”.  Who could ever ask for a greater accolade than that from his former players?
 

Bob came to soccer when, in 1958, he was “assigned” the task of coaching Westminster’s soccer team.  Bob stopped at the public library on the way home from school to check out some books on the topic.  There were none.  He eventually acquired a few manuals and led his team to a 5-3-1 first season.  Believing that this simply “would not do”, Bob joined the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and began attending their annual meetings and coaching clinics.  After years of steady effort by Bob to get the Georgia High School Association to recognize soccer as an official interscholastic sport, this became a reality in 1965.  The GHSA named him their state soccer coordinator and tournament chairman and he served in that capacity until his retirement.  Bob was instrumental in getting high school soccer moved form winter to spring to encourage schools in the northern part of the state to field teams.  Later he was also successful in gaining “region status: for soccer, which meant that high school soccer teams played the same opponents faced in other school sports such as football and basketball.  These efforts were key to soccer’s growth in Georgia.  From its fledgling start of 20 teams, high school soccer exploded to 157 teams during Bob’s tenure.
 

Through all of the achievement “off the field”, Bob’s teams on the field with the Georgia Youth Soccer Association (GYSA), the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League (ADASL), and Westminster High School won numerous local, state and regional championships.  Over his coaching career, Bob’s teams competed in 625 games and won 508 of them.
 

Bob earned the National High School Athletic Coaches Association of America Coach of the Year Award in 1975, the Georgia High School Association Leadership Award in 1993, coached the West Team in the 1984 Army National High School All Star game at West Point, was a Charter Member of the National Federation of High Schools Soccer Rules Committee from 1970-1976 and again served from 1981 to 1985.
 

Bob coached 2 Northside YMCA youth soccer teams for 6 years, winning 4 league championships and a state championship.  He served on the YMCA Governing Board for 20 years from 1974 to 1994, is still on its Advisory Board, and from 1981 to 1986 was its Soccer Committee Chair.  In his 6 years with the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League, he coached 6 different teams to 5 division championships, with an overall record of 132-10-3.  For 2 years he was league President.
 

Westminster School honored Bob in 1993 by establishing the “Bob Sims Sportsmanship Award” and the “Bob Sims Math-Science Award”.  The GSSA Hall of Fame recognizes his truly outstanding contributions to all of Georgia Soccer.
 

Bob and his wife Marie, have three sons, Clay, Kevin and Griff and one granddaughter.  Kevin played under Bruce Arena and Virginia, is a noted high school coach and a member of the executive committee of the National Soccer Coaches Association.  Griff, who set scoring records at Randolph-Macon, is now a USSF National Referee.