Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association announced Tuesday that Enrico Romano will be inducted into the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame.

The current plan is to have the ceremony in November, subject to change because of COVID-19 protocols.

Romano grew up and played soccer in Teggiano in the province of Salerno before emigrating to the United States in 1974. He became a coach in 1983 in the Beekman Youth Soccer Club in the East Hudson Youth Soccer League and he coached his Boys Under-19 travel team to winning the Dutchess Cup during his 15 years in this role. That included years long after his own children had graduated from youth soccer.

The Poughkeepsie, N.Y. resident became a certified referee in 1991. Helping him control players was the fact that he can speak English, Italian and Spanish fluently. He continued for 27 years, retiring as a referee in 2018. He was also a certified assessor, instructor and assignor.

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Enrico Romano. (Photo courtesy of ENYYSA)

Romano was very active in the Hudson Valley Soccer Referees Association, eventually assuming the presidency, a position he held for 18 years. Under his leadership, the organization showed continued growth in membership and quality. He pioneered a mentoring program in partnership with the EHYSL as well as a program that identified and provided advanced training for high potential referees.

He was named the State Referee Council as director of assigning for a five-year term before being named State Referee Administrator, a position he held from 2013-16. The number of registered refs increased 30 percent to more than 4,000 officials and he hosted top clinicians at elite referee meetings at Fordham University in the Bronx. Enrico also served as the president of the Mid-Hudson NISOA Chapter.

Enrico was inducted into the EHYSL Hall of Fame in 2010.

He also volunteered on the ENYYSA board as a trustee for three years until the time constraints due to his business demands at IBM forced his resignation. Chairing the inner city/intramural committees, Romano organized festivals in underserved and under-represented areas and also served on the supervisory committee.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.