Wayne Rust was one of the, if not the, most respected and beloved softball umpires in Clermont County and Greater Cincinnati. He passed away recently (Feb. 13) at his Bethel home of an apparent heart attack.

It is estimated that Rust, a 1965 graduate of New Richmond High School and a member of the Lions’ Sports Hall of Fame (inducted 2000), had umpired 35,000 softball games.

“He was the friendliest and most outgoing umpire in Greater Cincinnati,” said Bob “Buck” Owens, the manager of Expressway Park in Milford where Rust assigned umpires and called many games himself.

“Everyone who played softball in the Greater Cincinnati area for the last 40 years knew Wayne and thought of him as a friend.”