Richard Stokes (12 March 1920 – 17 November 2005) was an Irish hurler who played as a left wing-forward for the Limerick senior team.
[1][2] Born in Oola, County Limerick, Stokes first played competitive hurling whilst at school in Doon CBS.
The following year Stokes partnered Vin Baston at midfield in the All-Ireland colleges decider and played a key part in bringing the title back to Munster.
Three years later in 1944, UCD made a clean sweep of the series once again, giving Stokes, who was now captain of the team, a second Fitzgibbon Cup medal.
Held scoreless for the entire thirty minutes, team captain Mick Mackey got the recovery underway in the second-half with a point from a seventy.
A pitch invasion scuppered the game for ten minutes, however, Limerick held on to win by 3-3 to 2-4 and Stoke collected a Munster medal.
The subsequent All-Ireland decider on 1 September 1940 brought Kilkenny and Limerick together for the last great game between the two outstanding teams of the decade.
Early in the second-half Kilkenny took a four-point lead, however, once Mick Mackey was deployed at midfield he proceeded to dominate the game.
In 1947 Stoke won a National Hurling League medal as Limerick defeated old rivals Kilkenny by 3-8 to 1-7 following an earlier drawn game.