There must have been times during the last 40 years of coaching soccer when Rick Storer felt like Marco Polo; he was always returning.

Storer has done three different terms at Ipswich High, having served 25 years as the boys' coach there as well as three other stints at his alma mater, Gordon College.

He began Ipswich Youth Soccer in 1975 and directed it for two years. He also coached youth soccer to a couple of state titles in Georgetown, where he was the boys' varsity coach for eight seasons.

But this is a not a retirement profile on the life and times of one of the state's most respected coaches. Rather, it is to announce that Storer will be inducted into the State Coaches Soccer Association Hall of Fame in March.

The timing of this honor nearly floored him, Storer said when reached at his winter retreat in Arizona.

If there was ever a time in his soccer-bogged life when such a prestigious honor would be bestowed upon him, well, this fall might've been the unlikeliest scenario possible. He experienced some lean years in the 1970s at Ipswich after taking the soccer reins there, but 2007 was his most disastrous year ever record-wise.

"Horrendous," Storer said of his team's recent 1-15-2 season. "We couldn't put the ball in the net. We lost seven games by 1-0, and got shut out in 11 of 18 games."

The Tigers scored just 11 goals this past season.

The Soccer Association is very selective. Only Storer and Masconomet legend Len Emmons have been designated for the Hall from the North Shore.

You would think the perpetual accolade would have buoyed his spirits - and it did, to some degree. But it led to something that Storer did for the first time in 40 years.

"Frankly, it surprised me more than it would have at any other time," said the Carlisle native. "I knew I had been nominated, but no way did I feel I'd be considered after a one-win season. When it was over, I didn't want that to be the end of things."

Despite not qualifying for the tournament, Ipswich High principal Barry Cahill granted Storer's wish to have an unprecedented week of practice after the season was over to work on basic skills and fundamentals. The Tigers also volunteered to scrimmage tourney-bound North Andover.

"The message was this: I didn't want the kids - mostly sophomores - to think the season was a failure. We knew we were a better team than the record," he said. "Hopefully, that week left a good taste in their mouths."

Storer, a Georgetown resident, said he's never stressed wins and losses. He's always been competitive, but also accepts whatever the results are.

Storer never played a soccer game at Concord High School. The first match he saw was when he played as a sophomore at Gordon.

"I was recruited to play baseball and basketball at Gordon, but I broke my wrist badly my freshman year in basketball and never could shoot after that," Storer said. "I hung with the athletes, though, and the soccer guys asked me to try soccer as a sophomore in the fall.

"Frankly, I liked it. It sounds crazy, but I liked the physical part of the game," he said.

Storer, a defender, wound up a captain, was the team MVP as a senior and was named all-conference twice.

His Gordon soccer coach, Cliff McGrath, retired a year after Storer graduated and recommended him for the coaching job.

Since then, Storer has collected 283 wins as a head coach at Ipswich, Georgetown and Gordon. He is seven wins shy of 200 for his career with Ipswich, according to school historian John Thomas.

He spent a career teaching history at Ipswich High, arriving at a time when soccer couldn't make a dent in the fall sports scene against football. Storer loved the challenge of building the programs at Ipswich and Georgetown, where he spent eight years in the 1980s. One of his proudest accomplishments was a Cape Ann League title at Georgetown, the school's first title of any kind.

He's been EMass. Coaches Association Coach of the Year three times, won five Cape Ann League titles, been to four North sectional finals and reached the state Division 3 semifinals in 2005.

And even all those shutouts against his Tigers in 2007 couldn't shut Storer out of the Hall of Fame.

Bill Kipouras is a staff reporter at The Salem News. He can be reached at 978-338-2615 or by e-mail: bkipouras@salemnews.com.