Ricky Polston: Chief justice of the Florida supreme court.

• Author: Jones, Annie Butterworth
• Position: Cover story

A mill worker and farmer from the tiny panhandle town of Graceville, Sidney Polston had never witnessed anything quite like the scene unfolding before him.

The cavernous courtroom was packed with political and legal dignitaries, many whom Sidney Polston didn't recognize. The voices of his son's 10 children bounced off the room's walls, the youngest ones completely unaware their father was about to be sworn in as a justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

It was January 27, 2009, when Sidney Polston took a seat beside his son, former First District Court of Appeal Judge Ricky Polston, as they waited for the hour-long investiture ceremony to begin.

"He looked at me and said, 'Son, do you know very many of the people out here?' And I looked out, and I said, 'I think I know every single one of them, and it took every one of them, plus a lot more, to get me here.' And that was true."

Sidney Polston, who had left high school to care for the family farm after his oldest brothers were drafted into World War II, had always told his son to work hard, to get his education, and to stay humble. He just couldn't quite believe that advice had gotten his son this far.

Nearly four years later, the farmer's son now serves as chief justice of the highest court in the state. His children are bigger and his father has passed, but Ricky Polston's ideologies have stayed firmly rooted where they were planted many years ago on the family farm in Jackson County. His long and varied career, which spans years of service as a certified public accountant, a commercial litigator, a sole practitioner, an adjunct professor, and an appellate judge, has more than prepared him for his newest duties. Nothing, though, has prepared him nearly as much as his father's decades of advice on wisdom and work ethic.

"My dad was an extremely hard worker," said Chief Justice Polston, recalling a visit with his father, who died in December after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's.

"I went to see him one morning, and I told him, after visiting a while, 'I need to go,'" remembered the justice. "He asked where I was going, and I said, 'I've got to go to work.'

"'Well, you better go! You better get going!' he said.

"He understood, even though he was struggling mentally at the time. He was not going to get in my way of going to work."

Unusual Beginnings

The name Polston has long been synonymous with a strong work ethic. It's the first thing colleagues mention about Polston, who began his career 35 years ago at the growing Tampa office of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, an international accounting firm. Polston first worked at the firm as a certified public accountant and was a successful audit manager on his way to becoming partner when he decided to attend law school at Florida State University.

"I didn't leave accounting because I didn't like it," Polston, 56, explained. "I just thought I needed to do something more and different with my life."

His wife, Deborah, understood the decision, but his prudent mother and father were less than thrilled.

"My parents thought I was nuts," said Polston. "They really struggled with that decision. They certainly supported it, but they questioned why I was doing it."

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The decision may have seemed nonsensical to his parents, but accounting and law had long been parallel paths in Polston's mind. He was confident his success as an auditor would translate seamlessly into success as an attorney, and ultimately, into his success on the bench.

"As an auditor, you look at financial statements of companies on an objective basis and make an independent evaluation under generally accepted accounting principles, using generally accepted auditing standards," said Polston. "It's very similar to what a judge does. When you evaluate a case, you look at the facts, the law, and evaluate on an objective basis."

Indeed, Polston's skills as an auditor seem to have aided him in his role as judge and justice, and colleagues are hopeful those skills will continue to prove helpful as he battles court funding issues that have plagued the judiciary for the past several years.

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"He's much better qualified," said former First District Court of Appeal Judge Edwin Browning. "Not to reflect poorly on any justice, but very few justices we've ever had, if any, were certified public accountants and graduated with honors as certified public accountants."

Chief Justice Polston grew up with accounting in his blood. His mother, Hawtence, was a bookkeeper for several retail stores in Graceville. As a child, Polston watched her work, and after graduating in 1973 as valedictorian of Graceville High School, he followed in his older brother Lamar's footsteps and left for Chipola Community College and FSU, where he majored in accounting.

"Ricky has always been very diligent and disciplined," said Dr. Greg Sloan, Polston's college roommate, now a general practitioner in Chipley. "He worked hard. I will have to say, he worked harder than I did when I was going to school."

The two friends didn't just sit around and study all day, though. Polston, Sloan said, had a sharp sense of humor and an appreciation for practical jokes.

"We had a couple of friends in an apartment just down from us in the same complex, and we played jokes on those guys a few times," said Sloan, recalling one particular incident when he and Polston sneaked into their friends' apartment while they were out and rearranged their furniture.

"Ricky enjoyed having a good time. He could do what he needed to do and still have time to enjoy things in life."

Polston had fun during his college years, but he also remained intently focused on earning his degree, a goal his parents had instilled in him and his brother.

"There was never really any question about what steps we would be taking," said Polston. Neither of his parents had finished their educations, and they made earning a degree a priority for both boys, even if they wanted to come back to the family farm later. Though that, Polston admitted, was never really an option for him.

"Going back into farming was really not something I wanted to do," he said, shaking his head at the memory of weekends spent tending the cows, hogs, peanuts, watermelons, and corn his family cared for. He laughed. "Once we did that, it instilled in us a desire to go do something else."

Polston worked in accounting for seven years before choosing to pursue law. When he did, it was an adjustment for his entire family. Polston and his wife were already parents to their oldest daughter, Diana, when they made the decision to move to Tallahassee, and with a house that wouldn't sell still sitting in Tampa, Polston had to begin working in addition to attending school.

"I remember him as a thoughtful fellow," said former law school Professor Don Weidner, now dean of FSU College of Law. "He was quiet and thoughtful and serious, very business-like."

That demeanor was due in part to the constant balancing act Polston was performing to keep his family afloat. With another baby on the way, Polston began teaching accounting three times a week at Florida State and Tallahassee Community College. He taught the same course to inmates at the local Federal Correctional Institution and interned with the Senate Commerce Committee. Deborah, too, was hard at work, taking care of the Polstons' two young children and working from home as a professional seamstress.

"For several months, we had two house payments and no incomes," said Polston. "That'll kill you! It was awful .... I was juggling a lot, and we were very busy. That's why my hair is white!

"We were doing anything and everything we could possibly do to survive."

Despite a hectic schedule, Polston made FSU Law Review and the Order of the Coif before graduating in 1986, and by the time Polston began his legal career, he and Deborah had three little girls.

Hands-on Dad

"The promise I made to Deborah when I went back to school was that it would not hinder our continuing to have a family," said Polston.

During those early years, Diana, Michelle, Cheryl Victoria, and Rachel kept the Polstons on their toes with numerous activities and, thanks to Polston's love for the outdoors, family camping trips.

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"His love for hunting and fishing started with our dad, and then he kept it going during his college days," said Lamar Polston, the chief justice's brother, a retired insurance executive. "He and his buddies would go off two or three days at a time and camp along the river. He loves the outdoors."

As a result, traveling became one of Polston's favorite ways to spend time with his wife and daughters.

"We traveled every summer with the girls on extensive road trips, visiting 48 of the states and seven provinces in Canada," Deborah said.

"We would camp half of the time and stay in a hotel the other half. We have battled wind and rain...