Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2010

A legend steps down

When Cary High athletics director Kurt Glendenning surveys the state championship banners hanging in the school gym, he is reminded of the greatness of his legendary wrestling coach Jerry Winterton.

A legend and one of the nation’s most successful high school coaches, who decided on Tuesday to not return to the Cary High wrestling program that has dominated the state for almost 30 years.

Cary has had a 540-3 overall record in regular-season dual meets and were unbeaten during the regular season in 27 of Winterton’s 29 seasons. His overall coaching record at Cary is 620-16.

“Over half our state championships came from Jerry’s teams,” Glendenning said on the day that Winterton announced he would not return for his 30th season as coach of the Imps. “The things he has accomplished just overwhelm your mind.”

Any list of the best North Carolina high school coaches ever, regardless of sport, would include Winterton.

“Jerry Winterton has compiled an unbelievable record, really unprecedented in the annals of North Carolina high school sports, not just wrestling. The state championships, the individual state champion wrestlers and the incredible won-loss mark are a tremendous legacy that will be just about impossible for anybody to equal,” Rick Strunk, associate executive director of the NCHSAA, said.

His statistics seem to come from a make-believe-world where hard work and dedication always results in wins.

“Well, that’s what I’d tell the young guys,” Winterton said. “If you work hard enough and dedicate yourself, you can be a successful wrestler.”

Winterton came to Cary from East Wake, where he had coached for three years.

Since his arrival, Cary has a 540-3 overall record in regular-season dual meets and were unbeaten during the regular season in 27 of Winterton’s 29 seasons. His overall coaching record at Cary is 620-16.

His program leads the nation in tournaments won with 166 and won 28 consecutive conference championships and 266 consecutive home regular-season meets.

His Imps won 11 individual tournament titles, including seven of the last 11, and were runner-up six times. They claimed eight dual-team titles, including four of the last six, and were runner-up seven times in the 20 years since the dual-team championships began.

In the just completed season, Cary was runner-up in both the dual-team and the individual tournaments.

Since 1996, Cary has finished first or second in the last 24 out of 28 dual-team and individual state championships.

“When you look at it that way, it is sort of amazing,” Winterton said.

Winterton was twice named the national high school wrestling coach of the year and is a member of the North Carolina chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. He was The Mat News’ North Carolina coach of the year 10 times.

He produced 32 high school All-Americas and 48 state champions.

The program will continue to be successful, Winterton predicted, but he is ready to turn the reins over to someone else.

“It’s time [to step down],” Winterton said. “I think a younger guy might be able to do a better job.”

That’s not possible, Glendenning said.

“Jerry has achieved about every accolade that can be given for high school wrestling,” Glendenning said. “He established a level of excellence that everyone else has pursued.”

Glendenning added that Winterton didn’t get enough recognition.

“Few people will know all the things he has done for high school wrestling in the state.”

But Winterton’s name is known nationwide in the wrestling world.

“When I travelled nationally, I probably got as many questions about Jerry Winterton as I did about anything in North Carolina,” said Charlie Adams, the recently retired executive director of the NCHSAA and Cary High alum. “He is Mr. Wrestling on a national level, not just in Wake County, or North Carolina. People would ask me how he did it and ask how someone at a member school could have such great consistency.

“I’d hoped that Jerry would coach forever because he is so good for the kids. The nation may never see a high school wrestling coach of his equal.”

Winterton said he wants to coach somewhere next year, just not as a head coach. He’d like to be a Cary assistant if the new coach thinks that would be a good idea. If not, he’d understand.

“It is a year-round job,” he said. “You work at it all the time. In season, you’re up every Saturday at 7:30 and you’re gone all day. I look forward to just being able to do some other things.

“I’ll be glad to help. I just don’t want the pressure and responsibility for the whole program.”

Glendenning said he believes Winterton looks forward to watching his former high school wrestlers compete in college.

“That’s one thing I’ve heard him say for years, that he wanted to go see his kids wrestle,” Glendenning said.

Winterton tries to score a reversal when the personal praise gets too strong. He said the foundation of the program was built before he arrived in 1981. Cary was among the first schools in Eastern North Carolina to start a wrestling program, fielding an Ed Lane-coached team in 1962-63. John Sanderson was coach from 1975 through 1981 and had a 73-5 record, including three losses to out-of-state teams.

“I think the key was that I inherited a bunch of good seniors from John Sanderson when I took over the program,” Winterton said. “The seniors always took responsibility and then passed that on to the next group of seniors.”

Glendenning appreciates the tradition, but said Winterton deserves all the accolades he would possibly receive.

“No one will ever know how hard Jerry worked at this,” Glendenning said. “He set the standard, not just for the school and the athletic department, but for coaches all over the state.”

Winterton said there were lots of thrills, but the biggest probably was sitting beside the mat during matches.

“The biggest thing for me was realizing what a privilege it was to coach these guys, the chance to sit in the chair and watch them compete,” Winterton said. “I’m sure there were some big thrills, but I can’t think of anything more thrilling than coaching.”