ROLFEMAN REMINISCES: COACH MCCLOE: A LEGACY IN WAVERLY WRESTLING AND BEYOND (2020-08-19)

I was a guest at several gatherings at the McCloe family's Victorian "mansion" on Old Route 17.

On many occasions, I visited the wrestling room at Waverly High School, a padded cell where boys became young men - and winning wrestlers - through instruction, work ethic, commitment, dedication and blood, sweat and tears.

As Evening Times sports editor, armed with a couple Cannon cameras and reporter's notebook, I sat mat-side at more Waverly Wolverine wrestling matches than you could shake a stick at.

This week in mid-August suddenly turned so very, very sad with word of the passing of Jim McCloe, without question one of the greatest wrestling coaching legends to grace New York state - maybe even this planet.

McCloe died Aug. 17. He was 69.

I'll remember Coach McCloe for his full head of hair and bushy, menacing mustache.

I'll remember that - win, lose or draw - Coach McCloe always remembered to take the time call our Evening Times sports hotline with results from matches when we weren't there in person.

If he was unable to do the press reporting - remember, he had a wife and family - the call-in duty was given to his longtime trusty assistant, Charlie Hughes, who would succeed McCloe when he stepped down.

Jim McCloe was a humble soul. Never one to brag about himself. It was all about the team, the program and the school, where he also was athletic director.

Actions and results of his wrestlers spoke for him.

With McCloe at the coaching helm, Waverly etched its mat mark in Section 4, New York state and America.

Some statistical food for thought:

*  McCloe-coached Wolverine teams boasted 40 Section 4 champions, seven New York State champs and six scholastic All-Americans;

*  In 1987, McCloe's Wolverines earned a national ranking at 11th. They followed that with a 22nd national ranking in 1988;

*  Two times, Waverly reigned as the New York State Dual Meet champions;

*  McCloe amassed a 465-119 dual-meet record as Wolverine head coach.

Those powerhouse Wolverine squads, most notably back in the 1980s and early 1990s, were affectionately known as "McCloe's Mat Machine."

Back then, a Waverly wrestling match was the place to be.

Gymnasiums, home and away, were crammed like sardines in a can for clashes with the likes of Valley rival Athens - back then the Bulldogs - and mat marvels from Section 4.

Waverly never backed down from challenge: Chenango Forks, Johnson City, Union-Endicott and others.

So worthy of special coverage were these Wolverine juggernauts that I assigned myself to travel to places across the Empire State I had never been before. Those trips forced me to buy a AAA roadmap of the state of New York to pinpoint where I was headed.

One excursion was a Saturday venture to Bainbridge. There, we witnessed one of the most brutal bouts: Waverly's Tod Northrup versus Bainbridge-Guilford's Jeff Webb, who pulled out an 8-7 decision. These two titans had met previously in the prestigious Windsor Christmas Tournament, Northrup winning 9-8 in an all-out brawl.

Northrup, of course, would become Waverly's first New York State wrestling champion.

During McCloe's tenure, there would be more: Doug Shaffer and Tom Kingston (1988), Shawn Welch (1990), Nick Richetti (1999) and Colin McDonald, who notched back-to-back New York state titles in 2005 and 2006, both at 152 pounds.

Coach McCloe was a shoo-in for induction in the Section 4 Hall of Fame, Junior College National Hall of Fame and the New York Chapter of the National Hall of Fame.

A Waverly graduate, Coach McCloe was a 1971 NJCAA champion at Delhi. He finished his wrestling career at East Carolina.

What made Coach McCloe extra special? My guess is his experience as a wrestler, and vast knowledge of the sports from within coaching staff, as well as the youth feeder program. Add to that the ability to instill in his wrestlers the personal drive, the pledge of commitment and work ethic to go beyond the norm.

Myron Sitzman, among Waverly's wrestling standouts in the 1980s, offered this about Coach McCloe: "He always told us that someone is working harder than you, so you have to work for it."

Wouldn't it be nice if the world today lived by that motto?

RIP Coach McCloe. Your legacy will live on and on.