When plans were initially announced that Cape Fear wanted to honor longtime wrestling coach Mike Stanbridge at halftime of a football game, current wrestling coach Heath Wilson put up a mild protest.
While he appreciated the school was finally naming the wrestling room at Cape Fear in Stanbridge’s honor, Wilson argued for a ceremony at a wrestling match, the one when Senior Night was observed.
So it was that Wednesday, the Cape Fear community and many of Stanbridge’s former wrestlers from his 22-year career at the school came out to pay tribute to the man who built one of the most successful high school wrestling programs in the state.
Stanbridge had multiple individual state champions during his long Cape Fear career, but is best remembered for an incredible run from 1984-85.
At the time, wrestling was an open classification sport, which meant schools of every size across the state competed for individual and team titles. Without crowning a single individual state champion, Stanbridge’s 1984 team came home with the state title in the finals at Parkland High School in Winston-Salem.
The following year the Colts fell short of a second straight championship, placing second.
Stanbridge left Cape Fear in 1992 and went on to coach at E.E. Smith, South View and Terry Sanford before returning to Cape Fear to assist Wilson. It was during his time at South View that he earned the 300th win of his coaching career.
Stanbridge was anything but a one-sport coach, spending numerous years coaching football and baseball.
Ironically, for all his accomplishments, it wasn’t until after that second-place state finish in 1984 that the wrestling room that now bears his name was even built.
According to Stanbridge, he ran into Cumberland County Schools’ Assistant Superintendent Jerry Wood in a convenience store. He asked Wood if Cape Fear could get a wrestling room if they won a state title. Wood joked that he’d build one for Stanbridge even if he just finished second.
Sure enough, after the Colts took second in the state, Stanbridge got his wrestling room, ending the days of practicing in the gym lobby, the stage, locker rooms and even the cafeteria.
High school wrestling, true wrestling and not the charade that passes for it on national television, has a unique following and a special bond among the wrestlers and the coaches.
Stanbridge thinks it comes from the unique atmosphere of a weekend tournament.
“There is a bond between coaches you don’t see in other sports,’’ Stanbridge said. “Wrestling during the year you’re in close proximity to each other and you get to know each other.’’
While some coaches take the approach of focusing on their most gifted wrestlers and preparing them for individual state title runs, Stanbridge said every season he spent time with each wrestler, trying to make the most of each one of them.
“We wrestled as a team,’’ he said. And Stanbridge coached the whole team, living and dying with each wrestler during their matches. “It’s not like one game of football and it’s over,’’ he said. “You’ve got a multitude of kids you’re coaching and wrestling with them on the mat.’’
But all that coaching, and the battle of dealing with the overlap between football, wrestling and baseball seasons, took its toll on Stanbridge. He was lauded for his efforts with induction into the Fayetteville Sports Club and the North Carolina chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
He likes to meet with former wrestlers, shake their hands, and tell them they are in the Hall of Fame too. When they look surprised they are in the hall, he adds it's because of their accomplishments that he earned the recognition.
“My name may be on that room,’’ he said, ‘’but that represents them, all the kids that got me there.’’
Wilson was one of those kids, an individual state champion in his own right, who credited Stanbridge with instilling a no-quit mentality in all of his wrestlers.
“There’s a lot of people who have some really great feelings about Coach Stanbridge,’’ Wilson said. “He’s a molder of men in my opinion. He made us into what we are.
“To give him back just a little bit in this way is a form of respect and thank you. It needed to be done a long time ago, but I’m glad it’s getting done.’’
As a footnote, Cape Fear won Wednesday's match with Gray's Creek 54-19. Ten of the 14 Cape Fear wrestlers earned wins.
A number of Cape Fear wrestlers turned in outstanding performances over the recent holiday break.
• Mac Johnson, a freshman at 106 pounds, is 25-0. He won three tournaments and is No. 1 in his weight class in the 3-A classification.
• Tye Johnson, 113 pounds, is 31-2. Another freshman, he won three tournaments and is also No. 1 in his class in 3-A.
• Samuel Aponte, 120 pounds, is 32-0. The senior won three tournaments and the No. 1 wrestler in his class in the state in all classifications.
• Landon Sargent, 215, is 25-0. He won three tournaments and is No. 1 in 3-A and soon expected to be the top-ranked wrestler in his class in all classifications.
The Wilmington Star-News had a disturbing story about former South View High School basketball standout Chinyere Bell earlier this week.
Bell, who is the head women’s basketball coach at Laney High School, announced she is stepping down immediately just 11 games into the season.
According to the newspaper, Bell said problems with the parents of her players were behind her decision. A former player at UNC-Wilmington, Bell had a career record of 22-16 during her years with Laney.
