John Barrett – Annandale

John Barrett, son of Byron and Dolores Barrett, was born and raised on a small dairy farm near Annandale, Minnesota along with six sisters and five brothers. In addition to farming, Byron worked as a machinist while Delores tried to keep her twelve kids fed, clothed and teach them to be good and decent citizens.

John was #11 out of 12 and the other five boys all wrestled. Oldest brother Mike went to State in 1965 when John was three years old. Brother Paul wrestled at the High School and Junior College level, and brothers Tom and Dan also wrestled in High School. John enjoyed going to their matches and remembers thinking, “That looks like fun.”

John’s first opportunity to wrestle came in sixth grade when he and his little brother Doug were allowed to join the elementary program under Coach Mike Jasper. John and his younger brother were the first in his family allowed to go out for more sports than wrestling. John was not very big in 8th grade, but played football up through his sophomore year, then decided to go out for Cross-Country as a Junior to get in better shape for Wrestling. He went back out for Football as a Senior, as he was quite a bit bigger by then, and was a two-way starter at offensive guard and linebacker and led his Annandale team in tackles.

John also decided to go out for Track and Field as there was a female sprinter who caught his eye. She was quite a bit faster than John, but he kept chasing her till he caught her.

In wrestling, Barrett made the varsity team as an 8th grader at 98# and wrestled at 105# as a Freshman, losing by one point in the Section Finals and again by one point in the true second match. It was very disappointing at the time but spurred John into wanting to get better in all facets of his technique. As a Sophomore, John started the season at 119# and cut down to 112# for the Section Tournament. He breezed through Sections and went on to win the State Title at 112#. Barrett had a growth spurt, shooting up to 138# as a Junior and cutting to 132# for Sections where he ran into a tough hombre from Albany by the name of Mark Woitalla. John lost to Woitalla in the Section finals but made it to the semifinals of the State Tournament before falling to Joe Pilgrim of Verndale in overtime. He came back strong in the wrestle-backs to take third place. John started his Senior Year at 155#, then went to 145#, and finally to 138# for Sections. John debated staying at 145# for sections because he knew Woitalla was at 138#, but coach Bruce Bartels felt he needed to be at 138# to have his best chance of placing at State. Barrett lost again to Woitalla in a hard-fought Section Final match, but Woitalla got knocked off at State as he was fighting an injury that John thought might have been aggravated in their Section final match, and Barrett went on to win the State Tournament at 138#.

Barrett credits much of his success in High School to outstanding coaching from Bruce Bartels, Larry Stroh, and Ron Remington, as well as great practice partners and mentors in Dan and Charlie Hellwig and Gary Kalla. John wanted to wrestle at the college level, but his mom was battling cancer, and John felt he needed to stay close to home, so he enrolled at St. Cloud State, Majoring in Physical Education and Health with a Recreation Minor.

John was blessed to have phenomenal coaching at St. Cloud with John Oxton, grad assistant Dennis Stoks, and the rest of the staff, along with great mentors like Steve Wenker, Jerry Schmitz, and a number of other outstanding wrestlers to learn from. Barrett started out at 150# as a Freshman and had a fantastic first year, except for one wrestler who was a thorn in his side. John lost to Phil Sowers from Duluth in the dual meet, then beat him in two other tournaments, but ended up losing to him in the FIRST ROUND of the National Tournament.

Barrett moved up to 158# as a Sophomore and a Junior, making it all the way to the NCAA Division II Finals both years. Barrett lost to the same wrestler from Morgan State both years, causing John to have flashbacks of Mark Woitalla, who had defeated John in the Section Finals in both his Junior and Senior Seasons. In his Senior year at St. Cloud, Barrett wrestled all season at 167# and thought about cutting to 158# for the National Tournament, but was wrestling well at 167# and felt the team was stronger if he stayed up. Turned out 167# was also a tough weight, with Barrett going down in the semifinals to an outstanding wrestler from SIU by the name of Mark Kristoff. John came back through the wrestle-backs for third place, defeating John Morgan from NDSU in the 3rd place match. Barrett wrestled Morgan in the dual meet, in the Conference Finals, and then for third at the National Tournament. It is hard to beat a good wrestler three times, but Barrett managed to pull out three hard-fought victories for a bit of role reversal.

John did his student teaching at Sartell, coaching 8th grade football and serving as an assistant coach in Wrestling and Track & Field. Barrett stayed on as Head Wrestling Coach at Sartell for three more years. Teaching jobs were hard to come by at that time, and John’s mother continued to fight colon cancer, so John really wanted to stay in the area. After a few years working construction, a teaching position opened up at Annandale. John taught Physical Education and served as an Assistant Wrestling Coach alongside Bruce Bartels, his High School coach, for a few years before starting his own construction company. Barrett had done some officiating right out of college and picked it back up as he wanted to continue giving back to the sport. He officiated at both the High School and College levels for a number of years but enjoyed refereeing at the High School level a bit more. After 30+ years of officiating, including around 15 State Wrestling Tournaments, Barrett hung up his whistle in 2016. John really enjoyed being with his grandkids, loved to hunt and fish, and “It was time.” John feels indebted to his beautiful wife, Julie, who he describes as an awesome mother and supportive wife, raising two tremendous daughters. Julie was a State Champion Sprinter and is in the Annandale High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Both of John and Julie’s daughters were very athletic, participating in Volleyball, Basketball, Track & Field, and Softball (in the summer). Older daughter, Lindsey, was a fireball, playing basketball at the guard position and serving as a setter and libero in Volleyball, both at the High School and at the College level. Brianna was a little taller, participating in Volleyball, Basketball, and Track & Field at the High School and College level. She was fast (like her mom), finishing as State Runner-up in the 100-yard dash, and was a 1000-point scorer in basketball at both the High School and College level. John is also proud of his two great sons-in-law, Justin and John, as well as his six bright, beautiful, and athletic grandchildren. John continues to have a sincere desire to give back to the sport that has shaped his life in so many wonderful ways.