My wrestling career was very short with a record of 1-0.  I attended Woodlawn High School, and we started a program my sophomore year.  Before my second match, I broke my ankle riding a sled.  The next year our new football coach cancelled the program. 

Years later, I was reintroduced to the sport through my son Erick when he started wrestling at Hewitt-Trussville High School. After Erick completed his ninth-grade season, I took him and his teammates to Atlanta for several Freestyle tournaments.  The tournaments in Atlanta had competitors as early as the first grade and it was obvious that some of them were very advanced for their age.  These tournaments were sanctioned by U.S.A Wrestling.  In 1988, I became USA Wrestling state chairman of Alabama.

In 1989, I started the Trussville Youth Wrestling Club. It was founded with the purpose of introducing young wrestlers from 1st grade through 6th grade to folkstyle wrestling.  We had a few tournaments with only Pell City and Vestavia Hills fielding teams. Each year more teams were added with several outside of Jefferson County.  I served as the head coach for 14 seasons and always found excellent assistant coaches that were good people and taught well.  I felt we had a successful program, and it was because of those other coaches.

I enjoyed coaching and getting to know all the wrestlers regardless of their ability and skill set.  It is the most demanding sport, and it was so rewarding to see them continue on to their high school teams.  We had many state placers, fifteen state champions at various high schools, two most outstanding wrestlers at state, and two nationally ranked collegiate wrestlers. They all had excellent high school coaches that developed their talents.

I currently reside in Trussville, Alabama.  My son Erick wrestled for Tony Pugh at Hewitt Trussville High School and he now resides in Decatur, Alabama with his wife Tammy and their son Brooks.  My daughter, Kimball Cassady is the head softball coach at Samford University and resides in Trussville, Alabama with her son Rucker.