Michael was born in California, but our state is certainly pleased that he made his way to Colorado in 1949. After he graduated from high school he enlisted in the Navy and logged over 2,000 hours flying from California to Saudi Arabia. He also has worked for Toyota for 45 years. Mike is a Pairing Master. He enters all of the wrestlers on the bracket sheets, sets up the order of wrestling and controls the flow of the tournament from the beginning to the end of competition. His service to USA Wrestling and Colorado USA Wrestling has been exceptional. He was the head pairer for the Senior division of the World Team Trials in 1999 and again in 2008. He was the head pairer for the FILA Junior World Team Trials in Seattle in 1999. He was the head pairer for the Armed Forces Championships in 200S and paired the Freestyle World Championships held in New York 2003 to name a few. In 2009 he was awarded the USWOA National Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence. In 2010 he received EMERITUS status from USA Wrestling. Awards he has earned over the years include the Andy Williams Regional Award in (1994), the Trinidad Wrestling Award for Outstanding Loyalty and Friendship, the Code Wilson Memorial Award (1999), the Ivan Olsen National Volunteers Award (2001), the Colorado USA Award for his years of dedication (2002), and the Bernie Norris National Memorial Pairing Master Award (2004). As a youngster he was a member of the Boys Scouts and would later take on the role as a Scout Master and he was involved with Scouting for many years. He got his start as a pairer in Folkstyle Wrestling when his son was five years old, first doing the paper work and lining up the referees and other jobs that needed to be taken care of for the local club. Charlie White, who coached Rocky Ford for many years, and Charlie's wife, Carolyn, would encourage and guide him to become a licensed Pairing Official for USA Wrestling. The more tournaments that he went to, the more he would become involved with Colorado USA Wrestling. When Ina Gomez, one of his main mentors, retired from the Colorado State Board of USA Wrestling he took over the duties as the state pairings director until he retired from Colorado USA Wrestling in 2002. He continued to travel and work tournaments and in 2008 was asked to pair the 2008 Olympic Trials in Las Vegas. Michael has been an invaluable participant in Colorado Freestyle and Greco Roman Wrestling. His years of dedication to our sport has been without peer, many if not all of his responsibilities take place away from the wrestling mats, but without his dedication to the tasks of paring, the tournaments would not have taken place! He works for Stapp Toyota and also is the financial clerk at his church. He belongs to the Longmont Breakfast Optimist Club with his top project being