Born in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Justus graduated from Hendersonville High School in 1979. Wrestling at Hendersonville High and swimming competitively, Justus attended Appalachian State University where he majored in Education and was a member of the men’s swim team. Graduating from Appalachian in 1984, Justus began his education career in 1985 at Erwin Middle School in Rowan County teaching special education and coaching the football, wrestling, and track teams. In 1989, he became the head wrestling coach at East Rowan High School where he has coached for 32 seasons (26 head, six assistant). Coach Justus’ teams have won six county and conference championships, five conference tournament titles, and reached the regional dual team finals multiple times. Justus has coached 49 state place-winners: nine state champions, 14 state finalists, ten third place finishers, seven fourth place finishers, seven fifth place finishers, and two sixth place finishers. Many of his wrestlers have gone on to compete in college and several have joined the coaching ranks. In his career, Coach Justus amassed a 406-192-2 dual record and in 1997 was named the 3A Coach-of-the-Year for North Carolina.  Retiring from teaching and head coaching in 2016, he has continued coaching track (32 total seasons) and wrestling (37 total seasons). In 2022, Coach Justus returned for one season as East Rowan’s head wrestling coach in addition to serving as the head track coach at West Rowan. Currently, Justus lives in Rockwell, North Carolina with his wife Frances and has two children: Jackson ad Annie.