Coach Jim McCloe retired last March after 32 years as Head Wrestling Coach at Waverly High School. For fifteen of those years, he also served as Director of Athletics at Waverly. He had returned to his alma mater in 1975 after pursuing his education at SUNY Delhi, East Carolina University and West Chester State University. At Waverly, he had been coached by Joe Hill and at Delhi by Bob Jones, where Jim earned a National Junior College Championship in 1971. At East Carolina and at West Chester State, he had been a volunteer coach and a graduate assistant under John Welborn and Dale Bonsall, respectively. Jim had absorbed a lot and came back home with some goals. It takes time to build a successful program, but by 1980 things were clicking in Waverly. That year Jim's team won the first of twelve Section IV team championships it would claim during his tenure. Over those 32 years, Jim coached 40 Section IV Individual Champions, seven New York State Champions, 21 NYS place winners - including eight runners up, and six National High School All-Americans. Jim finished his coaching career at Waverly with a series of flourishes, capturing Section IV team championships in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, and winning Section IV and New York State Dual Meet Championships in 2005 and 2007. Overall, he coached his teams to 435 dual meet victories. While coaching, serving as Athletic Director, and teaching health and physical education, Jim also actively participated in the National Wrestling Coaches Association, the National High School Coaches Association, the Section IV Wrestling Coaches Association and the NYS Wrestling Coaches Association. He is an active contributor to the National Wrestling Legends Fund and to the Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. For eighteen years Jim and his wife, Cindy, ran a summer sports camp focusing on wrestling and gymnastics, supervising over 7,700 campers over that period, plus their own three daughters. Jim also ran the Valley Wrestling Camps from 1976 to 2007. In recognition of his efforts and accomplishments, Jim was named Section IV Coach of the Year seven times and New York State Wrestling Coach of the Year twice. He was elected to the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1985, and to the Waverly High School Hall of Fame in 1999. He was also one of eight finalists for the honor of National High School Coaches Association Wrestling Coach of the Year in 2007. Jim and Cindy own and operate McCloe's Storage business in Waverly. In 2005 Jim obtained his recreational pilot's license. The New York State Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is proud to present Jim McCloe with the Lifetime Service Award.