Charlie Hughes has been at the forefront of Waverly High School Wrestling for 34 years during that time he has served as Hall of Fame (2008) Coach Jim McCloe's assistant and the head coach for his final 8 years of coaching. Coach Hughes attended Slippery Rock College coached by the great Fred Powell. Charlie benefited greatly from wrestling at the Rock by having such standout wrestlers on the team like Jake Spates (former Cornell Big Red and Oklahoma University coach), Stan Dziedzc (NCAA champion), Robbie Waller and a host of others including himself. Coach Eric D'Arcy of Newark Valley attribute much of the success of Coach McCloe's wrestling teams to the outstanding work that Charlie did. Eric states that, "Charlie is technically very knowledgeable and all his athletes respect and desire to do their best for their coach." This had been proved out by the fact that in the 1999-00 season, Hughes received the New York State Assistant Coach of the Year Honors given by the NWCA. As the head coach at Waverly Charlie's team had a 93-60 record and won the Division II New York State Public High School Athletic Association's state title in 2009. He has had 4 New York Division II State Champions - Brian Sewatt (2009), Chris Nocchi (2009), Ryan Wolcott (2014) and last year's state champion AJ Burkhart. Furthermore, he has developed many Section IV and IAC champions and place winners. Charlie placed a premium on good sportsmanship and his team reflect this - several of his Waverly Wolverines' teams have received the Section IV Officials Association Sportsmanship Awards. Coach Hughes has also been active in the National Wrestling Coach Association and is a member of the Executive Board of the Friends of Section IV. The Upstate New York Chapter is proud to honor Charlie with the Life-time Service Award for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.