Stephen Eldridge, the Hall of Fame wrestling coach at the Coast Guard Academy in New London for 47 years, passed away on Sept. 2, 2022, in Virginia Beach, Va., at the age of 80.

Eldridge coached the Bears from 1967 through 2014, leading Coast Guard to more than 300 dual meet wins and five New England Division III championships (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986).

The Bears finished second in New England four times, including once (1967) when schools of all sizes (Division I, II and III) competed together and twice (1973, 1975) when the tournament included Division II and III teams. Two of Eldridge’s Coast Guard teams finished without a loss in 1967 (11-0-1) and 1975 (11-0).

In his career, he had athletes that qualified to compete in the NCAA Div. I, Div. II and Div. III national tournaments.

He coached seven wrestlers who earned Div. III All-American honors 12 times, including two-time All-Americans Jim Murray, Mike Nuzum and three-time All-Americans Chris Fertig and Nathan Giorgio. Fetrig was a two-time Division III finalist while Murray finished third twice.

Eldridge served twice as the president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and was named the New England Wrestling Association Coach of the Year four times. Twice, Coast Guard hosted the NCAA Division III national championship meet in New London (1980, 1993).

Eldridge was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004, the Coast Guard Athletics Hall of Fame (1989), the New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Hall of Fame (2002) and the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III Hall of Fame (1996).

Eldridge also served as the men’s cross country coach at Coast Guard for 43 seasons, retiring from that position in 2011.

He helped the cross country team earn berths to the NCAA Division III national championship meet five times (1977-79, 1989 and 2001), finishing as high as 12th in 1978. He also started the women’s cross country program at the Academy and coached the team for the first four years of their existence.

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Published by the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Sept. 10, 2023