Every Roosevelt victory at this year’s state tournament will bear the fingerprints of a community that has dedicated its time and sweat to keeping the wrestling program among Colorado’s elite.
For the past 34 seasons, coach Mike Pallotto and assistant Harlan Hankins have led the Roughriders to wrestling greatness, including two state titles, amid the corn, wheat and barley country around Johnstown. And with wrestlers in 13 of 14 weight classes, a tournament high, at this weekend’s Class 3A meet, they could add another team title.
But Pallotto wants his program to transcend wins and losses.
“When you come out of the program, I hope there is something they can carry on through life that they learned,” said Pallotto, whose team finished second the last two years. “Something that is not just wrestling.”
Pallotto, a 1969 graduate of Lakewood High School, has been married to his wife Sandie, a former classmate, for the past 32 years. Their two sons, Matt and Case, wrestled.
Life is wrestling for Pallotto. And this wrestling community, coaches, teammates, mothers, fathers, uncles, is his extended family.
“I’ve really been blessed,” he said. “I’ve never wanted to go anywhere else.”
And why would he? If he ran for mayor of Johnstown, he’d probably win in a landslide. He owns a 40-acre homestead outside town and raises show hogs.
About the only concern surrounding the program is what happens when Pallotto decides to hang it up.
“One of these days it’s going to stop,” said Lonnie Kruise, who has not missed a Roosevelt dual or tournament in 34 seasons as a scorekeeper and announcer. “Hopefully they can find someone to keep it going.”
Bound by family
The wall of champions is a sacred symbol to Roosevelt wrestlers. The journey to having one’s name or face immortalized upon it begins with sun-up practices and includes hours of baking in the heat of competition with the only shade coming from the family trees of past wrestlers watching over them.
When asked to name some of the families he has coached, Pallotto starts but quickly gives up. There are the Fuentes and Luna families, both of which produced Roosevelt’s only three-time state champions. But in the end, there are just too many wrestlers, too many fathers and sons.
“It’s weird. I still have the same friends. We all wrestled,” said Gary Frank, a 1979 graduate and father of Tim and Dan, both of whom won state titles last season. “We still all go to watch and they all call me about it. It’s pretty tight. The guys I wrestled with 30 years ago are still proud of how they do and want to know how all the boys wrestled.”
While Tim Frank has graduated, Gary’s youngest son, Steve, will wrestle in high school soon. Gary’s brothers, Roger and Ron, wrestled for Pallotto. Ron’s sons are Dustin, a 215-pound senior, and Derek, a heavyweight junior.
Confused? It only gets more tangled.
Kyle Walter, a 103-pound junior, is a cousin to the Frank family. Freshman C.J. York, 23-10 this season as a 119-pounder, is the son of Jeff York, who coached the Roosevelt junior program for years. Kenny Kruise, another former Roughrider, heads up the junior program for wrestlers age 5 through middle school.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” said Hankins, 61, whose sons Darren and David wrestled at Roosevelt and now coach. “It keeps me young. Of course, when you look in the mirror you kind of realize you’re not so young.”
Bonded by blood, sweat
Dan Frank, 29-3 this season as a 130-pound junior, stares at the wall of champions after every practice.
“If someone does something more than me, I feel like I didn’t do my best,” he said. “I kind of live my life by that.”
Wrestlers often speak of the bond among them that transcends generations. Pallotto measures it by the physical toll teammates inflict on each other in the name of practice, which makes every victory shared.
But what of the changing times?
“They are but they’re not,” said football coach Lonnie Kruise, 62, of how today’s athletes differ from past generations. “The kids that do come out now want that dedication. They thrive off that dedication, that respect, that caring (Pallotto) gives to them and they give back to him.”
His team appears poised to reward him, and the community, with another state championship.
“I’ve never said this, but this could possibly be the best team I’ve had the opportunity to coach in 34 years,” Pallotto said. “Whether we win the state tournament or not, it’s just a special group of kids.”
