A memorial gathering is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday at the Golden High School gymnasium for Darrel Hafling, who coached wrestling at the school for 30 years.
Hafling, who died Jan. 14 of Alzheimer’s disease, was a devoted advocate for the sport of wrestling, and continued his involvement in the sport well after he retired from coaching. He volunteered to help run the state high school wrestling tournament and was rewarded with induction into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was inducted into the Colorado chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
“Darrel spent almost every waking hour doing something for young people,” said Dave Skene, the football coach at Golden during Hafling’s tenure. “He had 100 percent dedication to the sport of wrestling and to the work in the classroom. If any young person showed the slightest interest in wrestling, he took them under his wing. There always was room for one more.”
Dave Sauer, the wrestling coach at Golden now, wrestled for Hafling.
“I still called him Coach,” Sauer said. “With him, there was no such thing as can’t.”
“Darrel Hafling did everything to encourage his students,” said John Archuleta, a member of Hafling’s teams in 1956 and 1957. “He cared for you almost as a parent does.”
Hafling began his coaching career in 1949 as an assistant at Boulder High School. He moved to Las Animas High School in 1950 and started that school’s wrestling program. He moved to Golden in 1953.
A highlight in his coaching career came in 1965, when he was a co-coach for a Colorado high school team that toured Japan.
Hafling’s sons, Kent and Kirk, followed his lead and were involved in the sport of wrestling. He is survived by his wife, Karen, and his sons.
Hafling grew up as an orphan at the Byers Home in Denver after his mother died when he was 2 years old and his father couldn’t support him and a brother. He attended Denver West High School and the University of Colorado.
He was predeceased by his first wife, Helen, and daughter Terry.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or
