LITTLETON —The view is altogether different. So is the seat. “A little bit,” Ray Barron said. “I never sat in the stands during the tournament unless I was watching another classification. And that was even if I just had a heavyweight (entered).” But that’s where he was Thursday night at the Pepsi Center, a couple of rows down from the top of Section 124, as opposed to sitting on a folding chair at the end of a mat.
Not exactly the place you would expect to see a National Wrestling Hall of Fame member, inducted in 2012 through the Colorado chapter.
However, even after coaching wrestling for 42 years, mostly at Heritage, and compiling a state-best dual-meet record of 478-160-4, Barron found himself watching the 80th Colorado tournament from the outside.
“Do I miss it? I miss it a ton,” the 65-year-old said.
Last April, Heritage football coach Mike Griebel, a close friend of Barron’s whom he assisted for years, was surprisingly fired after 19 years.
It set off a chain of events in which Barron battled the administration, left the school and missed coaching a wrestling season for the first time since 1972.
The former three-sport athlete at Hinkley in Aurora has never been afraid to speak his mind.
For example:
On his sudden departure from the Eagles: “It was a continuation of lies and a lack of loyalty by the administration. They kept saying they wanted my input, and they didn’t.”
Heritage principal Stacey Riendeau and athletic director Brock Becker were contacted for comment, and Riendeau sent the following response by e-mail: “Ray is a fantastic coach, mentor and person. His impact on Heritage, the wrestling community and student lives cannot be underestimated. His legacy in the world of high school coaching has truly been realized.”
Barron, on Griebel, now an assistant at Columbine: “They got rid of a great guy.”
On possibly coaching elsewhere: “I had carpal tunnel surgery (last) summer on elbow nerves. I was gonna coach, I had an offer to coach, but I didn’t know if I’d be ready to start in time. I didn’t want somebody else to do my job. I appreciated the opportunity, but I couldn’t shortchange the kids.”
On the current state of wrestling in Colorado: “The quality is good, but the number of participants is something that has got me really frayed as I look around. I see so many teams that don’t have (full) lineups. The program I left had more than 40 kids. … It had 13 kids at the end of the year. You have to do the right things to nurture them.”
Barron, who earlier coached and taught at Fort Lupton as well as briefly in Wyoming, said he enjoyed offering viewpoints from an older person’s perspective to a younger generation, and it included Griebel.
“I’ve got nothing but great things to say about that man. He was like my uncle and helped me through a hard situation,” Griebel said. “I think we had a pretty good attack plan with those kids, and the kids kind of fed off that.”
And after a year in which he didn’t coach, Barron, a former rugby player who was quirky enough to wear shorts in all kinds of weather while serving as an assistant in football, was missed.
“Absolutely,” said Bob Smith, 79, a fellow National Hall of Fame member and the former longtime coach at Wray. “I think he’ll be back.”
Corey McNellis, head coach at Ponderosa, where he also was a two-time state champion, said of Barron, “He’s been around for a long time, and he’s good for kids.”
Added Steve Sisler, coach at Arapahoe, “We always want those good guys out there coaching.”
Barron remains bothered by the way he went out at Heritage, but he insists it was the right thing to do and makes no excuses.
“I’m proud of being around kids and giving some kids a reason to do things,” he said. “I worked hard for the sport I loved.”
And, he added, “I may coach again.”
