San Clemente Coach receives prestigious honor from National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
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Former Wrestling Coach Honored with Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award
Mark Calentino, a longtime former wrestling coach at San Clemente High School in Southern California, had a remarkable full-circle moment on Aug. 20. He was honored by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with its lifetime service to wrestling award in a ceremony that took place at the Laguna Hills Community Center.
“I’m standing on the stage and the first thing I said was this whole journey started about 250 yards from where I’m standing right now because the community center is right below Laguna Hills High School,” Mr. Calentino told The Epoch Times.
Remarkable Coaching Success
Following his own prep wrestling career at Laguna Hills, Mr. Calentino went on to achieve remarkable coaching success at San Clemente. In his 32 seasons as head coach, the Tritons amassed a 426-98-2 record, winning 18 league championships and six CIF Southern Section titles, including in each of his final three seasons.
“He is just an incredible human being who is humble, not a credit-taker. He’s all about the kids,” said San Clemente High Athletic Director Jon Hamro. “What kept him in the business are the relationships he’s built with coaches, even competing coaches, and his athletes.”
A Hall of Fame Celebration
The guest list for the Hall of Fame festivities exemplified the strong relationships Mr. Calentino has built throughout his career. Among those in attendance were his own high school coach, Del Schwartz, his coaches at Golden West College, Dale Deffner and Raul Duarte, and even 90-year-old Erwin Goldbloom, who coached Mr. Calentino on a junior college all-star team that toured Japan in 1982.
Unbeknownst to Mr. Calentino in advance, former college teammates David Gatian, David Beaver, and Ryan Shackleford were also on hand for the Hall of Fame banquet, having traveled from Ohio, Virginia, and Idaho, respectively.
“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” Mr. Calentino said. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing here?’ They said they wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
A Legacy of Coaching
For countless wrestlers at San Clemente over the past three-plus decades, Mr. Calentino was their coach.
“Routinely, he would have teams of 100 kids,” Mr. Hamro said. “A lot of kids that did not have a place in our athletic program found a spot in wrestling. That kind of depth certainly paid dividends with success on the mat, but the fact the kids felt like they were important kept them coming back. When they showed up, they worked hard, and that really translated into the success that he had.”
Including brief stints as an assistant at Laguna Hills and as head coach at Los Amigos-Fountain Valley, Mr. Calentino’s coaching career spanned 35 years. He continued to offer support as an assistant at San Clemente last season, after having stepped down in 2022.
Now, though, other than continuing to teach science, possibly helping in the Tritons’ baseball program is about all that’s on his agenda.
And even after all of that, not to mention having run more than 250 wrestling tournaments over the years, the Hall of Fame honor, he said, remains di
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