Dick Pruett: A coaching legend is remembered

He left an impression.

For some, it was the trademark, stiff-legged limp that is remembered most — the result of a baseball accident that kept him from bending his left leg for much of his coaching life and later was fused together at the knee.

For others, the fun-loving way he’d smack his wrestlers — or, in his words, “knuckleheads” — with the string of his whistle that’s most easily recounted.

Then, of course, there were the titles and countless run of dual-meet victories.

Whatever it might be, several things are clear about Kent-Meridian’s Dick Pruett: He was loved, even revered throughout the Valley.

And he’ll be missed.

Possibly the most influential wrestling coach ever to come out of the area, Pruett passed away Jan. 7. He was 69.

But he hardly left without making a mark. In 26 years at Kent-Meridian (1966-1992), Pruett produced 63 state placers, 16 champions and three team titles.

In the process, he created unbreakable bonds with opponents on and across the mat.

“Dick was a total person,” said Gene Cerino, who coached Auburn — K-M’s biggest rival — from 1959-1978 and who became one of Pruett’s greatest friends and toughest opponents. “And one hell of a coach.”

Indeed.

Because not only did Pruett guide his teams to three state titles (1975, 1987, 1989), he also turned Kent-Meridian into the wrestling power of the day. What Lake Stevens is to wrestling now, Kent-Meridian was in the 70s and 80s. He was inducted into the Washington State and National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 1994.

During a nine-year span from 1976-1985, Pruett’s Royals won 84 straight North Puget Sound League duals.

A handful of those wins came against Cerino’s Trojans.

“We filled that gym,” Cerino recalled fondly.

Of course, there was some good-natured tension between the two.

“Two of his state champs lived across the street from me and I’ve never forgiven him,” Cerino said with a laugh. “They did their junior wrestling in Auburn … we taught ’em how to wrestle. Then he used ’em to come back and whip us.”

DOMINATING ROYALS

Back then, the Royals pretty much whipped everybody. During his 30-year coaching career (he coached four years at Puyallup High before taking over K-M), Pruett compiled a record of 298-72-7.

Ask any of his former wrestlers and they’ll tell you that numbers — specifically wins and losses — weren’t necessarily what Pruett was about. He was about being a role model, a mentor, a teacher, a motivator. He was firm with his wrestlers and picked moments when it was best to raise his voice.

And during his time at K-M, there wasn’t a thing the Royals wouldn’t do for their coach.

“Really, the only reason I was in school was to wrestle for him,” said Jens Vincent, a 1992 K-M graduate.

Pruett’s convincing nature and getting kids to believe in themselves no matter what the odds was another staple of the program.

Part of what made Kent-Meridian so good during the 70s and 80s was the simple fact that the pupils didn’t want to let down their coach.

“He talked me into wrestling. I was never going to wrestle. I didn’t in junior high,” said Dave Orndorff, a 1982 K-M graduate. “For some reason, he bugged me all the time. I think they needed a heavyweight. For some reason, he thought I could do it.

“I couldn’t tell him no.”

Few could.

Orndorff more than made his coach proud, too. He took second at state in 1982 before going on to wrestle at Ricks College in Idaho and then at Oregon State University.

“He probably had more influence and more impact on me than any coach I ever had, and that includes college,” said Orndorff, who now is an assistant at University High in Spokane.

Orndorff is far from alone.

“I think his most significant accomplishment was transferring his own dedication to the sport — his work ethic, integrity and confidence to a group of 15- to 18-year-olds,” said Mark Graham, a 1988 K-M graduate who won a pair of state titles under Pruett’s guidance. “We supported and policed each other — no one wanted to disappoint Pruett. We held our own New Year’s Eve party — probably the only dry party attended by K-M students that night.”

WRESTLING PIONEER

In essence, Pruett transcended the sport. A wrestling pioneer, he and Cerino laid the blueprint in the 60s for the state tournament.

“Dick and I sat down and wrote a formula to divide the state into four regions and give each district equal value and make the tournaments double-elimination,” Cerino said. “It gave wrestlers the opportunity to come back after a loss.

It’s also something that is used in virtually every tournament today.

But Pruett’s impact goes deeper.

Today, 17 years after he retired, Pruett’s fingerprints can be found all over the prep wrestling landscape. Matter of fact, Pruett produced nearly as many coaches as he did state champions.

Brian Higa, former head coach and current assistant at Tahoma High, is a Pruett product. A 1978 K-M graduate, Higa credits Pruett for where he is today.

“He’s the reason I became a teacher and a coach,” said Higa, who went on to turn Tahoma into a state powerhouse. “I saw how much pleasure he had from coaching and working with wrestlers. I decided I wanted to do that, too.”

Higa is one of the many.

Enumclaw coach Lee Reichert got his start under Pruett as an assistant (1974-1979) before leading Kentwood to three straight team titles in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Reichert notched another team title with Enumclaw last year.

And all of those teams were molded in Pruett fashion.

“A lot of the things I do — the terminology, the technique — comes from Dick,” Reichert said. “Boy, I tell you, at K-M, he had it going. It was a machine.”

IMPACTING OTHERS

But Pruett didn’t help mold only those he taught. Matter of fact, it wasn’t uncommon for competing kids and coaches alike to pull out their mental notebooks while he was doing his thing.

“Even though I did not wrestle for him, I still learned valuable lessons from him,” said Randy Connelly, who won the 115-pound state title at Auburn in 1988 and later went on to coach at Auburn Riverside for seven years. “I’ve spent the better part of my adult life trying to instill those lessons learned to our present-day wrestlers.”

It’s part of what made Pruett such a legendary figure throughout the state.

It’s part of what made him more than a coach.

And, ultimately, it’s why those who knew Pruett would go to any length to make him proud.

“Not all his athletes went on to success — on the mat or in life,” Graham said. “But for the three months a year Dick asked for it, we gave everything we had for him.

“And I know that we are all better people for it.”