He left an impression.<\/p>\n
For some, it was the trademark, stiff-legged limp that is remembered most \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
For others, the fun-loving way he\u2019d smack his wrestlers \u2014 or, in his words, \u201cknuckleheads\u201d \u2014 with the string of his whistle that\u2019s most easily recounted.<\/p>\n
Then, of course, there were the titles and countless run of dual-meet victories.<\/p>\n
Whatever it might be, several things are clear about Kent-Meridian\u2019s Dick Pruett: He was loved, even revered throughout the Valley.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019ll be missed.<\/p>\n
Possibly the most influential wrestling coach ever to come out of the area, Pruett passed away Jan. 7. He was 69.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In the process, he created unbreakable bonds with opponents on and across the mat.<\/p>\n
\u201cDick was a total person,\u201d said Gene Cerino, who coached Auburn \u2014 K-M\u2019s biggest rival \u2014 from 1959-1978 and who became one of Pruett\u2019s greatest friends and toughest opponents. \u201cAnd one hell of a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
During a nine-year span from 1976-1985, Pruett\u2019s Royals won 84 straight North Puget Sound League duals.<\/p>\n
A handful of those wins came against Cerino\u2019s Trojans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe filled that gym,\u201d Cerino recalled fondly.<\/p>\n
Of course, there was some good-natured tension between the two.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of his state champs lived across the street from me and I\u2019ve never forgiven him,\u201d Cerino said with a laugh. \u201cThey did their junior wrestling in Auburn … we taught \u2019em how to wrestle. Then he used \u2019em to come back and whip us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
DOMINATING ROYALS<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ask any of his former wrestlers and they\u2019ll tell you that numbers \u2014 specifically wins and losses \u2014 weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
And during his time at K-M, there wasn\u2019t a thing the Royals wouldn\u2019t do for their coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, the only reason I was in school was to wrestle for him,\u201d said Jens Vincent, a 1992 K-M graduate.<\/p>\n
Pruett\u2019s convincing nature and getting kids to believe in themselves no matter what the odds was another staple of the program.<\/p>\n
Part of what made Kent-Meridian so good during the 70s and 80s was the simple fact that the pupils didn\u2019t want to let down their coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe talked me into wrestling. I was never going to wrestle. I didn\u2019t in junior high,\u201d said Dave Orndorff, a 1982 K-M graduate. \u201cFor some reason, he bugged me all the time. I think they needed a heavyweight. For some reason, he thought I could do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t tell him no.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few could.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably had more influence and more impact on me than any coach I ever had, and that includes college,\u201d said Orndorff, who now is an assistant at University High in Spokane.<\/p>\n
Orndorff is far from alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his most significant accomplishment was transferring his own dedication to the sport \u2014 his work ethic, integrity and confidence to a group of 15- to 18-year-olds,\u201d said Mark Graham, a 1988 K-M graduate who won a pair of state titles under Pruett\u2019s guidance. \u201cWe supported and policed each other \u2014 no one wanted to disappoint Pruett. We held our own New Year\u2019s Eve party \u2014 probably the only dry party attended by K-M students that night.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
WRESTLING PIONEER<\/p>\n
In essence, Pruett transcended the sport. A wrestling pioneer, he and Cerino laid the blueprint in the 60s for the state tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cDick 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,\u201d Cerino said. \u201cIt gave wrestlers the opportunity to come back after a loss.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also something that is used in virtually every tournament today.<\/p>\n
But Pruett\u2019s impact goes deeper.<\/p>\n
Today, 17 years after he retired, Pruett\u2019s fingerprints can be found all over the prep wrestling landscape. Matter of fact, Pruett produced nearly as many coaches as he did state champions.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the reason I became a teacher and a coach,\u201d said Higa, who went on to turn Tahoma into a state powerhouse. \u201cI saw how much pleasure he had from coaching and working with wrestlers. I decided I wanted to do that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Higa is one of the many.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And all of those teams were molded in Pruett fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the things I do \u2014 the terminology, the technique \u2014 comes from Dick,\u201d Reichert said. \u201cBoy, I tell you, at K-M, he had it going. It was a machine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
IMPACTING OTHERS<\/p>\n
But Pruett didn\u2019t help mold only those he taught. Matter of fact, it wasn\u2019t uncommon for competing kids and coaches alike to pull out their mental notebooks while he was doing his thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I did not wrestle for him, I still learned valuable lessons from him,\u201d 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. \u201cI\u2019ve spent the better part of my adult life trying to instill those lessons learned to our present-day wrestlers.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of what made Pruett such a legendary figure throughout the state.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of what made him more than a coach.<\/p>\n
And, ultimately, it\u2019s why those who knew Pruett would go to any length to make him proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all his athletes went on to success \u2014 on the mat or in life,\u201d Graham said. \u201cBut for the three months a year Dick asked for it, we gave everything we had for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I know that we are all better people for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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