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Light Drizzle Fog/Mist BHS Wrestling hall of famers honored
After the mats were laid down and wrestlers from Baldwin and Hicksville high schools finished their warm-ups on Jan. 21 at Baldwin High School, the program paid homage to five people who shaped Baldwin wrestling and are now part of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Baldwin boasts five members of the elite club, which, according to Athletic Director Ed Ramirez, is the most of any district in the country.
Reggie Jones Sr. (inducted in 1997); Ed Reinisch (inducted in 2004); Steve Shippos Sr. (inducted 2005); Paul Gillespie (inducted in 2006); and Michael DerGarabedian (inducted in 2012), were recognized last week for their hall of fame achievements.
Jones Sr., Shippos Sr. and DerGarabedian were on hand last week and received a warm welcome from the current wrestlers, coaches and those in attendance.
Shippos Sr. started teaching phys. ed and coaching wrestling at BHS in 1968 before retiring in 2003. “This brings back a lot of memories,” he said of being in the gymnasium prior to a wrestling match. “I spent a lot of time here.”
Shippos Sr. moved to Baldwin in 1972 and still lives in the same house. He coached very strong teams during his 35 years at BHS, especially, he said, during the late 1970s and through the 1980s. “Back when we were one of the stronger teams this whole place would be packed,” he said of the BHS gymnasium. “You couldn’t find a place to sit.”
One of the wrestlers who made the team so strong was DerGarabedian, who now lives in Old Brookville and is a lawyer based in Rockville Centre. A BHS graduate in 1980, DerGarabedian looked up to Shippos Sr. during his three years wrestling for him. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be who I am,” DerGarabedian said. “He instilled every thing that I ever had in my life.”
He continues to use what he learned in the Baldwin wrestling program every day, he said. While in high school, DerGarabedian dreamed of wrestling at Iowa State University, which is Shippos Sr.’s alma mater. Iowa State recruited him, but didn’t offer enough of a scholarship for him to accept. DerGarabedian went on to wrestle at Michigan University and now runs a youth wrestling program on the North Shore for children from pre-school to eighth grade.
Shippos Sr. said even the students who were not the best wrestlers still took valuable life lessons from the sport and apply them to their lives today.
Former teammates and coaches also came back to BHS and were recognized for their dedication to the Baldwin wrestling program prior to the current wrestlers taking to the mat.
