The 2016-17 high school wrestling season will face off without one of South County’s iconic coaches.
Jerry Matsumoto, who served as a head coach at Marian and Otay Ranch high schools and as an assistant coach at Hilltop, Mater Dei Catholic and Eastlake high schools, died on Oct. 18.
He was 67.
A celebration of life ceremony is scheduled Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Salt Creek Golf Course from 4 to 8 p.m.
Matsumoto, a 1967 graduate of Castle Park High School, is remembered as a coach who was willing to help anyone who came his way in need of instruction and also as someone who strongly championed the sport of wrestling at all skill levels — and all age levels.
He is fondly remembered by both colleagues and the wrestlers he coached.
Mater Dei Catholic head coach Scott Ullsperger called Matsumoto “a friend and a mentor.”
“When Mater Dei Catholic first opened, he was the head wrestling coach at Otay Ranch,” Ullsperger recalled. “I was looking for tournaments to get our schedule going and called him first. When Jerry found out that I was new to coaching, he asked me to come by that night and help me get started. He offered to loan us a mat until we received ours.
“It is exactly this kind of magnanimity that most people will remember about Jerry. He was generous with his time and would coach any individual who came into the room, put on shoes and paid attention to his words.”
Ullsperger said he will rename the school’s junior varsity team tournament scheduled Dec. 10 in Matsumoto’s honor.
“It will be known as the Jerry Matsumoto Memorial Tournament,” Ullsperger said. “Jerry was the one who taught me how to run a team tournament.”
Matsumoto later became an assistant coach at Mater Dei Catholic High School, a position he held beginning in 2008.
“During that time he helped to create a culture of wrestling at MDCHS and encouraged athletes of all ability levels to love our sport,” Ullsperger said.
Hilltop High School head coach Thomas Juarez was touched by Matsumoto’s coaching expertise first as an athlete while competing at Montgomery High School, then as a coach himself in the Sweetwater Union High School District.
“Regardless of the score of the match, Jerry was the type of mentor and coach who would always encourage the wrestlers who he was training,” Juarez explained. “Jerry would yell at his wrestlers with an intensity which the sport commands but he also never walked away from his wrestlers whether it was in victory or defeat.
“The manner in which Jerry coached his wrestlers was similar to how he lived his life – never quit.”
Matsumoto will be remembered for his dedication to the sport of amateur wrestling. Besides serving as a high school and youth coach, he also competed as an athlete and served as a mat official at local, regional, national and international events.
He received induction into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2015.
A longtime advocate of the sport in South County who has traveled the globe in support of various styles of wrestling, Matsumoto was recognized for lifetime achievement.
Matsumoto earned certification in 1983 as an M1 and FILA 2 USA Wrestling mat official. He served as an official at the 1983 Pan-American Games in Caracas, Venezuela.
Matsumoto also served as a national and international official in Sombo (combat jacket) wrestling from 1983-2000, helping bring the U.S. National Sombo championships to Southwestern College at one point.
In 1995 he served as an official at the World Championship in Moscow and in 1995 at the European Championship in Canterbury, England.
He received a BA in social science in 2009 from Ashford University and a masters in education from Ashford University in 2011.
Through the years, he received numerous awards for his expertise and service.
He was named the 1983 Amateur Athletic Union Official of the Year and Official of the Year for Sombo for 1995 and 1996.
He received the 2001 Channel 10 Leadership Award and received the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Diego High School Sports Association.
Career highlights include being chosen to officiate the Pan-American Games, to officiate (on the whistle) all the finals matches at the European Championships and to officiate one of the finals matches at the World Championships in Moscow (and seeing his name spelled in Russian).
Traveling the world both as a competitor and official provided a wealth of stories and anecdotes in regard to wrestling.
“I wrestled my first-ever Greco-Roman match in Mexico City when the lights went out in the gym halfway through the match,” Matsumoto recounted prior to his death. “I resumed the match by the headlights of a VW and a Renault.”
Matsumoto had been in ill health for several years while awaiting a lung transplant, yet continued to coach and mentor athletes.
He devoted much of the past 40-plus years to coaching local high school programs.
Matsumoto served as head coach at Marian High School, the forerunner to Mater Dei Catholic High School, from 1974 to 1980. He coached Marian’s only CIF champion, J.J. Gracio, in 1977.
Gracio, who competed at 178 pounds, went on to play football for Oregon State and then went on to become a Navy SEAL and a lieutenant commander as well.
Matsumoto served as an assistant coach at Hilltop High School from 1996-2005, an assistant coach at Otay Ranch High School from 2005-06, head coach at Otay Ranch High School from 2006-08, assistant coach at Mater Dei Catholic High School from 2008-10 and an assistant coach at Eastlake High School, beginning in 2010.
Matsomoto’s time as an assistant coach at Mater Dei Catholic High School marked his return to Crusader wrestling after coaching the school’s predecessor team at Marian High School decades earlier.
Matsumoto was also involved in coaching youth wrestling.
He and fellow youth coach Del Vogel co-founded the Chula Vista Badgers Wrestling Club in 1993. The club was initially based at Hilltop High School and would serve as a feeder program for local high school wrestling programs.
“During that time period, the Chula Vista Badgers had a reputation for producing highly trained wrestlers and those competitors eventually attended Hilltop High School which was coached by Tim Tyler,” Juarez explained. “When I competed in high school (1994-1997), I knew that if I was wrestling against a Hilltop High School wrestler that he was probably a Chula Vista Badger and would be well prepared.
“I knew that my opponent was going to be someone who was well prepared for the six minutes of competition on the mat, especially if I could see or hear Jerry Matsumoto.”
As a coach, Matsumoto’s goals were to teach technique and watch it be applied successfully in competition. He always strove to promote the sport of wrestling, no matter the age or skill level, in his words, “to give opportunities to all who are interested in wrestling, as a coach, athlete or parent.”
“When I think about coach Matsumoto’s contributions to the sport of wrestling in California, my answer is: endless,” Juarez explained. “To me, coach Matsumoto’s generosity (was) unparalleled to any coach in the area, because he (was) not doing it for the recognition or the fame, his only reward on coaching wrestling (was) teaching kids about the greatest sport in history.”
