Woodburn Independent Online

Woodburn graduate receives coaching honor

Gaylord Strand will be inducted into WSWCA Hall of Fame

• By: Garrett Rudolph  
• Published: 10/31/2009 12:47:31 AM
• Last Updated: 11/2/2009 8:26:06 AM

Photo By: Tony Overman, The OlympianVictory!
Gaylord Strand raises the arm of Marcus Turnquist (left) after he won the 215-pound state title in 2008. Strand, a 1970 graduate of Woodburn High School, has been the wrestling coach at Yelm High School in Washington since 1974 and will be inducted into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Nov. 7.

Gentleman. Competitive. Ethical. Respected.
 
Those were the words used to describe Gaylord Strand, as he was recently elected to the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
 
“When talking about Gaylord, these words come to mind,” said fellow hall of fame inductee Jeff Birbeck, who nominated Strand for the honor. Strand, a 1970 graduate of Woodburn High School, has been coaching wrestling at Yelm High School in Washington since 1974, where he has guided nine individual state champions. As a team, Yelm placed second at the state tournament in 2008 and 2009, and is considered the favorite to capture the state title in the 2010 season.
 
“It’s kind of a humbling experience, given the fact that I’m not done coaching yet,” said Strand. “It kind of took me off balance when I received the nomination.”
 
On Nov. 7, Strand will be inducted into the hall of fame at a ceremony in Yakima, Wash.

While Strand has spent the greater part of four decades in Washington, he said his formative years were truly built during his time at Woodburn, at a time when the Bulldogs featured one of the toughest wrestling programs in the state.
 
During Strand’s senior year, the Bulldogs capped off an undefeated season by winning the Class A-2 state title — the first of four straight state championship teams for Woodburn.
 
“I start looking back at the team we had and the things that we did and it means more to me now than it did back then,” said Strand, who placed fourth in the state at 123 pounds as a senior. “It was a pretty special team.”
 
Strand said he owes a great deal of credit to the team’s coach, Lamont Simons, for helping to refine the skills and techniques of the wrestlers. Now that Strand has followed his mentor’s footsteps into the coaching realm, he hopes to help provide the same aspects of self-confidence, respect, work ethic and leadership that competition provided him as a youth.
 
“Being in sports is a great way of being accepted and finding friends and fitting in,” he said. “When you’re a young kid and there’s no place to fit in, it’s pretty tough. And I got into the sport of wrestling and I fit in, and was very successful at it and I have a lot of people to thank for it. … I love giving back what I got out of wrestling as a youth.”
 
After graduating from Woodburn, Strand earned a scholarship to wrestle at Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University), where he said he had a lot to prove, as an athlete who had tasted his share of defeat at the high school level.
 
Strand went on to blossom at the collegiate level, where he was a four-time participant in the NCAA Division II national tournament. After four years at Seattle Pacific, he graduated with a degree in physical education and got a job teaching biology and P.E. at Yelm in his first year out of school.
 
Like many colleges and universities around the region, Seattle Pacific has since disbanded its wrestling program — a trend which Strand finds alarming.
 
“I get really mad,” he said. “I get really frustrated because in my situation I never could have gone this far through life without the opportunity to have a scholarship for wrestling. There’s no opportunities for these kids anymore. It’s a shame. Unless you’re a three- or four-time state champion and wrestling out of season, and going to these national tournaments around the country, you haven’t got a chance.”
 
The thrill of winning a state title as a team is one accomplishment that has eluded Strand and the teams at Yelm during his tenure as the Tornados’ coach. Having experienced that during his high school days, Strand hopes to be able to relive that excitement through his athletes.
 
“That would be one of my peak goals as a wrestling coach,” he said. “I’d love to have my kids experience that. There’s nothing like it.”

Still, Strand has had an extraordinary level of success in coaching, and the accolades to go along with it.
 
He is a four-time recipient of the regional coach of the year award, two-time recipient of the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association’s sportsmanship award, and has coached a total of 49 placers at the Washington state wrestling tournament through the years.
 
He has had the opportunity to coach at the Junior Olympics in Lincoln, Neb., and a cultural exchange team for the Pan-Am Games in Mexico City.
 
However, the highlight of his career was taking an all-star team on a 17-day journey through China, at a time when the communist borders were still closed off to most foreigners.
 
“It was just a very rewarding trip,” he said. “At that time, we were only the second wrestling team ever to enter China from outside China. We were treated like royalty.”

Strand said the coaches, teammates and opportunities he’s had have all contributed to the success he’s enjoyed in the sport, but acknowledged that he couldn’t be where he’s at today, without his family’s assistance.
 
“I just love the sport, and I couldn’t do it without my family supporting me,” he said. “My kids had to sacrifice time with their dad not being around, my wife has done the same. You have to have a strong support base to do this.”

  (log in to rate)