It is often said that football is the sport that mirrors real life. You get knocked down, you get back up. You make sacrifices for the good of the team. I would definitely concur that football mirrors real life more so than any other sport because it is a team sport. Life is a team sport including but not limited to the workforce and marriage. The latter of which involves sacrificing your needs ahead of your spouse and/kids.
For a different yet similar reason, wrestling is not far behind. Wrestling is similar to real life in that whatever path you choose, success ultimately boils down to you. It’s a one-on-one battle in the middle of the mat -- may the best man win. There are no politics involved. You win or lose because you did it, not because you’re the starting point guard just because you are the coach’s son. You can’t rely on teammates to help you beat your opponent. It’s also a sport that is so physically demanding that you can’t have a poor work ethic and survive.
I had a chance to cover some excellent wrestling throughout my career as a reporter, both on an individual and team level. I was blessed to cover St. Helena High wrestling during a time in which time the Saints won nine league titles in ten seasons as well as a CIF North Coast Section Class A title. St. Helena had four wrestlers reach the State Meet in that time (Joe Luna, Geoff Harner, Tim Nuss and Gian Traverso). I also had a chance to cover State Meet participants from Napa (Jaret Newton, Ed Blanton, Tim Kniefel), Vintage (Brian Watanabe, Daniel Murphree) and Vallejo (Louie Puno and Bobby Gonzalez).
These teams and wrestlers were all accomplished in their own right but on an individual level, I would have to look long and hard to find a more memorial wrestling season to cover than 2003. In fact, that was the last season that the State wrestling meet was held at the Spanos Center at the University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA). In a nutshell, the event had outgrown the venue and has since been moved to Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA.
Gonzalez and Murphree capped their senior years of 2003 with State titles in the 135 and 145-pound weight classes respectively. Another interesting footnote was that including Gonzalez and Murphree, the Monticello Empire League had four state champions. The other two were Brett Slone (160) and Kyle Devan (heavyweight), both of Vacaville. Devan went on to play college football at Oregon State and five years in the NFL (Indianapolis, Tennessee, Philadelphia, Washington). Devan is now an assistant offensive line coach with the New Orleans Saints.
What makes their accomplishments even greater is that California has one of, if not the most, difficult State meets to win. By no means am I suggesting that California has the best wrestlers but its State meet is more difficult because it does not split its state champions by division. Translation, if you weigh 155-pounds and win the state title, you are the champ of the entire state, not just Division I, II, III and so forth.
Both also had similar backgrounds in that their fathers were their coach. Carl Murphree was Vintage High’s head coach. Bob Gonzalez was Vallejo’s assistant coach under Mike Minahen. Their fathers loved hard and coached hard. I remember interviewing both Murphrees and Gonzalezes in the week leading up to the State meet. I asked all parties involved about the father-son-coach angle. The responses was similar in that there are peaks and valleys but when times were difficult, they would lean on the other person’s father to talk them off the ledge.
Gonzalez and Murphree entered their senior seasons with already accomplished careers. Murphree had reached the State meet in his previous two years, going 4-4. Gonzalez, like Murphree, had also reached the State meet the previous two seasons, including a fourth place finish in 2002.
Before the 2002-2003 season got underway, both had mountains of big stage experience not just with high school wrestling but freestyle and Greco-Roman. While predicting the outcomes of seasons can be a crapshoot, there was no question in my mind that both were going to at worst be medalists (Top 8) if not win it. I remember arriving at the Spanos Center for my employer at the time, GetLocalNews.com which is a website that later became defunct. It would be a two day event but as I watched both wrestlers throughout the two days, I was convinced with each passing match that they were going to be state champions.
Gonzalez’s path to the title match involved wins over Pennisula’s David Polan (13-0), Coalinga’s Francisco Laredo (pin), Clovis’ Jason Williams (10-3), and Valhalla’s Dean Kinports (3-0). Gonzalez then defeated Alex Herrera of Bakersfield 3-1 in the title match.
Murphree’s path to the title match involved wins over El Modena’s Jeremy Burzamato (15-1), Vista’s S.P. Morga (pin), Clovis’ Bryce Thompson (3-1), and Los Gatos’ Bobby Pease (technical fall). Murphree then defeated Anderson’s Micah Zachary (9-4) in the title match.
While as reporters we are taught to be impartial, sometimes you cannot help but get caught up in celebrating success. I’m honestly not sure if it is a matter of being biased because anyone that knows me is aware that my reporting was as down the middle as you get. My reason for celebrating the success of these two youngsters is because you see two great competitors work hard and take no shortcuts to achieve that you want to see them get rewarded.
The term “great competitor” often gets thrown around loosely but Gonzalez and Murphree acted the part as much if not more so than any student-athlete I had the chance to cover.
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