Saturday, September 12, 2020

Gone, Lost & Forgotten: Their Best = El Camino

 Located a half hour southwest of Los Angeles, when the Warriors of El Camino College dropped their wrestling team after the 1990-1991 season, CCCAA wrestling lost one of its finest programs.  The Warriors won CCCAA titles in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1976 & 1977.   Between the 1958-1959 & the 1990-1991 seasons, the Warriors put place-winners on the award stand at the CCCAA championships every year. That's 32 straight years of producing place-winners. 

Even more impressive is that within those thirty-two seasons, 19 of them saw CCCAA champions crowned.  In the years where the Warriors didn't produce at least one CCCAA champion, they had at least one finalist in six more seasons. In thirty-two seasons there were only eight seasons where the Warriors did have a finalist.  

Dale Deffner
115 lbs  

Deffner made the CCCAA finals in 1959, winning a CCCAA title in 1960.  He went on to compete at Long Beach State after graduation where he place fourth at the 1963 NCAA championships.   Post his own collegiate career, Deffner went on to coach at Golden West.  There he produced 9 CCCAA champions & 25 CCCAA place-winners. 

Foster Jones
130 lbs 

Jones won a CCCAA title in 1959

Don Holt
147 lbs

Holt won back to back CCCAA titles in 1962 & 1963

Tom McCann
123 lbs  

A graduate of Aviation High School, McCann won CCCAA titles for the Warriors in 1964 & 1965.  He went on to wrestle for Adams State, where he was a NCAA Division II qualifier.  He later coached at Kearney High school in Nebraska from the 1970-1971 season through the 2011-2012 season.  There he coached his team to twenty-one conference & fourteen district team titles.  They also finished as the state-runner ups on eight occasions & as the state champions once.  On an individual level, McCann produced 32 individual state champions.  He also coached at Nebraska-Kearney. 

John Snowden


Snowden won a CCCAA title in 1963




Bob Anderson 

Winning is what Bob Anderson did throughout his entire wrestling career.  Competing for South High School, he was third in the state championships his junior year before winning a state title as a senior.  Competing for the Warriors, Anderson won back to back CCCAA titles in 1963 & 1964, moving on to Adams State where he won back to back NAIA titles. 

Post his collegiate career, Anderson had a successful career on the international level, winning a Silver Medal at the 1971 Pan-American championships, followed up with gold medals in 1977 & 1979.  

He later got into helping others achieve their goals in international competition, among those he coached, Rulon Gardner. 

Dean Albright


After placing fourth in 1963, Albright won a CCCAA title in 1964

Paul Steinel
137 lbs 
Steinel won a CCCAA title in 1964


Rich Tambel
115 lbs 

Tambel won a CCCAA title for the Warriors in 1964.  He then transferred to Adams State where he made the NAIA finals in 1968.  Later that summer he qualified for the Olympic team. 

Kent Wyatt
147, 145 lbs  


A graduate of Mira Costa High school, Kent Wyatt's greatest accomplishment was winning a section title.  He was meant for bigger and better things on the collegiate scene, winning CCCAA titles in 1965 & 1966.  He went on to compete for Cal Poly where he earned a sixth place finish at the NCAA Division II championships in 1967.  He went on to win a NCAA Division II title in 1968, finishing in third place at the NCAA Division I tournament in 1968. 

Post his collegiate career, Wyatt coached at West Torrace High School where he lead his team to ten league titles & a third place finish at the 1976 state championships. 

Norman Dean


Dean won a CCCAA title in 1965

Curtis Alder
152 lbs 

Alder was fourth in 1966 before winning a CCCAA title in 1967

Steve Warren
134 lbs 


Warren won a CCCAA titel in 1967

Dan Felix

Felix won back to back CCCAA titles in 1968 & 1969

John Norris
130 lbs 

Norris won a CCCAA title for the Warriors in 1969.  He continued his collegiate career at Chico State where he earned NCAA Division II All American honors twice.  He was third in 1970 & fifth in 1971. 



Nick Carollo
HWT 

Carollo won CCCAA titles in 1965 & 1966 being named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament in 1966.  The Redondo Beach high school graduate then went on to continue his career at Adams State where he won an NAIA title in 1967, making the NCAA Division I finals.  He repeated at NAIA champion in 1968, going on to a successful international career that included a gold medal at the 1971 Pan-American championships. 


Tom Hazell

Hazell was a CCCAA runner-up in 1971, wining a CCCAA title in 1972.  He then traveled all the way down to Oklahoma State to compete for the cowboys in his final two seasons of collegiate eligibility.  He took back to back sixth place All American finishes at the NCAA Division I championships in 1973 & 1974. 

He went on to a successful career on the international scene, earning a silver medal at the prestigious Tblisi tournament & a gold medal at the Pan-American championships. 

His son David wrestled at Oklahoma State. 

Gordon Cox
150 lbs   

Cox won a CCCAA title in 1975

Bob Martinez
126 lbs 


After finishing in fifth place in 1976, Martinez won a CCCAA title in 1977

Bill Cripps
  


Cripps won back to back CCCAA titles in 1976 & 1977, being named the outstanding wrestler in 1977. He went on to compete for the sun devils of Arizona State where he was seventh in 1979 & third in 1980. 

Pinto Para
158

Para was third in 1977 before winning a CCCAA title in 1978. 

Jim Thornton
167  


Thornton was a CCCAA runner up in 1978, winning a CCCAA title in 1979

Nelson Imamura
150 lbs 

Also a member of the Warrior football team, Imamura was third in 1979. 


Dan Hatano
142 lbs 

A graduate of Palos Verdes High, Hatano was fourth in 1982, winning a CCCAA title in 1983.  He then wrestled one season at Cal State Fullerton & one season as San Diego State.  Switching gears to Judo, Hatano won a gold medal at the 1991 Pan-American championships. 

Kelvin Colvin
177 lbs 

Colvin won a CCCAA title in 1985


Darren Uyetmatsu


Uyetmatsu won a CCCAA title in 1987.  Today he runs "Out Cold" a clothing line that makes apparel & gear for MMA fighters and fans. 




Josh Gormley

A graduate of West Torrace high school where he won a state championship, Gormley made the CCCAA finals in 1991. 



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