SPORTS HALL of FAME ATHLETE
Rick Cole '68
The oldest of our four inductees in 2015 has a lengthy resume, packed with good results and high praise from his contemporaries. He is also one of the very few honored twice on Legacy teams before getting his well-earned individual accolades tonight. Rick Cole is part of one of the most outstanding athletic families in Sidney. From the oldest (Rick) to the youngest (Peggy), theirs was a family that thrived on competition while maintaining the utmost values of sportsmanship. And you can thank Dick & Ann Cole for that.
Rick set a great example for the rest of the Cole kids. His 11 varsity letters included 3 in cross country, 4 in wrestling and 4 in track & field. As mentioned above, Rick's place in the 1964-65 wrestling team (honored in 2009) and 1967 cross country team (2013) is firmly set. Wrestling was his top sport, as his 1967 New York State championship will attest. Within those years, he was 79-9-1, six of those losses coming as a freshman. He was a 2-time Windsor Christmas Tournament champ, too.
He was a consistent runner for the new cross country program that began in 1965. The fall of 1967 was perhaps the best team of them all, finishing undefeated through the Section IV meet. The two sports would serve him well upon entering the collegiate ranks.
At Orange County Community College (OCCC), his 1968-69 freshman wrestling season ended with a spectacular 20-1 record, which was highlighted with a mid-season #3 ranking in the nation! Rick was also part of the Region XV cross country champions, a team which finished undefeated and would later (2014) be honored with induction into the OCCC Athletic Hall of Fame. Rick went on to attend Campbell College in Buies Creek, NC, a school where Sidney athletes would leave their mark (Rick's brother Rob and Don Laird are both members of the Campbell Hall of Fame!). As he did in Sidney, Rick participated in 3 sports for the Camels.
He was the first Campbell wrestler to qualify for the National Championships, he was District 29 champion as a junior and senior, and was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler at both tournaments. With a career mark of 52-4...3 of his losses coming during NAIA Champoionship bouts, Rick set the standard for those who followed.
In 1971, Rick's collegiate days were capped off in style, as he was named Campbell's Outstanding Athlete. Later he would be the feature of a 1972 edition of Outstanding Athletes of America. So as his days as an athlete came to an end, Rick turned his focus into being a coach and wrestling official.
Campbell's wrestling program held onto him for another season, making Rick their assistant coach, then the vagabond lifestyle began...stints locally at Oxford (1973-74) and Whitney Point (1974-78) followed. Then he joined his brother Gary in Indiana, where he coached cross country for St. Francis College (Coach of the Year 1978-79) then wrestling for Harding HS in Fort Wayne (79-80).
But it was Ocean City, Maryland where Rick has called home the last 35 years. There, he has been a prominent figure in officiating for the sport of wrestling. For five decades (1972 to the present) Rick has dedicated himself to being a trainer and assignor of wrestling officials. It's been 43 years and he's still going. Rick has officiated 29 Collegiate National Championships, both Division I and III, He has done 30 NCAA qualifiers as well as other prominent regional and national-level tournaments. Impressive as an official, just as he was on the mat for Sidney, OCCC and Campbell.
If you engage yourself in a wrestling discussion with Rick Cole, be prepared for him to recite accurate scores, names and nuances no one else could possibly know. His love for the sport shines through beyond the average fan. No one but no one knows more.
His main career, of course, is as manager with his brother Jim, at the legendary Bearded Clam in Ocean City. He gets paid to chat it up with customers....and is well qualified there, too. Tonight we congratulate Rick Cole as part of the Class of 2015 into the Sidney Alumni Sports Hall of Fame.