Wrestling was a sport that Larry Mattingly had great respect for early on, but essentially had no interest in after getting his first taste of the mat. In 1982, his freshman year at Memorial, he was influenced by friends and football coaches to join the wrestling team. He went winless in his lone season as a wrestler for the Tigers. “I am the worst wrestler in Memorial history.” Mattingly said, “I wrestled 9 matches, I got pinned 9 times in the first period. So I said no, that’s not for me.” To humor his football coaches, he went back out for the wrestling team his junior season, but a car accident prevented him from wrestling again. “Really at the time I was sort of glad,” he says, because that meant he would not have to wrestle again. Luckily, the accident was not major, but effectively ended his career.
So why would someone with such a lack of success as an athlete in a sport at his high school go on to pursue and eventually land the head job in the same sport? Luck of the draw, really. In 1986, the year Mattingly graduated college from the University of Southern Indiana, he heard about the opening at Memorial through Randy Rodgers, former University of Evansville football coach while he was coaching Rodgers’ son in tee ball. Fellow inductee Ralph Weinzapfel was coaching the Memorial football team when, with some help from the high school’s Principal Gerry Adams, helped Mattingly land the job as JV wrestling and football coach as well as teaching Social Studies. Dreading the wrestling portion of the gig, Mattingly learned much of what he knew about coaching the sport from Weinzapfel who had just taken over the head wrestling job. A year later, Mattingly was promoted to head coach per Weinzapfel’s recommendation. “If Ralph said do it, you do it,” he remarks with much respect for his longtime friend. 27 years later, he attributes much of his success not only to Weinzapfel, but to Jeff Schaefer and Kenny Zuber (Memorial Assistants) who helped him through the years to become the coach that he is today. Schaefer and Zuber are still on the Tiger’s staff to date.
One of the benchmark points in Coach Mattingly’s career is coaching a State Champion. Matt Powless did just that in 2007. Humble as always, Mattingly recounts, “I didn’t guide him a whole lot, he did a lot of that on his own.” Powless progressively improved in his career at Memorial. He was around a .500 wrestler as freshman, as a sophomore semi-state, a state competitor as a junior and won state a senior. Powless continued his education at Indiana University where he was named an All-American wrestler in 2011 and is presently an assistant coach with the Hoosiers.
Although enjoying much success as both the wrestling and football coach (he coached the Tigers on the gridiron for 8 seasons), Mattingly was always reminded by Adams that he was to teach first and coach second. Throughout his entire career, his goal is not just to improve his wrestlers in their sport, but to encourage them in the classroom and to become great men and teammates both on and off the mat. “My definition of a great athlete is guy that makes people around him better,” he says.
Coach Mattingly was caught off guard when he received word that he would be inducted into the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame. “Being honored at Memorial, to me, is almost like somebody throwing a party for you because you had a good Christmas.” Just like in any sport, the team makes the individuals better. For Coach Mattingly, it was a team of many people who helped him with this opportunity for the Hall of Fame induction. “We’ve had a great seed for a lot of accomplishments.”
Along with Mattingly, current Mater Dei head coach Greg Schaefer, the aforementioned Ralph Weinzapfel and the Welch family from Warrick County will be inducted. He has nothing but utmost respect for his co-inductees. “I’m really honored to be in with that group,” he says. When asked about what he wants his legacy to be at Memorial, he gave an answer that again showed his selfless character. “I always tell the kids to be grateful for the health God gave them to do a great sport, grateful for the great guys they got to do it with and the great school they got to do it for… What a thrill it is the be involved in that important stage of (the wrestlers) lives. They do a lot for me and I hope I did as much in return.”
The Tigers wrestling team took second place in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference tournament on January 25th. The IHSAA Sectionals are set for February 2nd while Mattingly and the Tigers would like to be wrestling through February 22nd, which would conclude the state finals. The next day, on the 23rd, Mattingly and his co-inductees will join the IHSWCA Hall of Fame at a banquet in Greenwood, Indiana.
