610 dual match victories, 9 regional championships, five state championships and countless lives influenced.
And now, after 35 years, Orange Wrestling Coach Bobby Shriner has decided that’s enough.
Shriner announced this afternoon that he will retire as a teacher at the end of this academic year. He leaves after coaching Orange to the 3A state championship in the individual tournament last month at the Greensboro Coliseum. Shriner’s last meet may have featured the most dramatic moment of his career. Payton Wilson won the 220 pound state championship over Dan Louba of Hickory Ridge 4-3, though Louba appeared to score a takedown in the last second of the match. Shriner appealed to the tournament director, who ruled that Louba’s takedown occurred after the final period had expired. Photographic evidence showed the takedown was, indeed, a fraction of a second late.
The Panthers captured the 3A Dual Wrestling Regional Championship, losing to Piedmont High for the state title in Monroe.
Shriner joined Orange in 1990 as an assistant coach under Jim King, taking over the reigns of the wrestling program a year later.
We’ll have more details later on.