Head wrestling coach Romelio Salas has done it all. The ups, the downs, the improvement and the fight that he’s given to the team. All of that along with bringing in former students of his to coach here at McDaniel and build a career.
Finally, his hard work was recognized, Salas was inducted into the Oregon Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
“Being inducted into the hall of fame means a lot to me because at least somebody has recognized the contribution that I have made to wrestling,” Salas said.
Salas started coaching in the early 80’s, meaning that he has been in a coaching program for more than 40 years. Throughout his career, Salas has tried to build character in all his athletes. Teaching them the love of the sport and how you can use it further on in life.
“Wrestling is just a vehicle to help them become good citizens and become scholars,” Salas said. “It’s just a vehicle to do whatever you want to do in life.”
Salas has helped many students in his long tenure of teaching wrestling. However, one former student that sticks out is assistant coach Cale Holt. Salas coached Holt in his high school days. Noting that Holt has known Salas for 16 years, after high school, Salas offered Holt a job to work alongside him at McDaniel High School. Holt has been forever grateful for the opportunity that Salas has given him.
“He’s actually a big influence on me to become a teacher and try to continue my path,” Holt said. “I owe a lot of thanks to him.”
When Salas first took the job here it was a rocky start. According to Salas, they didn’t have a lot of wrestlers and weren’t able to win a lot of matches. However, as time went on, McDaniel wrestling has flourished, sending wrestlers to state and even winning the PIL last season.
“It’s one of the great things that has happened to me, moving from Tigard to here,” Salas said.
Holt highlighted Salas’s ability to work with his students by teaching them to be held accountable and how to respect one another.
“He knows everything, he’s a wizard,” Holt said. “He’s also a good motivator, especially for young men and young women.”
Another strong suite of Salas’s coaching ability is seeing the details and the little things that sometimes other coaches aren’t able to see, which is crucial when learning and competing in wrestling.
“I’m like a camera, that’s one thing I feel confident about when coaching,” Salas said.
Head wrestling coach Emilio Salas holding his award. This award highlighted his long and successful coaching career.
Salas also has some other accolades of his own when it comes to wrestling. According to Holt, Salas is a two-time Olympian, Pan American champion, and an All-American in college, further proving his status and reasoning for being in the hall of fame.
“He’s a long time wrestling coach, and he has coached a lot of state placers and state champions in the past. He’s earned it for sure,” Holt said.
Senior Ethan Holstein has known the coach for five years. Over this time, Holstein has truly gotten to know coach Salas for who he truly is and what strives and looks for in his students.
“He pushes us to be better everyday as a person, and he really just wants us to get better at everything,” Holstein said.
Holstein also highlighted Salas’s dedication to the program, showing up to every practice and being at every meet at his age is very impressive to Holstein.
“And he’s got problems with himself too yet he comes to help us everyday,” Holstein said.
In Salas’s ten years of wrestling, he couldn’t pick a favorite memory because as he put it “every single one is special.”
This sums up why he was inducted into the hall of fame. Salas is a coach that has dedicated many years of his life to wrestling and helping kids find their footing in a tough time for every kid’s life, high school.
