Hard work pays off

Liberty wrestling coach inducted into hall of fame

Liberty University’s head wrestling coach Jesse Castro has fought his way to national recognition.

On April 22, Castro was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame after being involved with the sport for more than 40 years.

Castro, one of the earliest members of the wrestling program, was a four-time NCCAA national champion in 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981.

Recording more than 100 career victories, he helped some of the earliest Liberty Flames win four of their five NCCAA national team championships: 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981.

Castro is also responsible for reviving the then-dormant wrestling program in 2006, bringing the Division I team five consecutive NCAA East Region titles and getting 24 wrestlers to the NCAA Division I national championships.

“Dr. Falwell is the one who wanted to get the program back, so he reached out and brought me in for an interview,” Castro said.

“You never say ‘No’ to Dr. Falwell.”

Castro said his earliest involvement with the sport came when he was 12 years old.

“I had no background in (wrestling) at all, and what motivated me was in 1972 I saw Dan Gable win the gold medal in the Munich Olympic Games,” Castro said.

“At that point, I just fell in love with the sport.”

As he began to look at colleges, Castro initially planned to go to Arizona State until he visited Liberty in the summer of his senior year.

“I tell the story often that I hopped in the back of a Dodson pickup truck … with two guys out in California that I had never met in my life and traveled 3,000 miles across the country to come to Liberty Baptist College,” Castro said.

“I believe I was compelled by the Holy Spirit, and something was different about
this place.”

Castro was part of the team when head coach Bob Bonheim was at the head of the program and found instant success despite the recent beginning of the team.

“We ended up winning four or five National Christian College Championships in a row,” Castro said.

“He had instant success.”

During his time at Liberty, Castro became the first All-American for the school and Bonheim got the team to fifth place in the country in the NCAA Division II ranking.

“The sport of wrestling, I believe — on this campus — God used to help catapult the entire athletic department into national recognition,” Castro said.

Castro graduated in 1981 and decided to keep wrestling.

He was recruited by Athletes in Action and began training for the 1984 Olympics. He eventually returned to be an assistant coach at Liberty under Bonheim for a
five-year stay.

Castro took a job in 1988 at a military college in Vermont called Norwich University.

There, Castro was faced with another start-up program.

“When I got on there, I was recruiting literally in the dorms, knocking on doors, trying to put together a team,” Castro said.

“I was really proud of what we were able to accomplish there.”

By the time Castro left in 1997, the team was in the NCAA Division III and was ranked 11th in the country with a total of nine All-American recognitions despite the size, climate and difficulty of recruiting in a military school.

Castro left to work at Kingsway Regional High School in New Jersey for the next eight years before Jerry Falwell Sr. convinced him to come back and restart the program.

“The program had been dormant for 12 years, and so the opportunity to come back and reignite it with Dr. Falwell’s blessing was an opportunity that I couldn’t refuse,” Castro said.

Castro has since been recognized by fellow coaches and his athletes as a formidable and praiseworthy coach.

“Coach Castro has a soft spot for literally every one of his athletes — almost to a fault,” Assistant Coach Chris Williamson said.

“It is just inspiring to see someone who has seen the top of our sport treat everyone with such respect, dignity and love. He truly exemplifies Christ in this way.”

Castro’s most recent national champion Josh Ferenczy attributes his progress and wins to Castro’s coaching, saying Castro adapts to what his wrestlers need.

“Under Coach Castro I have improved drastically,” Ferenczy said.

“I never even won a match at the state tournament in high school, then walked on to Liberty’s team and four years later under Castro, I am a national champion. I don’t think there is a better example out there of how dedicated and focused of a coach he is than that.”

Castro has been the head of the program for 10 years and has had much success since, but he attributes the wrestling program’s initial progress to Falwell’s generosity and willingness to fund the program.

“This place is awesome because when I came in 1976, not a building was up here,” Castro said.

“Watching what God has done in such a short period of time is nothing short of miraculous.”

Castro was inducted into the Liberty University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

In the fall, Paul Anthony, a coach at Liberty Christian Academy, nominated Castro to be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

“It’s another honor,” Castro said.

“It’s not something you pursue when you get into a career.”

Panyard is a copy editor.