Mark Schmetzer| Enquirer contributor
Willie Wineberg and his father, Mark, got to indulge in a lot of catching up over the holidays.
One of the stories they recalled was the early days of Willie’s wrestling career.
“I started in the second grade,” the Fairfield graduate recalled. “We were joking the other night about how, one time, this kid got me on my back. Instead of getting off my back, I pushed the kid straight up. I was proud that I was able to push the kid up, but of course, I ended up with both my shoulders on the mat and was pinned.”
More: Glory Days: Fairfield TD record broken by friend
That might’ve been one of the last mistakes Wineberg made on a wrestling mat. Coached as a youth by his father, a Fairfield physical education teacher, and later in high school by the near-legendary Ron Masanek, Wineberg became the first Ohio high school Division I wrestler to win four state championships. He was undefeated over his last three seasons to finish 144-2, capping his remarkable run with a 5-4 overtime win over St. Xavier’s Shawn Rockey in the 1994 125-pound state championship match at Wright State University’s Ervin J. Nutter Center.
Wineberg went on to wrestle at Purdue. He is in his 19th year as a social studies teacher in the Miamisburg district and spent 15 years as the Vikings’ wrestling coach before giving up that job to become director of wrestling at Prodigy Wrestling Academy in Springboro.
“I was able to keep coaching and not have to work as much on weekends,” said Wineberg, who lives in Miamisburg with his wife, Kristin, daughter, Mia, 8, and son, Eli, 5. “It doesn’t cut into my family time as much.”
Wineberg never lost in high school after Princeton’s Quincy Norris beat him in 103-pound competition of the Greater Miami Conference tournament and again in the next week’s sectional tournament. He still placed well enough to qualify for the district tournament and won, earning a state tournament berth and reaching the finals, where he gained some measure of revenge with a 4-2 win over Norris.
He posted one-point championship-round wins at 112 pounds each of the next two seasons before his dramatic senior-season finale against Rockey, which went through one sudden-death overtime before being decided in what then was a brand-new “criteria” round, in which the wrestler who won the flip of a colored card got to choose his position – up and down – in which he’d start the match. Rockey’s color came up and he chose down.
If he escaped, he’d win. If Wineberg maintained control for 30 seconds, he’d win.
Wineberg had been described as a “defensive” wrestler, so this scenario seemed to play to his strength.
“They called me defensive, but I took a lot of shots,” he recalled. “If I took a shot, a lot of times there was a reason for it. Part of the reason they would say that is I never got scored on a lot. If you don’t give up any points, it’s hard to beat you. I didn’t think of myself as a defensive wrestler.
More: Glory Days: Fairfield's state title earned with confidence
“I remember watching the flip. I felt like I could get out from under everybody. I would’ve chosen down. I would’ve gotten out. He chose down, so I had to reset my mind. There wasn’t any nervousness. I just had to hold him down.
“Looking back on it, all of those matches were very close, but I always felt like I was in control. I just spent two weeks with Dad, and we were talking about the (championship) match my junior year. I was down 3-0 with 3-1/2 minutes to go. I got some calls. I got two fleeing-the-match calls. There’s two points right there. I won by one. They were both legitimate calls. He would’ve been in a worse position if he hadn’t given up.
“I always felt like I was in control. I don’t know if I was, but I felt like it.”
As Wineberg has grown older and started a family, the glow from winning all of those championships has been superseded by the lasting lessons he learned from Masanek, who retired in 2014 after a 48-year career as the Indians’ wrestling coach. They no doubt come up every summer when he gathers with his high school teammates for reunions.
One is the “Four Ws.”
“Know who you are,” Wineberg explained. “Know where you came from. Know where you want to go. Know who got you there.”
Another is “Hubba, hubba, hubba.”
“That means, ‘Let’s go.’”
One regarding moderation sparked a chuckle.
“’You can’t be out hooting with the owls if you want to fly with the eagles,’” Wineberg said. “Those things keep coming back in life. Coaching, teaching – the things Coach taught us kind of stand out. The state championships were great. They’ve given me a lot of opportunities in my life, but those are the things that stand out. Besides what you teach as far as techniques, you try to get kids to make better decisions.
“He was big about life goals. Those are the things I remember from high school.”
Glory Days is a regular feature of Enquirer Media celebrating key moments, personalities and teams in Cincinnati’s rich preps sports history. Send your story ideas to mlaughman@enquirer.com.
