Sep 17, 2013 3 min read

For a few hours Saturday, they will sit at Trinity High School’s cafeteria, eating lunch and telling the tales of their days wrestling at Trinity.

The master of ceremony, if it can be called that, will be Stan Dubelle, the former wrestling coach at Trinity. The group surrounding him will be made up of many of the wrestlers who competed under his guidance from 1957-1965.

That will be the atmosphere surrounding the third private reunion of this group that is expected to draw about three dozen of Dubelle’s former wrestlers.

“I tried to have a program that was more than just winning and losing,” said Dubelle, who is retired and lives in Dauphin County. “I guess all coaches tend to say that. But ours was a program that tried to teach life lessons.”

Dubelle is a 1950 graduate of Washington High School and 1954 grad of Franklin & Marshall College. His 108-28-1 record is the best in the illustrious history of Trinity wrestling. He coached seven state champions and 17 WPIAL champions, many of whom attended the first two reunions.

“It’s a way for wrestlers to get together and talk about those times,” said Gary Johnson, who was a starter on the 1959-60 and 1960-61 teams and who has helped organize this event. “We have a lot of respect for Dr. Dubelle. Not only was he an excellent wrestling coach, but he was a master school teacher. He never showed favoritism, and he set a great example for us to follow.”

Dubelle, who was inducted into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010, led the Hillers to the WPIAL team championship in 1966 with a 14-0 record.

“The favorite part (of coaching) for me was watching the boys turn into men,” said Dubelle. “I was so proud of the courage they showed. We had 17 boys serve in Vietnam. They became good husbands, good fathers and good family members.”

What makes this reunion unusual is that the wrestlers were the ones who organized it. Many times, team reunite under a school function, such as Homecoming or a pre-match ceremony.

“We have about 80 people on our list,” said Johnson, “and most of them have made one of the reunions. We’ve been accumulating the names over the past couple of years. As time went on, someone knew someone else, who knew someone else.”

Frank Mosier, who wrestled from 1958-62, also has been an organizer for these events.

“It’s a team effort,” Mosier said. “It’s not an I or a me or a he. There is such remarkable chemistry with these guys. Coach Dubelle is proud of the life lessons he taught and proud as a peacock of his wrestlers.”

Before lunch, the group will tour the updated wrestling facilities.

“I thought it was a good idea to get together,” Dubelle said. “I was pretty hard on them. They worked their (behinds) off. They accomplished a lot, and that’s a testimony to them.”