BERLIN – A local wrestling coach is being honored for his nearly four decades of commitment to the sport.
Salisbury resident Alphonso Henry, assistant wrestling coach at James M. Bennett High School, will receive the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum this fall.
Henry is honored to receive the recognition but says it’s not what brings him back to the gym each year.
“I’m going on my 38th year wrestling,” he said. “People ask me if I’m going to retire and I say no. It’s not about me it’s about the kids.”
Henry, who grew up in the Germantown area of Berlin, was one of several family members who started wrestling as children.
“We took a chance to do something we’d never done before,” Henry said. “As kids we’d go out and wrestle. Once we got established and learned how to wrestle, it changed things.”
When he entered Stephen Decatur High School in 1971, there was no doubt Henry would try out for the school’s wrestling team. During the next four years, he went on to be a finalist in the district tournament and qualified for the regional tournament three years in a row.
“It was fun,” he said. “You’d learn new techniques and skills and then you’d adapt to how your opponents wrestled. You’re also meeting a whole lot of new people.”
It was the camaraderie of the sport that prompted him to turn to coaching. After starting as a volunteer, he went on to coach at Stephen Decatur High School with former teammate Ron Foreman for 20 years.
“We took a lot of guys to states,” Foreman recalled.
Alphonso Henry, standing third from left, is pictured in a 1974 article in the Maryland Coast Press with his teammates from Stephen Decatur. Photo by Charlene Sharpe
While he loved coaching, in an effort to spend more time with his two young children, Henry eventually gave up the position.
It wasn’t long however until he was recruited by Wicomico County’s athletic department. He agreed to take a position coaching at Wi-Hi.
“I said yes when they told me Reggie Ames was going to be the head coach,” Henry said, recalling Ames’ coaching success.
He spent three years as assistant coach at Wicomico High School before joining the coaching staff at Bennett. He’s been there the past 14 years and has no plans of leaving.
“I love seeing kids work hard and accomplish something,” he said.
John D’Amico, head wrestling coach at Bennett, says Henry is a valuable asset to the school’s wrestling team.
“He’s been with the program forever,” D’Amico said. “I just started last year and he’s been a tremendous help to me.”
In addition to his formal coaching duties, Henry has given his time to numerous summer and drop-in wrestling programs as well as a teen intervention initiative during the past few decades. In 2003, he even operated his own program, the Wicomico Athletic Club. Henry has never minded sharing his wrestling expertise because he’s seen the way the sport benefits children. He knows it can help improve self-esteem and self-control.
“It gives the kids something to learn,” he said. “They have the chance to accomplish something better. Some kids don’t get many opportunities.”
While he primarily coaches teenagers, Henry has returned to the mat himself on occasion. As an adult he participated in Home Team Sports and took part in wrestling competitions at Salisbury State University and College Park.
Henry has been honored with numerous sportsmanship awards during his career and in 1997 won the Maryland State Service Award. In early 2017, he earned the Olympus Club honor from the Maryland District 7 and 8 Wrestling Coaches Association for surpassing 50 coaching wins. At the urging of several of his fellow coaches, he submitted an application to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame not long after. Nevertheless he was surprised to receive a letter from the organization this summer.
“I had to sit down,” he said. “I read it two or three times before it sunk in.”
On Oct. 1 Henry will receive the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award at a banquet hosted by the Maryland chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Annapolis. Henry, a longtime employee at the Salisbury Wastewater Treatment Plant, lives with his wife Mona Lisa in Salisbury.
