Wrestling has always been in Eural “Mac” McLaughlin’s blood.
He wrestled in high school and college. And when he came to Joliet to teach physical education, McLaughlin took up coaching at Joliet Central High School. He was a pioneering African American wrestling coach in the school’s conference.
On Sunday, the Joliet resident will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame at a special event 3 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in Countryside. His name also will appear in the organization’s national museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
“This is where Dan Gable (a former Olympic wrestler and standout Iowa college coach) and other people (are honored),” McLaughlin, affectionately known as “Coach Mac” said. “This is the epitome.”
McLaughlin, 74, first started coaching wrestlers at Joliet Central High School in 1967. He served as head coach from 1970 to 2010. During his tenure, he led his team to more than 500 dual meet wins, six conference championships and one dual state championship. He also coached seven individual state champions, eight state finalist runners up, 34 individual state place winners and 109 state qualifiers.
And though he retired from coaching in 2010, McLaughlin still keeps in touch with his wrestlers at an annual picnic he hosts and through periodic phone calls or visits from his former student athletes.
“The impact he had in Illinois and our sport …. it’s an honor for us to have him in the group and being honored like this,” said Randy Conrad, chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
McLaughlin, who now works part-time providing security in the cafeteria at Joliet Central, taught physical education and later served as a dean at the high school until he retired in 2010. In addition to wrestling, he coached football and badminton. In 2000, he served as an assistant coach for Joliet Central’s State Championship softball team.
When McLaughlin first started coaching in the late 60’s, he said he was the only African American head wrestling coach in the old Illinois 8 conference. He said he faced his own challenges as an African American.
“They were all great coaches, but I was not accepted right away,” he said. “I had to beat them in their game.”
And though he is known for his achievements as a high school wrestling coach, McLaughlin said his success wouldn’t have been possible without his student athletes. He still keeps in touch with his former wrestlers and hosts an annual picnic for them. Many also have kept in touch with McLaughlin through the years.
“To this day (we get) telephone calls, visits from former wrestlers,” said McLaughlin’s wife, Gail, noting how they run into former wrestlers at restaurants, stores and even at the airport. “He’s probably got wrestlers all over the U.S.”
Pointing to her husband’s history in wrestling, she said he had a “love” for the sport, but seeing the students he coached or counseled as dean succeed is what mattered most to him.
“He always told me if I helped out one kid it was all worth it,” his wife said.
McLaughlin was named Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association’s Coach of the Year in 1985 and in 2004 he served as Grand Marshal at the Illinois High School Association’s Individual State Championships. McLaughlin, a former North Central College three-sport athlete, also is in the Naperville college’s hall of fame. As a Dunbar high school athlete in Chicago, McLaughlin was a state qualifier in wrestling.
Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
