National Deaf Wrestling Tournament Renamed After Legendary Coach

Published Date

By Chris Kaftan

When Marty Willigan was a little boy, all he wanted to do was to follow his older brother. He idolized his brother and wanted to wrestle just like his brother. Willigan also had a childhood mastoid disease, and to stay away from hospitals and doctors, he kept himself busy on the wrestling mat.

Because of his dedication and passion for wrestling, Willigan became a long-time coach of wrestling at Gallaudet University, starting what is considered the current family of coaches at schools of the deaf across the United States. The National Deaf Prep Duals Wrestling Tournament will be renamed the Willigan Wrestling Tournament.

When Willigan, who grew up in Long Island, NY, tried out for football in high school, he found that he was too light and not big enough to continue so Willigan joined the J.V. wrestling team during his freshman and sophomore years. During his junior year, Willigan was selected as team captain and placed second in his county in New York. In his senior year of high school, Willigan placed third in the state championships and that brought him a scholarship to Eastern Kentucky University.

During his first two years at EKU, he had 32 matches with 31 pins. Wanting to move closer home, Willigan transferred to Hofstra University and under Coach Robert Getchel’s tutelage, Willigan learned more technical skills and gained more experience wrestling at the NCAA Division-I level.

Willigan placed fourth at the NCAA Championships in 1968, and second in 1969, losing to the legendary Dan Gable in the finals. The loss was Willigan’s only one that season after 44 wins.

“My experience wrestling against Dan Gable was a challenge because I had to wrestle against six other opponents beforehand to reach the slot to wrestle against him,” said Willigan. “I felt very lucky to have met Dan Gable, a great wrestler with so much dedication and heart for our sport.”

After graduating from Hofstra in 1969, Willigan was selected as a member of the USA Deaf Wrestling Team at the World Games for the Deaf in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and again in 1973 in Malmo, Sweden, and won a gold medal each time.

Willigan started coaching in 1970 at Gallaudet University. “Former coaches Tom Clayton, Ray Parks and Dick Hoke left the Gallaudet University wrestling program in great shape and with a good reputation in the wrestling community especially [NCAA] Division III,” explained Willigan.

Willigan also coached the American wrestling teams in the 1977, 1981, 1985 and 1993 World Games for the Deaf. During the 1989 Games, he coached the Canadian wrestling team. “Don McCarthy (a graduate of Gallaudet University) on behalf of the Canadian Association of the Deaf asked me to coach and assist with Canadian Wrestling Team,” said Willigan.

“It was a challenging experience for me to coach against the United States, especially my very own wrestlers such as Jeff White, Todd Silvestri and few others.”

Willigan also served as head coach of the Model Secondary School for the Deaf from 1980 to 1985.

Willigan worked at Gallaudet University for 34 years and in 2000 was inducted into the NCAA Division III Hall of Fame for his coaching contributions. Willigan is also a member of the USA Deaf Sports Federation Hall of Fame.

During his career as coach, Willigan produced four NCAA All-Americans and the 1989-1990 Gallaudet wrestling team placed 11^th at the NCAA Division III championships.

Speaking of the honor of having the tournament named after him, Willigan said he is very honored of having it named after him. “This privilege is mine and I hope that with my great experience coaching my athletes and that the athletes will find their own experiences as rewarding as mine was.”

All photos courtesy of the Willigan Family.