MHS Coach Honored with National Sportsmanship Award

Victory was at hand, but Manchester High School Wrestling Coach Lou LaGuardia felt his team didn’t deserve to win.

Facing crosstown rival East Catholic High School, LaGuardia did something competitors never do – he simply refused to accept victory.

“East Catholic only had five or six guys to wrestle but they out wrestled us, and instead of our team stealing the match with eight forfeits, and winning it based on forfeits … I pulled the guys back and basically allowed East Catholic to win,” recalled LaGuardia this week.

It was an unusual occurrence that had unexpected results for LaGuardia, who will be honored this Saturday, April 30 in St. Louis with a National Sportsmanship Award. Technically, the Manchester High School wrestling team is being recognized and the Indians will be represented by LaGuardia.

In all, the 2011 National Sportsmanship Awards will honor 16 individuals/teams this Saturday at the Edward Jones Auditorium on the campus of Edward Jones' headquarters in St. Louis.

The awards – produced annually by the St. Louis Sports Commission and the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance and presented by Maryville University in St. Louis – highlight “the most remarkable examples of sportsmanship,” according to organizers.

The event strives to honor “athletes and personalities” from around the nation for their “integrity, class, selflessness, perseverance, kindness, community service and overall commitment to sportsmanship.”

In that February 2010 match against East Catholic, LaGuardia pretty much covered all of those bases. According to awards organizers, East Catholic led Manchester in a dual meet with four matches to go; however, East Catholic was on the verge of losing the meet because the team did not have any wrestlers available to compete in the remaining weight classes. 

So LaGuardia turned the tables, deciding his team would forfeit the final four matches, resulting in no points being awarded to either squad, said organizers. Instead of a win for Manchester, the meet concluded with a 30-24 East Catholic victory.

“It was an on-the-spot decision,” recalled LaGuardia. “I called everybody over and said, ‘We don’t deserve to win, this is what’s going to happen.”’

LaGuardia said his athletes were initially “shocked” by his decision. “They were upset; it was a big rivalry match and they were kind of surprised…but it was a lesson to be learned,” he said.

The MHS coach just didn’t feel right beating a team he felt clearly out performed his Indians. In fact, East Catholic had won every match in the meet in which it had a wrestler compete. “We’ve been in situations as a team when I first started coaching where we may not have had the numbers but we out wrestled teams and it was real bitter to lose by two or three forfeits at the end,” said LaGuardia.

He added, “Coming off of those situations, and the fact that our guys were completely outmatched just based on the guys who showed up [for East Catholic], I didn’t want to take it away from East Catholic—they deserved to win. Wrestling should be judged by what you do on the mat.”

East Catholic coach Jason Marsh was definitely caught off guard. “I didn’t actually know what was going on till it was over,” recalled Marsh. “After the last match we had wrestled, I called my guys in and told them they did an amazing job, we had won every match we wrestled, but unfortunately that’s the game. Next thing I knew the crowd was screaming and the scoreboard hadn’t changed and we were still winning.”

As he shook hands with LaGuardia, Marsh said he asked him what was going through his mind. “I asked Lou what he was thinking and he told me it wasn’t fair that they take the win from us through forfeits when they didn’t win a single match on the mat,” recalled Marsh. “I was stunned. It didn’t hit me till I got home and I was almost emotional about it because I’ve never heard of anything like this ever before. Most coaches would have taken the win no matter what the cost but Lou put kids and sportsmanship first. That’s heroic as a coach. He is an honorable man who is more than deserving of this award.”

National Sportsmanship Awards organizers referred to the actions of LaGuardia and his team as “sportsmanship in its purest form,” adding, “The school showed respect to an opponent for a superior performance.”

Though LaGuardia has since been praised for his actions, he was initially concerned that parents may react negatively. However, he received immediate support from the school’s then athletic director and his athletes’ parents. “The parents came back to me within a day or two and said, ‘I really appreciate what you did and it was the right thing to do,’” said LaGuardia.

A 1993 MHS graduate who wrestled for the Indians and at Southern Connecticut State University, LaGuardia recently completed his sixth year as Manchester’s wrestling coach. And, as one might expect, sportsmanship is a big part of his message to his players. “Wrestling’s a highly emotional sport; win or lose, it’s really hard to contain yourself and we have to,” said LaGuardia. “It’s probably one of the few sports where if you act unsportsmanlike you will actually lose a team point.”

As a result, all wrestling coaches are “very serious” about sportsmanship, according to LaGuardia. He explained, “If you have a kid who throws his headgear or swears, you’re going to lose that point off the scoreboard and that could be the difference in a match.”

Manchester’s current Athletic Director, Lindsey Boutilier, praised LaGuardia’s actions, which he noted taught the athletes that competition isn’t always about just getting the victory.  He observed, “Coach LaGuardia proved to his athletes and the community that participation in athletics is not always about winning and losing. The fact that coach is being recognized on the national level is a testament to his coaching values and his beliefs in sportsmanship. The Manchester High School athletic community is proud of coach LaGuardia and fortunate he is a positive role model and coach for the wrestlers at Manchester High School.”

Go here for more information about the awards.