'We lost a legend.' Rockford-area wrestling icon dies
Chuck Fletcher, who coached Harlem wrestling for 36 years before retiring in 2002, died last week.
“He was Harlem wrestling,” said Jim Swanson, a two-time state medalist on Fletcher’s 2000 and 2001 teams.
He was more than that. Rival coaches called him a NIC-10 wrestling icon.
“When you think of NIC-10 wrestling — or wrestling in this area, period — you think of Charlie Fletcher,” current East coach Gene Lee said. “He was just a great guy, very humble but very competitive. I got to watch my coach, Perry (Giardini), and Charlie yell at each other and when it was over it was done. That’s hard to find nowadays.
"He was a wrestling icon. We lost a legend.”
More: My favorite former NIC-10 coaches
Fletcher coached wrestling longer than any other coach in NIC-10 history and did it all at one school.
He was known for being incredibly fair. He set the tone at coaches meetings by sometimes supporting a rival school’s kid over one of his own Huskies for all-conference honors.
“Charlie was always going to give you an honest opinion of what was going on,” Giardini said. “When it came time for all-conference teams, we tried to forget where the kids were from and just vote for the kid. Charlie was instrumental in that.
"And I went fishing with him, too, which makes him even better.”
Fletcher's funeral will be for immediate family only. A celebration of his life event is being planned at the end of June, when people are invited to pay their respects.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: 'We lost a legend.' Rockford-area wrestling icon Chuck Fletcher dies
