When Henry MacErnie retires at the end of this school year as Española Valley High School’s wrestling coach, it will mark the end of an era that stretches back more than 30 years.
His career at Española has had its ups and downs. He has been fired twice after first being hired in 1975.
He initially shrugged and cracked a smile when asked if he would talk about his career.
“Don’t talk about me, talk about the kids,” MacErnie said modestly. “They’re the ones that mean anything.”
He may not want to acknowledge it, but what MacErnie has meant to Española wrestling cannot be measured. Española wrestling and Henry MacErnie have become synonymous.
MacErnie, 61, may not want to talk about himself, but former athletes are enthusiastic when they talk about him. You don’t have to look any further than this year’s Española team to realize how deeply MacErnie has made an impact on the lives of Española Valley athletes over the years.
Junior Dino Gipson is a four-time District 2AAAA champion and the first Sundevil eighth-grader to win a district wrestling title. Gipson’s father, Chris Gipson, wrestled for MacErnie as a freshman in 1988, when MacErnie had just been rehired as wrestling coach.
“I wrestled until I graduated,” Chris Gipson said. “Everything I learned from Mr. MacErnie I taught to Dino.”
The elder Gipson was part of a team that won four straight District 1AAAA wrestling titles from 1989 to 1992.
“It’s going to be hard to see (MacErnie) go,” he said. “He’s one hell of a coach and I’m thankful both of us got to learn under him.”
Another member of that older team also has a son wrestling this season for MacErnie. Angelo Atencio was a district champion at 135 pounds before graduating in 1990. His son, sophomore Corey Atencio, now wrestles at 140 pounds.
“It’s awesome (that MacErnie coaches his son),” Angelo Atencio said. “(MacErnie) was by my side when I went to war and now he’s by my boy’s side when he goes to war.”
MacErnie’s assistant coach, Aaron Salinas, also wrestled for Española Valley, but it was during a time when MacErnie was not the coach.
“I remember when I was in junior high I was hoping he would be my coach,” Salinas, a 1987 graduate, said. “He never coached the four years I was in high school.”
Salinas has appreciated the 10 years he has been MacErnie’s assistant. He hopes to take over the wrestling program once MacErnie retires.
“It’s not only the wrestling techniques he taught me,” Salinas said. “It’s how to be a mentor, teach these young athletes how to be successful adults.”
The reason MacErnie was not at Española during Salinas’ high school career was he had been constantly locking horns with administration.
“I got fired a couple of times (from Española),” he said. “I guess I was too outspoken and wasn’t very diplomatic.”
Española is where MacErnie wanted to be, even if there were times when Española didn’t want him.
“After I graduated from college, I wanted to come back and coach at Española,” MacErnie said. “That was my dream.”
SUBHED
MacErnie grew up in Ranchitos, the oldest of Ernesto and Antonette Bustos-MacErnie’s 12 children. He wrestled for Española High School before graduating in 1966.
He joined the National Guard after college and moved with his family to California, where he attended El Camino Junior College in Torrance, Calif.
“Growing up we really didn’t have much,” MacErnie said. “My dad always told me to get a good education and he inspired me.”
It was at El Camino that his wrestling career blossomed. MacErnie’s coach was Dave Hengsteler, who had won three California Community College Coach of the Year awards.
“He was an awesome coach,” MacErnie said. “He was a championship coach.”
MacErnie, who wrestled at 150 pounds, didn’t start out as a star on the El Camino team.
“I took my lumps,” MacErnie said. “It took me two weeks to get my first takedown against the lightest guy on the team (118 pounds).”
MacErnie improved and later wrestled at California State University-Fullerton. He competed at the 1971 collegiate national championships, losing to Stan Dziedzic, who would win a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics.
“I drew him in the first round,” MacErnie remembers.
After college, MacErnie’s life almost ended before it began.
MacErnie was seriously injured in a shooting in Albuquerque that claimed the life of his brother Daniel. Daniel had just received a scholarship to wrestle at the University of New Mexico.
“We got into a fight, and they had weapons,” MacErnie said. “They used them. I was shot in the back.”
The bullet went through MacErnie’s body, destroying three-quarters of his liver and puncturing his lung. He recovered quickly.
“I recovered in a month,” MacErnie said. “I attribute that to my college conditioning.”
MacErnie began his career as an assistant coach at Española High School in 1975 and took over as head coach the following year. He was not rehired in 1979 when he was about to receive tenure.
“I was young and full of fire,” MacErnie said. “I’ve always been a rebel-rouser.”
MacErnie took a job at Peñasco High School, where he coached Robert Dominguez. Dominguez would later coach his nephew Dylan Dominguez, who won a state championship in 2006 as a freshman at Peñasco. Dylan Dominguez transferred to Española Valley High School for his senior year and won his second state championship in 2009.
MacErnie also coached at Springer High School and New Mexico Highlands University before returning to Española in 1983 as a teacher and coach. MacErnie didn’t last long. He was fired in a massive house-cleaning by then-athletic director Joe Madrid.
“(Madrid) was horrible,” Mac Ernie said. “Instead of firing him they fired all the coaches except one or two.”
For the next four years MacErnie coached at Grants High School and then worked for state government. MacErnie returned to Española in 1988 and has been at the school ever since.
“I guess I learned to keep my mouth shut — not really,” MacErnie said.
MacErnie still has his run-ins with athletic directors because he thinks wrestling never gets any respect.
“It’s on the bottom of the totem pole,” MacErnie said. “I think most athletic directors would like to get rid of it because it means less work for them.”
Just last week, MacErnie criticized athletic director Theresa Flores because she would not allow the wrestling team to leave school early Feb. 18 to go to this year’s state wrestling meet in Rio Rancho. In an earlier stint as athletic director, Flores had not recommended MacErnie for rehire in 2003, although he did keep his job.
“It’s hard to be patient with administration,” he said. “I’m trying to get things done.”
What MacErnie has done during his career at Española is coach seven state champions beginning with Chris Medina in 1978. He has won 11 district championships, including six District 2AAAA titles since 2000. “I remember my first state champion (Chris Medina),” MacErnie said. “There was my first freshman (Don Medina in 2005) to win a state championship. The first eighth-grader (Dino Gipson in 2006) to be district champion — Jesse Berryhill (state champion in 2001), Dylan (Dominguez). You remember them all.”
The one goal that has alluded MacErnie is a team state title. MacErnie said a lack of wrestlers has kept some talented Sundevil teams from reaching that goal.
“I’ve always had small numbers and maybe two full teams all these years,” he said.
This year’s team, MacErnie’s last, qualified nine wrestlers for the state tournament. The team finished in 13th place but senior Mariano Montoya became the latest Sundevil state champion and the first one to go undefeated.
“They’re all really good kids,” MacErnie said. “Mariano keeps them in line. He’s an excellent role model.”
With the 2010 wrestling season over, a long chapter in the athletic history at Española Valley High School has ended as well.
“I’m done,” MacErnie said.