Inductees

Mike says that compared to today’s student-athletes, “I was just an average wrestler on my best day.” He did manage to place third and win a championship in the South Yosemite League, placing fourth in the CIF Central Section. In 1962, he was the Team Captain at South Bakersfield High School on the first of many league championship teams for that school, wrestling for Hall of Fame Coach Bruce Pfutzenreuter.

Mike lost only one dual meet in his last two years there. At Bakersfield College, Mike again lost only one dual meet while placing third in the Metropolitan League and winning the South Central Regionals on teams that won the League and Regionals. Military service in the U.S. Army cut short his wrestling career. At Chico State, Mike was Assistant Coach for two years under Northern California coaching legend Dick Trimmer, with the team winning the Far Western Conference.

In the 50-plus years that he’s been involved with the sport of wrestling, Mike has been a high school and collegiate competitor, a referee, and a coach on some level for more than 30 years. “I was very fortunate to coach with the finest coaches in the history of the Central Section, including Joe Seay, Art Chavez, Bob Lathrop, and Gene Walker. I even coached with my son, Ty.”

He continues to support the sport as a fan, a booster and a fund-raiser. As a founding board member and current chairman of the Coyote Club, a wrestling support group established in 1986, Stricker has led the organization in raising almost $2 million during the past 24 years. He compiled and edited The History of Central Section Wrestling, a 480-page book that is the only one of its kind.

Mike was a founding board member of the Kern County Wrestling Association, serving as an officer from 1974 to 1984. He served on two different committees that brought the CIF State Wrestling Championships to Bakersfield. In 2000, Stricker was honored with the Irv Oliner Award by the California Wrestling Coaches Association for Outstanding Contribution to California High School Wrestling. He was inducted into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.