Former Criminals wrestler who has dedicated life to sport has date with Hall of Fame

Ever since Tom Daniel graduated from Yuma High in 1956, wrestling played a prominent role in shaping his future.

It opened educational opportunities, where he became one of the first to earn a wrestling scholarship from Arizona State University; taught him valuable life lessons; and it helped establish close, lifelong friendships.

Daniel repaid the favor with five decades of service to the sport as a coach and mentor, helping others catch the same breaks that wrestling sent his way more than 50 years ago.

And for his tireless, lifelong commitment, Daniel is being honored with the "Lifetime Service to Wrestling" distinction Saturday at the Arizona State Wrestling Complex in Tempe. He will be permanently recognized with a plaque at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Museum in Stillwater, Okla.

"It caught me by surprise. I've been out of the wrestling room as a hands-on guy for quite a while," said Daniel, who coached at Yuma High for parts of four decades. "But the interest in wrestling has never left me. It's been a very important part of my life and always will be."

Daniel wrestled for three years at ASU during the infancy of its wrestling program. He compiled a 34-2-1 record at the 138 and 145-pound classes.

After college, Daniel returned to Yuma and began coaching at his alma mater in 1963, serving three different tenures in every decade through 1990 when he retired.

The Criminals' wrestling program was always a contender for a state title during the Daniel era, producing several individual state champions and state placers. But he said his crowning achievement was seeing what his wrestlers did after graduating. Daniel helped more than 100 members from his program over the years wrestle at the collegiate level.

"That is really the highlight of my program - how many kids I was able to help," Daniel said. "I really felt like the wrestling program is what got me into college. When I came back to Yuma to coach, my intent was to give kids the same chance that I had because it made a difference in my life and I'm sure wrestling has made a difference in the lives of a lot of kids that I coached."

Though Daniel still calls Yuma home, he maintains close ties to the Arizona State program, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1990.

Daniel serves as an ambassador for the Sun Angel Foundation - the fund-raising arm of the ASU athletic department - and he's on the Sun Devil Club wrestling advisory committee.

Although Daniel hasn't been a hands-on coach for the last 17 years, his passion for teaching and guiding young men is as strong as it was when his career began in 1963. He works with the ASU wrestling program as a mentor to one of its wrestlers.

"Once a coach, always a coach," Daniel said. "Wrestling is a way of life. It teaches you to survive - if you get down, how to get up again. There's a lot of hard work and sacrifice involved in wrestling just like there is in life. Our job is to prepare these young men to go out into life, and I think wrestling is a good start."

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Derrik Miller can be reached at dmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.