Wrestling around the world

Sherwood High coach William Taylor leads an Oregon Cultural Exchange wrestling squad to Japan

By Bill Wilson

The Times, Jul 5, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

JONATHAN HOUSE / The Times

SPANNING THE GLOBE — Sherwood wrestling coach William Taylor (right), here with fellow coach Mat Sprague, is the head coach for an Oregon Cultural Exchange team that traveled to Japan.

ADVERTISEMENTS

William Taylor got to see the world as a national-caliber wrestler in the 1980s.

As a member of the U.S. National team that competed in several world championships, Taylor traveled to Russia, Hungary, Budapest, Germany, France, Italy, and Cuba among others.

But he’d never been Japan.

Never, that is, until he left for there back in June with a group of the state’s best wrestlers for a nearly two-week visit as part of the Oregon Cultural Exchange team. Taylor, the head wrestling coach at Sherwood High School the past two seasons, will serve as the exchange team’s leader nearly 25 years after competing in the same program for a squad that traveled to Germany.

“I felt very honored,” Taylor, a two-time state champion for Benson High School, said prior to the trip. “I’m getting more excited the closer we come to the trip.”

Taylor was nominated for the position based on his past experiences with trips overseas as an athlete and dedication to wrestling. He was selected by a committee to serve as the team’s head coach with assistant Matthew Sprague, another former two-time state champion (1990 and 1993) and member of the cultural exchange team.

”It’s neat that they were one of the kids and now they’re a couple of the coaches,” said program director Scott Revas. “Both are excellent coaches. It’s very important to me that they aren’t just coaches during the high school season. They’re the ones helping kids all the time.”

Taylor has spent a lifetime in wrestling, starting in grade school. While at Benson, he was a four-time state placewinner and took the 141-pound titles in 1982 and 1983. Following the 1982-83 season in which he was named a high school All-American, Taylor participated on the Oregon Cultural Exchange team that traveled to Germany.

“It was a great, great time,” said Taylor of the Germany trip. “It was such a great experience for me. I want to give these kids the same experience I had.”

Taylor’s group includes ties to that 1983 team. Zach Kerney made the 2007 squad at 165 pounds and is the nephew of current University of Oregon wrestling coach Chuck Kerney, who was on the team with Taylor, and the grandson of the 1983 exchange team’s coach Chuck Kerney Sr., who was the 1983 squad’s coach.

Members made the team by winning an intense qualifying tournament in mid-March in Scappoose. The freestyle tournament included a best-of-three finals with the winner earning a spot on the team in addition to three wild cards that were voted on by a panel of coaches.

1 | 2 Next Page >>