Hall of Fame 2007
Gus Paz
Class of 1982
Wildcat Glory and Honor
Gustavo
Paz, one of six children, was
born in 1964 to Roberto and Guadalupe Paz in Watsonville and attended Amesti School
and Rolling
Hills Middle
School.
He learned the value of hard work from his
parents. When he and his siblings
were young, they helped their parents pick strawberries and apples.
In the fall of 1978 he
became a freshman at Watsonville High
School and decided to go out for the soccer
team. On his way out to soccer
practice, he got nervous and decided to go home. Before he left the fieldhouse some
friends and coach Gary Garcia talked him into going out for wrestling.
As a freshman, he had a
record of 10-14. During his
sophomore year, he had more success, placing second at the Monterey Bay League
and was one match away from qualifying for the sections. As a junior, he was MBL champion and
Region IV runner-up. He was one
match away from placing at the sections.
During his senior year
(1981-1982) he earned a record of 35-2, losing to the same person twice that
year, and then defeating him at the state tournament. He was the MBL Champion, CCS Tournament
Champion, and the CIF State Champion at 132 pounds. He was also named "Outstanding High
School Wrestler" by the wrestling officials.
Gus wrestled at
West
Valley Community College from 1983-1985 and holds
the school record for most tournaments won in a season. During the summer of 1986, he traveled
to Japan for 3 weeks and wrestled
against Japanese teams. He was
undefeated. This was an
unforgettable experience for him.
He enjoyed meeting and living with the people of Japan
and gained some understanding of how it feels to be in a country and not
understand the language.
After wrestling at
West
Valley, Gus wanted to give
back to the program that had given him success and confidence. He started helping Gary Garcia, his
former high school coach, by working out with the team, showing different
wrestling techniques. This
eventually evolved into an assistant coach position. He was head coach and co-head coach with
Gary for many
years. During this time WHS teams
had much success with 13 league titles and placing first, second, and fourth at
the CCS Tournament and fifth at the CIF State Tournament. They had 10 wrestlers
in CCS Championships which many others placed. Two WHS wrestlers were in the CIF finals
and placed second, while 4 other wrestlers were CIF state placers. Five wrestlers qualified for the
National championship tournament and one, Peter Borba, placed sixth. Gus is very proud to have been given the
opportunity to work with student athletes and see their successes in wrestling
at WHS and in life.
Gus has always been
very artistic as well. He designed
wrestling brackets for several tournaments such as the Junior College State
Championship, Mid Cal HS Tournament, MBL and SCCAL League Championships, and the
Jimmy Hildebrand Memorial Junior High Tournament. In 1984, he painted the Olympic figures
in the old Alianza Gym (now Cesar Chavez Junior High). He has painted the Babe Ruth logo
on the baseball field for the Western Region Tournament and the "W" and "CATZ"
on Geiser Field for football games.
Gus and his wife,
Julie, have two young sons, Zachary and Nicholas. He currently works for PVUSD in the
Maintenance department as a carpenter.
He is looking forward to continuing his work with Watsonville High School wrestlers and seeing his own
sons wrestle in black and gold.
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