Brian Hagberg
RUSSELL, Pa. – Making a long journey to watch as his son competed in the offseason was old hat at this point.
Still, there was something new and different about this trip. The weekend wasn’t spent watching the one-on-one competition on the wrestling mat. No, this time it was five on five on the hardwood. And there was something exciting about what that meant for the future.
For Kris Black, the better part of the last 20 years has been spent coaching wrestling in one form or another. He’s spent the last six seasons as the head coach of the Eisenhower Knights, and that came after spending more than a decade in that role before taking some time off prior to this latest tenure.
That tenure came to an end recently as Black resigned as head coach of the Knights, and though Black said he’ll miss the relationships he’s built through wrestling, he’s looking forward to what the future holds.
“It was one of those things where it was the right time to leave it before and then it was the right time to get back into it. Now it’s the right time to get out,” Black said. “It was a nice ride, it was a fun ride. So it’s just time for something else now.”
Black has left an enduring mark on the Eisenhower program. Not just in terms of wins and losses, which Black readily admitted he didn’t keep track of, but in the type of wrestlers, and men, he helped mold.
“Coach Black has cemented himself as one of the great coaches of Eisenhower wrestling alongside the likes of Tony Ross and Joe Letko,” Eisenhower assistant coach Dr. Dennis Johnson said. “Over the past six years in his latest stint as coach, he mentored a program that again became relevant in District 10. He was an exceptional match-day tactician, often creating individual matchups to ensure a dual meet victory. As a favorite teacher in the school, he had the ability to get the kids out for the sport and created a culture that emphasized positive life skills. He will certainly be missed by Eisenhower wrestling.”
Black learned many of those lessons himself under Johnson’s tutelage as Johnson coached Black as a high school wrestler. Having Johnson by his side for the last six years, Black said, helped make him a better coach.
“Denny was was my coach in high school,” Black said. “And then to have him come back and help me and we didn’t always agree on stuff but he definitely always had a different point of view. And you know, I think if you’re going to be successful you’ve got to surround yourself with people that have different points of view because if everybody’s looking at things the same way, you’re gonna miss stuff. I think you have to have some different personalities, different mindsets on that team to try and come up with the best program because the head coach isn’t always right. I’d love to say we’re (head coach) never wrong, but that’s just not real.”
And while Black looks ahead to the future, some of those he’s coached, and coached against, reflected on the impact he’s had not only on the Knights’ program but on the individuals who have come through it as well.
“I leave everything to him cause he pushed us every day, and he pushed us to be better men too,” current Eisenhower senior Gannon Jaquay said. “He would make sure every night that we would work our hardest, that was the expectation that he set for us. He really taught us how to become better wrestlers. He taught us how to be better men.”
Jaquay was one of a number of wrestlers during the last six years who saw tremendous success under Black. He reached 100 career wins and ended his senior season as a state qualifier.
He was one of five Knights who qualified for states over the last six seasons, along with Joey Bauer, Logan Jaquay, Spencer Head, and Kris’s oldest son, Cael.
“I think we can contribute a lot to him,” Cael Black said. “And the success that we had in that six years since I was in seventh grade. You know, I think a lot of great things happened.”
Logan Jaquay and Cael Black became the first two Eisenhower wrestlers to win multiple state medals. Bauer was the only one of that group who didn’t get 100 career wins, likely due only to the fact that he was injured his freshman and sophomore seasons.
And it wasn’t just individual success. Under coach Black’s leadership, the Knights were at or near the top of the Region 3 standings.
“Class program, class coach. Kris wrestled in that program under those same principles, and he fulfilled them as a coach,” former Eisenhower standout and current Falconer coach Travis Hummel said. “He always had a way of having them ready for big rivalry matches and you knew exactly what you were going to see from them, max effort and a lot of hustle.”
But for both wrestlers and coach, it was the lessons wrestling taught off the mat that mattered most. Under coach Black, the Knights wrestled with the mantra of “Find a way.” That applied not just to finding a way to get the job done on the mat, but in life as well.
“He and Denny both, I think always just kind of preach life lessons,” Cael Black said. “This is a sport that can make you into a really great human being, it teaches you a lot. You just have to trust the process. I think he always was big on that.”
“I think we were pretty successful at what we did, whether that was wrestling or whether that was you know, teaching the kids more about life,” Kris Black said. “That’s the one thing about wrestling it’s you know, it’s full of life lessons.”
Even those the Knights wrestled against saw the impact coach Black had on the program.
“The kids really bought into the program because of the respect they had for him, which was always apparent,” Hummel said. “The kids believed in him because he believed in them. He always had close bonded, tight-knit teams that fought, supported, and believed in each other. That’s the type of leader he is, he always found a way to bring everyone together. His impact on his student-athletes was tremendous in their growth on and off the mat and that will forever be his legacy.”
That this would be Black’s last season at the helm was one of those “poorly kept secrets,” but having that knowledge allowed Kris to take in some of the sights and sounds of the season, and postseason, with special appreciation.
“There were certain points of the season where I was like, ‘I’m kind of gonna miss this a little bit,'” Kris said. “Like districts and regions especially, states specifically. But yeah, other things too. Like the Warren match. That’s always a pretty good county event. Like, it’s one of those things where to be a part of that is a big deal. You know, that was a pretty cool night this year for us. And yeah, there were some definite times this year that I’m like, ‘I’m going to miss this a little bit.'”
But the sweetest moment, pun intended, was being able to close out the season in Hershey. Where he watched Gannon compete for the first time, and got to put an exclamation point on his coaching career by putting a state medal around his son’s neck for the second time.
“It was a little extra this year. I mean, knowing it was my last time down there and knowing it was Cael’s last shot and Gannon getting his first shot,” Kris said. “I vividly can picture right now walking down that tunnel and stopping and taking a picture of it. It was pretty cool.
“That and with being able to put a medal on my kid’s neck. That’s pretty damn cool,” he added. “If I’m being honest, you look for those (moments). Those are things to think about and you hope for. (For Cael) to be able to win his last match the last match and I’m gonna get to coach him. Put a state medal on his neck as he stands on the podium. Yeah, I don’t think there’s a better way to really walk away from it.”
As he walks away, coach Black is hopeful that the foundation laid not just by him, but by those he coached, can be built upon by future generations of Knights.
“Hopefully, Eisenhower can figure it out whoever they hire it’ll be a good choice and they’ll you know, keep it on track,” Kris said. “Obviously, it’s a program that that means a lot to me and has a good community backing, there’s a lot of people that really care about it. There are a lot of people that are invested in it, and (I hope) they can get enough support and stay with it and keep it going.”
As for Kris? Well, this time that long journey was not to watch Cael wrestle (though there will still be plenty of those as Cael takes his career to the next level at Lock Haven). No, this time it was a trip to Dayton to watch Kyler, Kris’s youngest son, play basketball.
“Maybe I’ll start coaching basketball,” Kris joked before quickly adding, “I would never in a million years believe that I could do that.”
Soon, perhaps it will be another trip to watch daughter Camdyn play soccer. Regardless, Kris is looking forward to just being “dad” for a while.
“I’m kind of looking forward to being a basketball dad, a soccer dad, and just kind of hanging out watching that,” Kris said. “There’s a couple of games I was able to get to this year and just sit in the bleachers and eat popcorn. And just enjoy watching them. I’m excited about that. I’m excited about just being able to be their dad because I missed it.”
As for the future, well, that remains a bit of a mystery.
“I’ll be finding something to do,” Kris said. “Maybe get back into some archery hunting too. Who knows? I don’t know. I’d like to do that. But yeah, it’s an exciting time. I’m kind of pumped to see what happens.”
