Monday, May 11, 2015
Coach Hurst was, without a doubt, one of the finest and most dedicated coaches we ever had at Asheboro High School. In his 9 years as head wrestling coach at Asheboro High he developed one of the premier wrestling programs in the state, winning four WNCHSAA championships, two second places and two thirds. He never finished lower that third. In his final season he won his fourth and final WNCHSAA championship. Hwt. Doug Thomas won the last match Coach Hurst ever coached. That gave the Blue Comets the last championship wresting team that I remember Asheboro having. Doug was the last of 32 WNCHSAA champions Coach Hurst had. I'm not sure we ever finsihed as high as third again after his departure. He also had seven State Champions durning that tenure; Larry Hulin, David Dalton, Mark Leggett, Elvin York (2), Mike Olivo and Ronnie Winslow. In the fifty years since Coach Hurst left Asheboro I'm not sure we have has as many State Champions as he had in his 9 years of coaching on the state level. A good friend of mine, who was a starting varsity football player, told me his years on the Jayvee team under Coach Hurst were the most enjoyable years he had playing football beacause Coach made it fun. Thanks for all the good times. RIP. Tal Hardin
