Tom Bartosek, founder of Canton wrestling, decides it’s time to move on

By Mike Berger

Tom Bartosek’s teaching and coaching legacy spans nearly 34 years, and he will forever be remembered as the man who turned wrestling into a viable sport in Canton. But as he told this year’s graduating seniors, every end signifies a new beginning and new opportunities, and he feels that it is now time for him to move on from CHS to yet unknown endeavors.

For the first time in quite a long time, Bartosek will not spend the summer planning for the next wrestling campaign — and he admitted it was a strange feeling. He won’t be contacting students to see how their summer workouts are going or asking if any of them will be participating in the Bay State Games, and he won’t be talking to students about coming out for the Bulldog wrestling team next year.

CHS Athletic Director Danny Erickson called Bartosek a role model at the school and said he appreciates all the hard work and effort he took to get the sport up and running in Canton.

“Tom is Canton High School wrestling,” Erickson said. “Not only has he been the program’s only head coach, but the program has totally taken on his personality and vision — commitment, hard work, loyalty, devotion, and sacrifice. He is truly a wonderful role model here that will be greatly missed.”

Alice Brown of Reservoir Circle noted in her recent letter to the editor, printed in the July 1 issue of the Citizen, that beyond the logistics of coaching, Bartosek instilled in his wrestlers the ability to persevere, the courage to try, the willingness to come back from injuries, and the knowledge that the coach was behind them.

It is difficult to discern which Bartosek took greater pride in at CHS — teaching or coaching — as he said he truly loved both and enjoyed tremendously his interactions with students.

“It was a privilege to teach in this town; I met a lot of great kids and great families,” he said. “I would grade the overall experience here as an A-, B+. It could not have worked out better. I really loved interacting with all the students. It was fun for me every day. Canton has a great group of kids, coming from great families. As a teacher and parent, I realized things that all kids were experiencing, and it helped me as a father, teacher, and coach.”

Bartosek joined the Canton Public Schools in 1985, but his teaching and coaching career began years earlier. He graduated from Boston College in 1972 with a degree in teaching and later earned a master’s degree in chemistry from Bridgewater State College. Before coming to CHS, he taught in Braintree, Weymouth, and at Silver Lake Regional in Pembroke. Over the years, he has taught all science courses, including physics, chemistry, biology, oceanography, and general science.

When he first came to Canton he taught at the Galvin Middle School, and that is where he cultivated student interest in wrestling on a club level. He had previously coached wresting in Braintree, Weymouth, and Pembroke.

Once wrestling began to catch on at the middle school, Bartosek became convinced that it could work as a varsity sport at Canton High. He gave a lot of the credit to former CHS assistant principal Al Nordgren, who helped guide him as he worked to introduce wrestling, first as a club sport and later as a varsity sport. He also appreciates the efforts of many parents who supported him and the team in its infancy and throughout the years.

“I knew this was a hockey, football, baseball town and it still is,” he said. “But as lacrosse is finding out, it takes a while to get the interest up, and you have to continue to work at it.”

Nevertheless, in the first year of CHS wrestling in 1992, 30 students came out, and since then, an average of 30 to 40 students have come out for the squad each year, including many female wrestlers. Even this past season, Bartosek had a student who was cut from the hockey team but came on to the wrestling team and advanced to the sectionals.

Although his teams did not win any league titles, Bartosek has coached four students who were crowned state champions in their respective weight classes. He described the Hockomock League as a very tough league for wrestling, having produced 15 state champions with Franklin winning the state title in three of the last five years.

“It’s actually easier for Canton to place at the States (Division 3) than it is to win a league title,” he said.

Still, Bartosek believes the true measure of success is in the way a team is viewed by its opponents. “In my eyes, how do the opponents measure you as you walk into their gym?” he said. “I would hope that when our Canton teams enter the gym, the opponent knows they are to have a tough fight on their hands. It should not be easy facing us.”

Bartosek said Canton wrestlers are also widely respected by their fellow student athletes at CHS. And while his wrestlers understand they are in for a challenging season that requires lots of daily hard work, they also know it is a sport that offers plenty of fun and camaraderie.

Although he will certainly miss coaching, Bartosek said he has worked with a lot of talented assistant coaches and feels it is the right time to hand over the reins to someone younger. He does believe that the new head coach should be a teacher at CHS — someone who can interact with students in the hallways, check in with them on a regular basis, and help them with their school work.

At the moment, Bartosek, who lives in East Bridgewater with his wife, Carolyn, and has two grown children, ages 22 and 28, has no definitive plans for the upcoming year. He may volunteer in the town or take another job, but otherwise has a free schedule and will periodically return to Canton as a spectator at matches and games.

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