PREP WRESTLING: Edmundson built Rosewood into 1-A powerhouse

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on June 24, 2018 3:18 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Why leave?

Bill Edmundson asked himself that question on many occasions.

His coaching friends couldn't believe he'd retire with two state champions and three state runners-up still hovering in "The Nest" at Rosewood.

"I had almost a year to think about, pray about it," Edmundson said. "I pretty much decided last July that this was going to be it. We kept it from the team, didn't want it to be a distraction.

"I probably could have been talked out of it at some point."

The past four seasons have been the dream every coach works and lives for in their career. It's a roadmap drafted from a humble beginning that included elation from intense victories, disappointment from tough losses and the belief of a community that embraced a sport that's become yet another cornerstone in Rosewood's athletics history.

All the memorabilia has been packed away.

But one item remains visible -- a scrapbook assembled by Kim Sullivan that documents every year since 1993. The names might have slipped Edmundson's mind on occasion, but the once he views the faces, the memories flow.

It's a treasure he'll value forever.

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Highway 70 is the main artery that flows through Goldsboro and connects points east and west.

Keep going east and you'll come to the intersection of 70 and Highway 581. It doesn't look like much with a pair of gas stations and a shopping center off to your right.

Look to your left.

A two-lane country road bends through the trees and is momentarily interrupted by a railroad track.

Just beyond is another intersection.

Take a right at the light, then an immediate right into a parking lot where sprigs of grass pop up on occasion through broken pavement that has suffered from countless days under a hot summer sun.

To the left is the building where it all began 26 years ago.

Edmundson talked with the late Branch Pope, then-athletics director at Rosewood, about starting a wrestling program. When the equipment arrived, the jokes floated around the tiny rural community that eats, breathes and lives sports. Most folks envisioned ropes and turnbuckles akin to what they had seen on TV.

This "ring" was a mat taped to the wooden gym floor.

The square with a circle in the middle soon became a passion.

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The Eagles worked out in some interesting practice facilities during their first decade of existence.

They started out in a doublewide mobile home and moved to the middle school multi-purpose room. They eventually invaded the middle school cafeteria before the community worked to build a new gymnasium that houses a wrestling room.

The formative years weren't the most memorable.

Rosewood's indoctrination came against then-power Dixon. Weekend tournaments left Edmundson's wrestlers frustrated.

"We'd go down to Dixon and just take a beating," Edmundson said. "I think the first time we wrestled them, every single one of their kids headlocked our guys -- what we call a 'cowboy.' All but one got pinned.

"Then we'd travel off to these individual tournaments that gave us a taste of what we level we needed to [be as a program] to be successful."

The protégé of the late Terry Pilkington, Edmundson used an individual-driven sport as a teaching tool where the kids learned -- and many mastered -- self-discipline, confidence, self-motivation, respect for themselves and others and leadership.

Edmundson soon realized he was more than a wrestling coach, but a parent away from home, too, because the amount of time he spent with the kids. The 53-year-old learned the importance of diversity and to accept the gravity of family situations -- particularly the hardships they experienced.

He never turned anyone away.

"They don't realize exactly what it's going to cost them," said Edmundson, who was inducted into the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of  Fame in Oklahoma City, Okla., in 2017.

"They get hooked. 'Gosh, I'm having to work way too hard for this.' They grow from it."

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Passers-by can't help but notice the condensation that covers the thin glass on the door of the wrestling room.

They certainly can't avoid the odor of sweat that permeates the hallway when it's opened.

'Oh, gosh. That's horrible,'" some students exclaim when greeted by the stench.

Edmundson just laughs and smiles.

To him, it's the fragrance of a championship.

That essence of perspiration finally paid its first dividend in 2010. Rosewood advanced to the dual-team state 1-A final against West Wilkes. The Eagles failed to take flight, however, and fell to a team that would eventually win four consecutive state titles.

"We had a really solid group of kids," Edmundson said. "It was exciting for them and it was exciting for us as a coaching staff to be that competitive, and that was probably the turning point for when we started to become more focused, appreciate what we had to do."

Two winters later, Edmundson lived out a fantasy in the Greensboro Coliseum. Nick Quillen became the program's first-ever individual state champ. He successfully defended his state title the following year.

The current Marine reset the standard of his predecessors.

"Nick was a special breed of person," Edmundson said. "He was also the first one who really came into the program from the Little Eagles [club] that we're so thankful for. [His] physical ability and the fact that he made everybody around him that much better in the practice room, too, kind of increased our intensity.

"He wouldn't take it easy on people in practice. He'd pound on them and make them better every day. That's what it's all about."

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Going nearly 20 seasons without an individual state champion is hard for most coaches to fathom when talent walks into the wrestling room every offseason.

"We had been close before Nick," Edmundson said.

Not any more.

Now the Eagles are the team to beat.

Five wrestlers have combined to win seven state titles since Quillen had his hand raised in triumph in 2012 and '13.

Kaleb Taylor (2015, 2016) and Tim Decatur (2016, 2018) each have two. Christian Decatur (2018), Jordan Todd (2017) and Cameron Helt (2017) own one state crown apiece.

Rosewood captured a pair of dual-team state championships in 2016 and 2018, and two individual tournament team titles in 2016 and 2017.

Edmundson's worksheet includes the following:

• 703 career wins,

• 131 state qualifiers,

• 44 state placers,

• 27 state finalists,

• 22 conference titles and

• 5 regional titles.

The program has never experienced a losing season.

Edmundson refuses to take a single ounce of credit.

The previous wrestlers inserted the bricks that served as the foundation that created a rock-solid program, ranked among the state's elite of the elite.

Assistant coaches, particularly Hal Kilpatrick and Hardy Sullivan, provided the mortar to seal the bricks.

"It's always been my philosophy, and I haven't been great at it until recently, to surround yourself with great people who have the same mindset, dedication and has got the kids' best interest at heart," Edmundson said.

"They're just unbelievable. Hardy is the most dedicated, loyal person in the world. He loves these kids. He loves the program. He's been a great friend to me and has learned to be an outstanding coach, especially when I couldn't be there."

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Edmundson browsed through Lowe's one afternoon and came upon some chain links.

Though it seemed a little far-fetched, he concocted an idea that each link represented team, unity and strength. The chain is always visible, usually draped over a wrestler's shoulder, whenever the Eagles are on the mats.

When a senior graduates, he removes his link and retires his wrestling shoes.

Someone is always there to step up, which gives Edmundson the assurance the chain won't lose its rigidity after his departure.

"I truly believe the decision is in the best interest of the program, so that it can continue to grow and get fresh new ideas on top of the base that has already been established," Edmundson penned in a letter to parents, current and former wrestlers and the community on the team's Facebook page.

"I believe the decision is right for my family and for my own personal growth. Being the wrestling coach over the past 26 years has been such a blessing to me."

A blessing that hasn't stopped giving on and off the mat.