Golden Valley wrestling coach honored for career milestone. ‘He’s more like my father’
Golden Valley High School principal Kevin Swartwood remembers his first impression when he met Chopper Mello 26 years ago.
Swartwood was a young athletic director at Golden Valley, the new school in Merced at the time, looking for a wrestling coach.
“My first impression was ‘this guy is really intense,’” Swartwood said.
Swartwood and then GV principal Ralf Swenson drove to Atwater High to interview Mello.
Shortly after that meeting, they handed the keys to the Cougars wrestling program over to Mello.
Fast forward 26 years, and Swartwood was standing in the center of the wrestling mat Tuesday night under the spotlight in Cougar Arena, emceeing a ceremony — prior to a match against Patterson — to honor Mello, 52, for collecting his 400th career win earlier this season.
“I don’t mean he was intense in a negative way,” Swartwood said. “He was very purposeful in everything he did and it showed. He’s a coach who doesn’t let his athletes take the easy way out. He’s a hard-nosed, tough-minded coach.”
Swartwood and Swenson made home run hires when the school opened in 1994, adding coaches like Scott Hague (baseball), Keith Hunter (boys basketball), Matt Thissen (girls volleyball, basketball), Bill Hurst (track and field) and Greg Christiansen (band).
Mello followed a few years later and he’s built Golden Valley into a local wrestling power.
Mello’s first victory as the Golden Valley coach came against Oak Ridge High on Dec. 5, 1997. His 400th win came on Dec. 3, 2022 against Castro Valley at the Freedom Duals.
Tuesday’s 70-6 win over Patterson pushed Mello’s career record to 416-89 at Golden Valley.
“There aren’t many wrestling coaches who get to 400 wins,” Mello said. “When I got to 300 I thought I would never get to 400. It’s actually pretty important to me. It means the kids have been doing well for me for the last 26 years.”
Mello has led the Cougars to six Central California Conference championships and two Sac-Joaquin Section championships.
“We’ve won six league titles but if I look back, we probably finished runner-up 17 or 18 times,” Mello said. “We’re always finishing first or second, we’re always competing for a league championship. That’s always the goal.”
“Wrestling is an individual sport but we emphasis the team a little bit more over here,” Mello added.
Over 26 years there are many highlights for Mello, but coaching all four of his kids in the wrestling program ranks high on that list of memories, especially celebrating the moment his oldest son Brady clinched a berth to the CIF State Meet during a do-or-die match at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet.
His wife Amy has always been supportive, spending countless hours in the stands at sweaty gymnasiums at tournaments and matches all over California.
The Mello family also put their own money into expanding the Golden Valley High wrestling room early on during Mello’s tenure as the Cougars coach.
Mello has made the Cougars program like a family, ruled with tough love. That’s why all eight of his assistant coaches are his former wrestlers who have come back to help in the program.
He becomes a second father to many wrestlers and for some, the only a father figure in their life.
“He grabbed my hand as a freshman and guided me through life,” said Andrew Powers, who wrestled for Mello and now coaches with him, during the ceremony.
“A lot of people here in the wrestling community know a lot of us wrestlers don’t grow up in the best homes,” Powers added. “Coach, you took me into your home. He is not just my mentor, or my teacher or my coach, he’s more like my father.”
Sergio Martinez has coached with Mello for 20 years. He talked about hating every minute of wrestling while in high school, but Mello wouldn’t let him quit.
Martinez said wrestling changed him into the person he is today and like Powers, Martinez looks at Mello as a father figure.
“He came into my life at that time when I didn’t have that father figure,” Martinez said. “He took me in, no matter what the situation was, all he said is, ‘You’re not going to quit.’”
“As long as you don’t quit on him, he’ll never quit on you,” Martinez added.
Mello isn’t the same fireball he was as that young coach who Swartwood first met. He’s calmed down a bit, but his standards for his wrestlers haven’t changed.
Asked if his wrestlers today could wrestle for him 26 years ago?
“I’m not sure,” Mello said. “They’d be in for a shock.”
Mello says having a strong coaching staff has extended his coaching life. He says if he had to do everything himself he couldn’t do it.
With their help, he may keep coaching for a while. He still enjoys it.
“Now that I’m at 400, I think 500 would be pretty cool,” Mello said.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 11:41 AM.
