Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association to honor Celver with Babbitt Contributor’s Award

The Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association (WSWCA) will honor Auburn resident and wrestling coach Phill Celver with the Joe Babbitt Contributor's Award, for coaches who have significantly contributed to wrestling in Washington State.

October 2, 2009 7:38 pm

The Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association (WSWCA) will honor Auburn resident and wrestling coach Phill Celver with the Joe Babbitt Contributor’s Award, for coaches who have significantly contributed to wrestling in Washington State.

Celver was a head coach at Auburn High School from 1997 to 1999 and an assistant with the program from 1969 to 1997. Celver also coached at Yakima’s Washington Junior High from 1968 to 1969.

Celver attended Stadium High School in Tacoma and was a two-time state wrestling qualifier. He then wrestled at Central Washington University were he was coached by Hall of Famer Eric Beardsley. Celver graduated from CWU and taught at Washington Junior High School in Yakima before moving to Auburn High School in 1969 where he taught until his retirement in 1999.

Celver was the head coach at Auburn High School from 1997 to 1999 and was an assistant coach for two Hall of Fame coaches at Auburn; Kip Herren and Gene Cerino. In his 30 years at Auburn, Celver was an individual coach for over 20 state champions and was an important part of two state titles. As a Junior Varsity coach, Celver had over 300 J.V. wins and in 1995 he was selected as the National Junior Varsity Coach of the Year He was a founder of the Auburn Youth Wrestling Program and created the first Auburn Freestyle Club. Celver was the coach of the Washington State Freestyle Team in 1998 and was selected as the Washington State federation Referee of the Year. In 1994 he was selected as the King County Vocation Special Education Teacher of the Year.

His son Ben Celver was a two-time state champion at Auburn in 1993 and 1994. For the last three years Celver has been coaching at Olympic Middle School with head coach Don Sims. Celver is an Associate Real Estate Broker and continues to be a guest teacher.

Celver was nominated by Herren.

The WSWCA will honor Celver and induct Rick Bowers from Warden High School, Rockey Isley from Olympia High School, Darryl Smith from Olympic High School, and Gaylord Strand from Yelm High School into the Hall of Fame. With the induction of these four coaches, the WSWCA Hall of Fame will have 105 members.

The induction ceremony will be conducted Nov. 7 at the Yakima Convention Center during the annual WSWCA Coaches Clinic. Tickets are available on pre-sale for $20 until Oct. 31. For ticket information call Andy Somera at 253-377-7217.