Modesto JC mourns passing of iconic wrestling coach Dean Sensenbaugh

The most amazing thing about Dean Kenneth Sensenbaugh is that he became arguably California’s all-time leading community college wrestling coach without ever being a wrestler.

Which speaks to his skills as a pure coach and communicator.

“He was extremely supportive of the wrestlers and took care of them in so many ways,” said Lee Ehrler, a Modesto Junior College state champion under Sensenbaugh and eventual Pirates coach from 1986 to 2004 and from 2008 to ’10. “He made sure you had every opportunity to succeed.”

Sensenbaugh, MJC’s first wrestling coach (1956-85) whose teams went an amazing state-record 374-78-2 (.824), died last week in Brookings, Ore., where he and his wife, Irene, lived the past 20 years.

Terry Sensenbaugh, one of the Sensenbaughs’ two sons, said his father had been slowed by heart, kidney and prostate problems in recent years. Nevertheless, he attended Ehrler’s induction to the California chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame last May in Menlo Park. Sensenbaugh remained active until he suffered a stroke Aug. 20 on his 91st birthday.

“He was an organizer and a motivator. He didn’t have to know wrestling. He learned it after a while,” Terry Sensenbaugh said. “He always gave credit to the high school coaches in the area. You had to have the horses to pull the wagon.”

It would be hard, however, to deflect credit from a man who’s been inducted into four halls of fame: MJC, the Outstanding Athlete Awards, California and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. In fact, Sensenbaugh did much of the heavy lifting to begin the MJC Hall of Fame in 1990, and the photos of all inductees are displayed in the lobby of MJC Gym.

Born in Empire, Sensenbaugh was a football, baseball and basketball star at Modesto High School. At MJC, he excelled as an all-state quarterback in 1943 and ’44 – he led the 5-1 Pirates to the 1943 state title – and was the point guard for the basketball team that won the MJC Tournament.

After a hitch in the Army in 1945 and ’46, Sensenbaugh was a reserve quarterback for two good San Jose State teams in 1949 and ’50 and saw action during both seasons.

Sensenbaugh earned his master’s degree at Stanford before he embarked on his long coaching career, starting at Modesto High in football, basketball and track. He moved on to MJC in 1956, where he was asked by a group of young wrestlers to start its team. MJC joined Fresno and Sequoias as the only Northern California community colleges to field wrestling teams.

As the sport grew, so did the Pirates’ success. Sensenbaugh’s teams won six regional titles and placed second in the state in 1959-60. Six of his teams went undefeated and, during one run in the early 1970s, won 97 out of 100 dual matches.

Ehrler was one of 12 state champions coached by Sensenbaugh, who never had a losing season. His only disappointment was watching the sport’s schedule switched from the winter to the fall in 1982, after which its turnout slipped due to the conflict with football.

He also served as MJC backfield coach from 1956-78, helped to run the MJC Tournament from 1954-85, coached the City of Modesto’s age-group swim team to a 50-7-2 record from 1956-68, and worked as a track official for the Modesto Relays from 1952-75.

“He was an iconic figure in Modesto wrestling and coaching for so many years,” Ehrler said. “He helped to merge students into the educational setting in college. He really had a commitment to those kids.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Modesto JC mourns passing of iconic wrestling coach Dean Sensenbaugh."