In his 40th season at Beyer, wrestling coach Doug Severe makes it a family affair
Doug Severe wasn’t supposed to be a wrestler.
When he went to Modesto Junior College, it was to play football. Severe played offensive and defensive line at Beyer High School and graduated in 1976.
He couldn’t wrestle in high school. The heavyweights wrestled at 235 and he weighed in at 275, but when walking around the MJC campus, he was approached by the wrestling coach.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Severe stepped onto the wrestling mat at MJC with no high school experience and in just his second year of wrestling, won a junior college state championship.
His success led to a scholarship offer from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and after a year and a half, he returned closer to home and attended Stanislaus State.
When reflecting on it, Severe acknowledges wrestling is something he “fell into.”
“I just played football and did a little track … and then went over to MJC,” said Severe. “The coach said, ‘Hey, can you do this? I’ll help you with book money.’ Then it turned into a scholarship for me.”
While taking a year off from wrestling after the transfer, he started coaching at Hughson High School and found his calling there.
After finishing college, he coached at MJC for a year, then Severe returned to Beyer in 1982 and 40 years later, hasn’t left. He has taught P.E. and coached the Patriots’ football team and continues to coach wrestling.
All about family
Severe is the head coach but has plenty of help.
His two sons, Ken and John, serve as assistants, along with Donnie Fontana.
Ken, who graduated from Beyer High in 2015, was a three-time league champion and played football for the Patriots.
John graduated from Beyer in 2010 and though he didn’t wrestle, played football for his dad.
Playing for your father can be difficult, but the Severe family didn’t have many hurdles to climb.
“The way he coaches never affected our relationship.” Ken said.
Said John on if having his father as a coach affected their relationship: “Never. The reason why, is he never pushed us. He said ‘if you want to do it, you do it. I’ll be there to support you. But you gotta want it, not me.’ He never pushed us into football and never pushed me into wrestling.”
The bond with their father made it an easy decision to follow in his footsteps. John Severe is an elementary special education teacher and Ken is in school at Stanislaus State studying to become a teacher. Their coaching responsibilities bring them together after school.
The Severes’ coaching relationship helps create a family atmosphere around the Beyer wrestling program.
“Pops has always been big on that,” Ken Severe said. “He brings that family aspect to wrestling saying ‘you are our extended family’ to his wrestlers and his coaches. That’s the biggest thing that he’s been able to do — leave a long lasting impact on his wrestlers.”
Doug Severe stays connected with former athletes. Beyer wrestling graduates reach out for everything from asking to come by “the room” to see the new crop of athletes to adult life situations.
“He’s had wrestlers that have asked him to be in their wedding or called him after the birth of a child,” Ken Severe said. “Or, unfortunately, they’ve they’ve called him saying, ‘Hey, can you speak at my parents funerals.’ ”
Fontana, who attended Beyer and wrestled for Severe from 1985-1988 and was a four-time state qualifier, has been an assistant coach for 20 years.
“I would say if you want a kid to see how to get through adversity, first and foremost put them in wrestling, and more importantly, get them here with Coach Severe,” John Severe said. “Because Coach Severe has seen and been through different situations over 40 years.”
Patriot for life
In his 40 seasons, Doug Severe has coached 80 league champions, 34 Sac-Joaquin Section/Masters placers and 27 of Beyer High’s 28 state qualifiers.
“It’s like I never went away,” Doug Severe said. “I went to school here. I bleed red, white and blue. I’ll stick it out probably until I retire or I get too old and sick to be able to coach.”
After he decides to retire, the program won’t be in strangers’ hands. Ken and John are learning how to run a program firsthand from their lifelong teacher.
“Most people think that it’s just the X’s and O’s and how to impact kids, it’s not,” John Severe said. “How do you budget? How do you fund-raise? What equipment do you need?”
Added Ken: “Now, coaching, you see what a head coach has to do. Booking tournaments, if a kid says he’s going to be on weight, making sure he’s on weight, getting spirit packs, if we decide to buy clothing for the kids, ordering that to make sure that they have it for the first few tournaments.”
Doug Severe has seen a lot of successful athletes come through the Beyer wrestling program in his 40 years, but it’s not the wins that mean the most to him — it’s helping impact young men’s lives. Just like coaches he has had in the past.
“I’m old now and I like to win as much as anybody,” he said. “But the key thing is just being able to pour into and hopefully become successful young adults down the road and have helped them to learn things like hard work, dedication, commitment and perseverance that will really last for a lifetime.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 12:21 PM.
