Six Wrestling Coaches to Get National Honors

Six Southland men will receive the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s “Lifetime to Service Award” in ceremonies Friday at Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach.

The honorees are:

* Franklin Horpel Jr., who coached at Santa Ana Mater Dei in the late 1950s and started the wrestling club at Orange Coast YMCA, which he coached until his death in the late 1970s.

* Erwin Goldbloom, who started his coaching career as an assistant at UCLA in 1955, became head coach at Simi Valley High in 1960, then coached at Pierce College from 1965-83. He has been an official at the high school and college level for 46 years.

* Vaughn Hitchcock, who was a longtime coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo until he retired in 1985.

* Jeff Smith, whose coaching career included successful stops at El Monte Arroyo and Artesia high schools and Cerritos College, where his teams won 10 Southern California championships.

* Arthur Michalik, who coached wrestling and football at La Quinta High and is currently a line coach for the Murrieta Valley football team. He has been wrestling official since 1948.

* Dale Defner, who has coached at Golden West College since 1970 and officiated high school and college meets since 1963.

Information: (858) 452-6790.