PENDLETON — A funny thing happened while Dave Cloud was having a great time teaching hundreds of athletes wrestling skills: He earned his way into the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
For decades Cloud has poured his heart and soul into coaching high school wrestling, including the past 32 years at Pendleton Heights High School. During that time, Cloud never sought fame or glory for himself, but rather took pride in his wrestlers’ accomplishments, he said.
Getting elected into the coaching the Hall of Fame is an honor he never thought would happen.
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“It just floors me that I get to be in Hall of Fame with guys that I’ve idolized for years,” Cloud said.
Cloud will be inducted into the coaches association’s Hall of Fame at a ceremony in February. He learned of the honor in late May from his good friend, Rex Peckinpaugh, New Castle High School wrestling coach.
It meant a great deal to get the call from Peckinpaugh, Cloud said. Despite competing against him year in and year out, Peckinpaugh has supported Cloud from Day 1.
“When we won our first state title in ’97 — he was the first guy to run on the floor and give me a hug,” Cloud said.
There are many people Cloud credits with helping him earn the Hall of Fame honors, he said. His thank you list starts with his athletic director, other head coaches, his assistant coaches, wrestlers and family — including his wife, Terri — for supporting him through the years.
“There were so many people who are in the Hall of Fame now who reached out to me when I was a young kid and said, ‘Let’s help this guy,’ and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it,” Cloud said.
During his tenure at Pendleton Heights, Cloud has led many teams to success. He’s been a part of 13 Madison County championships; multiple conference titles, including three in the Hoosier Heritage Conference; 16 IHSAA sectional championships and one IHSAA regional title, according to information provided by the school.
Cloud also coached dozens of individual athletes to sectional and regional crowns, including three semistate championships and two IHSAA state champions. He also coached individuals to state runner-up finishes (2), fourth place (1), fifth place (1), sixth place (2) and eighth place (1).
In all, 23 wrestlers have qualified to wrestle at the IHSAA state finals under Cloud’s guidance.
Through the years, Cloud has not only mentored young men and women in the wrestling program, he’s also served as a leader to many young assistant coaches who had their sights set on becoming a head coach one day, Pendleton Heights athletic director Chad Smith wrote in a press release.
Smith wrote that he is proud to see Cloud enter the Hall of Fame not just as a valued member of the school but because he also is a trusted member of of the community.
“The amount of impact he has had over the past three decades cannot be measured,” Smith said. “I’m thrilled for coach Cloud and proud to call him a friend.”
Many of the coaches Cloud has worked with have gone on to run their own wrestling programs and routinely reach out to Cloud for advice.
One of the athletes who thrived under Cloud’s leadership and now works closely with him as a Pendleton Heights assistant coach is Katie Kriebel.
She is the one who spearheaded efforts to get Cloud into the Hall of Fame and feels the honor is well-deserved.
“Coach Cloud’s fellow coaches and I all know this induction into the Indiana Wrestling Hall of Fame is long overdue,” she said in a press release. “His stats speak for themselves, but his bigger impact is shown through the young wrestlers he taught and the many coaches he has mentored over the years.”
In addition to the decades of coaching at Pendleton Heights, Cloud also coached at South Dearborn and Anderson Madison Heights before returning to his high school alma mater in 1986.
Cloud wrestled and played football for the Arabians. He said a conversation with one of his wrestling coaches, Jeff Webster — who asked him to think long and hard when Cloud was considering leaving the wrestling program — made an impact on his life.
After a good talk with Webster, Cloud decided to stay with wrestling and is glad he did, he said. The decision helped shape his life’s outlook and led him into teaching and coaching after earning a business degree in college.
“Wrestling is kind of like life, in that you can work your butt off and still get pounded, and that’s good medicine, learning how to deal with things like that,” Cloud said.
