By Isabel Rose, Hancock Sophomore
Fathers often like when their sons follow in their footsteps and participate in activities they were involved in while attending school. What’s really special is when you have multiple generations participating in the same activity at the same school like the Rose family who has been wrestling in the Morris area since 1962.
Mick Rose was a wrestler all through high school at Morris Area High School and even when he went to college. From 1962 to 1970, Mick was active in the sport of wrestling. He liked being a wrestler in high school and he loved it when he won his conference in 1966.
“Back when I was a wrestler I only had 6-11 matches every year,” explained Mick. “Now wrestlers have just about 45 matches before sections.” He never made it to state wrestling in high school but he went to nationals as a coach.
He started coaching as an elementary coach in 1971 and coached and taught P.E. in Alexandria for 2 years. “I even coached for the Cougars for 9 years,” stated Mick.
He did all this before working at the Morris High School as a wrestling coach from 1993 to 2018. Morris and Hancock Schools have been wrestling together since 1993 and Chokio-Alberta joined Mick’s team in 2005. Mick liked coaching because he liked working with the kids and helping the kids be the best they could be.
“I chose to be a coach in wrestling because I loved teaching, helping the kids, and because I loved the sport,” stated Mick. He also loved working with all the coaches he has worked with over the years. “Some of those coaches (including Mick) are even in the Minnesota wrestling coaches hall of fame,” stated Mick. Mick was inducted into the Minnesota’s Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2015.
He enjoyed coaching his son Kyle all throughout Kyle’s high school career and is proud Kyle has now taken over coaching for him since he was unable to continue coaching in Morris.
MAHACA’s current head coach and Mick’s son, Kyle Rose, said his interest in wrestling started when he was young. “I wrestled in high school (Morris) for about 6 years and even wrestled in college. I was fortunate enough to travel to Sweden when I wrestled with Team USA in 1998.”
Kyle had been a coach in wrestling for 16 years in elementary before taking his father’s role as head coach in 2018 after his father suffered a stroke. Kyle has been head coach for four years and plans to be for a few more years.
Currently Morris Area, Hancock Area, and Chokio-Alberta Area combine to make up the MAHACA Wrestling team. Coach Kyle said that he loves having kids from three different schools on one team. “It develops friendships that never would have happened if they weren’t involved in the sport of wrestling.
Kyle encouraged his kids, Dalton and Davin, to participate in wrestling because of the life lessons and values the sport teaches the individual.
As of February 2, 2022, Davin Rose, a MAHACA wrestler, has gone 33-1 this season. He thinks he has improved a lot since last year and hopes to continue to improve every year. “This season I have worked a lot on my offensive skills and learned new skills every practice from my coaches,” stated Davin.
He stated that the one thing that is not going well in his season is his one loss, but he says it was a loss to a really good kid so he does not hold his head down about it. After qualifying for state every year since 8th grade, Davin’s goal this season is to win state.
Davin shared, “I’m in wrestling because my dad thought I should try it when I was very young and I’ve just always been good at it so I’ve continued with the sport.”
One thing Davin likes about wrestling is winning because it feels better to beat someone in this sport more than others because it is only him doing the work and no one else can take credit for his wins and losses.
Kyle says that his MAHACA team is currently overcoming some adversity because of all the illnesses and injuries happening, but they are looking forward to these challenges. All the illnesses and injuries have made this one of the most challenging years of wrestling but all the coaches and wrestlers continue to stick it out.
One of Coach Kyle’s top goals for this season is to send his team to state and hopefully some individuals as well.
Now an avid fan, Mick feels proud to watch his son coach, his grandsons wrestle, and he’s equally as proud when he watches his granddaughter play basketball. Who knows, maybe there will be a fourth generation of Rose wrestling down the line to continue what is now a 60 year tradition.
