Coach Buckbee Bio

I apologize for this bio being so long but as I reflect back on my life, I believe I was destined to become a coach from a very young age. Starting with my kids club wrestling coach, Gene White, sitting me on his lap analyzing high school matches. I’m also not sure I would have coached if I had not had a childhood disease that hampered my competition. I also coached under and was mentored by some great high school coaches including Rich Nitch, Pat Sands, Ron Mayo, and Wayne Jackson. These events and people along with too many other events and people to mention have not only shaped the coach that I was but also the man that I am today.

I hope you enjoy the read and the entire web site!

My name is Greg Buckbee. I have been involved with Kansas Wrestling since I was a small child. In 1972, Gene White started the Emporia Kids Wrestling Club. My parents asked me if I would like to give it a try. So, at the age of 6 years old I went to my 1st wrestling practice. I was going to be just like the All-Star Wrestlers on tv, especially my hero, Danny Little Bear. All kidding aside, Gene White was a great coach and mentor to me. I remember going to the Emporia High Spartan wrestling matches as a young boy and running around with all my other club wrestling buddies. Somehow Coach White got me to sit on his lap during the big matches and analyze all the action. I couldn’t wait to be a Spartan and be on Coach Pat Sands’ team. During the 70’s, if you placed at Kids State (top 4 back then) you were invited to represent Team Kansas at the Regional National Tournament. This tournament was freestyle and so there was a freestyle camp outside of Junction City. There, I was introduced to more great coaches like Ben Bennett and Jody Thompson. Going to those camps and having the opportunity to represent the great state of Kansas were great memories from my youth. My 5th grade year I was an undefeated state champ and won the regional national tournament for Team Kansas in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

My middle school years were pretty rough. In 6th grade I was diagnosed with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease. This is a rare childhood condition that occurs when blood supply to the hip socket is interrupted and the bone begins to die. I was out of wrestling for about 2 years. I was restricted to crutches and when I was home my leg was in traction. My 8th grade year the doctor took 1 crutch away and had me start putting some weight on my leg and after Christmas I was allowed to try wrestling again. My parents rigged up a football girdle to fit a thigh pad in it ( the hip pad does not actually cover the hip socket very well). So, I walked with my crutch mat side, gave my crutch to my coach, hobbled out to the center of the mat with this weird monstrosity on my hip and waited for the whistle to blow. As you can imagine I did not win many matches that year.

I was never the same wrestler after those rough years in middle school. But, with a little bit of talent, a lot of hard work, and a great support system from my family, coaches, and teammates, I had a decent high school career. By the time I graduated from Emporia High, I was on 2 state championship teams, was a state champion my junior year and a state runner-up (due to a dislocated shoulder and broken humerus at the end of the semi-finals match, I had to medically forfeit the state finals match) my senior year. I also loved the Freestyle circuit in Kansas and Oklahoma in the spring, and competing for team Kansas at nationals in the summer (pre-Fargo) throughout my high school career.

After high school, my doctors highly recommended that I not wrestle in college. So, off to KSU I went. My next great mentor came along while I was at KSU. The head coach of Manhattan High School, Rich Nitch, was one of my summer Freestyle coaches. He contacted me and eventually hired me as the head assistant wrestling coach at Manhattan High. Here I was, an 18 year old kid, coaching kids that were potentially only a couple of months younger than I was. This was such a great experience that I changed my major to education so I could continue to coach. Manhattan High School was state runner- ups that year which was the highest state finish in school history at the time. After that 1st year, I moved back to Emporia to attend ESU and my high school coach hired me as an assistant coach at Emporia high.

My 1st teaching position after college landed me at 2A Chase Country High School. My 1st year I was privileged enough to coach under legendary CCHS Football/Wrestling Coach Ron Mayo. The next year I took over the head coaching position. Chase County was a great place to live, teach, and coach. I have always said that if that was my 2nd job, I might have stayed there my entire career. Being young however, I thought I needed bigger and better things. So, after 4 years I took the helm at 4A Council Grove High School for 3 years. My time at Council Grove was very humbling to me. We were not very good at that time and I struggled to make gains. It was such a hard time for me to coach that I almost gave it all up and went another direction.

I made the decision to stay in coaching and moved to Arkansas City where I became an assistant coach to the living legend, Wayne Jackson. That 1st year at Ark City helped renew my love for coaching wrestling. Coaching alongside Wayne Jackson and long time assistant Mark Richardson was a blast. I enjoyed coaching with those 2 so much that when Coach Jackson stepped down at the end of the season and they hired me as the new head coach, I was almost sad. I would have gladly stayed as an assistant for Coach Jackson. I stayed at Ark City for another 4 years as the head coach. That’s when the job at my alma mater, Emporia High School came open. I applied for the job and was hired as the head coach. Man, was it hard to tell the Ark City team and community that I was leaving. My family and I loved Ark City.

I was at Emporia for 5 years. Being at Emporia was good. It was awesome to coach at the same school that I competed as an athlete. It was even more cool winning a team state title as a head coach at the same school, which I helped win state titles earlier as an assistant coach, win team state titles as a competitor, and win an individual state title. The problem was that during those 5 years in Emporia, we never really felt like we were home. Not like we did when we were in Ark City.

So, when the opportunity to be the head coach at Ark City came up, I took it. And, we have been in Ark City since. During this time my son, Gabe, got involved with the Ark City Takedown Club so I naturally helped out as well. As he started to excel in the sport, he got involved with Team Kansas, so I naturally started to help coach national teams, starting at the elementary dual teams all the way up through juniors at Fargo.

(I will have more on coaching my son, Gabe in another article later!)

After 38 years of coaching wrestling all over the state of Kansas and at all sizes of schools I retired in 2022. I have absolutely no regrets and loved every moment of my coaching career. I also do not regret retiring and do not miss coaching, it was just time.

I can now dedicate my time and energy to this website and promote the great sport of wrestling in Kansas!

Go Team Kansas!