ALAMOSA – It was a loss of a wrestling giant, legend and icon on Dec. 27 as former Alamosa High School wrestling coach Gary Ramstetter passed away.
Ramstetter was born on March 8, 1936 in Arvada and graduated from Arvada West High School.
After graduating from San Jose State University, Ramstetter was a wrestling coach for 34 years – 31 as a head coach. He coached mostly at Alamosa High School where he led the Mean Moose to state championships in 1988, 1992, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2019.
He coached thousands of wrestlers in his time with the Mean Moose with many state champions, state placers and state qualifiers. The most notable of his many wrestlers was Jon Archuleta who was a four-time state champion from 1992-95. He is only one of 33 boys who were four-time champs.
He was inducted into the Colorado High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008. He was also the Colorado Coach of the Year four times and earned the Lifetime Service to Wrestling from the Colorado Chapter of the National Hall of Fame in 2012.
He is also in the Arvada West Hall of Fame.
He taught auto mechanics at the high school for many years.