Hall of Fame coach Ricky Shook of Danbury at the 2020 State Open championships. Shook retired in March after 23 years as the head coach in Danbury.
For the first time since 2019, there was a capacity crowd at the Mohegan Sun Arena to see the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun play the visiting Seattle Storm on a beautiful July afternoon.
One of the reasons for the sellout was Sue Bird, the former All-American at UConn who went onto win five Olympic gold medals with the United States women’s basketball team and four WNBA titles with the Storm. Bird is retiring and it has been a summer of celebration for her long professional career in every WNBA city.
Another Connecticut legend stepped away from his sport earlier this year. There were no pre-game gifts presented or opportunities for the crowd to offer a salute of applause.
And that was fine with Danbury High’s Hall of Fame head coach Ricky Shook, who retired at the end of the wresting season in March. Few outside of his family and his team were aware of the situation.
“I didn’t want to distract from the season,” Shook said. “I kinda snuck out. I thought I had kept it from the team. But they knew about it all year. We didn’t talk about it. We had stuff to accomplish as a team.”
It was another championship season for Danbury – as it has been throughout his coaching career.
Danbury won the FCIAC championship for the 22nd time in his 23 years. His Hatters erased a 31-point deficit to grab a share of a 18th Class LL championship with East Hartford. At the State Open, the Hatters finished second, allowing Danbury to bring home a trophy for the 20th time in the 23 years.
A week later, Shook coached his team at the New England championships in Providence where they finished sixth.
And then, he was gone. He moved with his wife and youngest daughter to North Carolina.
Shook met his Danbury wrestlers in late March at the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) championship tournaments in Virginia Beach, Virginia for one, final assignment with the Hatters.
Danbury’s Ricky Shook is on his feet at the 2017 State Open championships in New Haven.
This wasn’t an impulsive decision. Shook has been working on this plan for a while. He was co-owner of a home heating business (Shook’s Oil) with his brother, Randy, and sold his share of the business to him.
“This had nothing to do with wrestling,” Shook said. “It was about my personal life and the business. It was either get out or stay and be the sole owner (of the business). I was bought out and it’s OK.
“It wasn’t about wrestling. I was still having a blast but it is a lot of time,” Shook said. “It’s not bad to get some new guys in there.”
Being the head coach of the Danbury High wrestling team isn’t just about the high school season.
The coach is the unofficial leader of the wrestling community in Danbury. When Shook walked into a gym with his blue Danbury High wrestling jacket on at a youth wrestling tournament or a middle school practice, youngsters turned their head. They knew exactly who had entered the gymnasium.
“Everybody thinks it’s easy — it is not,” Shook told Richard Gregory of the Danbury News Times before being inducted into the Connecticut chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013.
“We’ve got a good program and I’ve got a lot of people who help me. It’s not only me. It’s parents, coaching staff, administration, I have a great AD. It’s everyone working together. It makes it easier. But to win what we win, it’s hard. It’s a lot of work we all put in,” Shook said.
Shook graduated from Danbury High in 1983 where he went 58-5 and won two FCIAC titles and a Class LL championship.
He went to Central Connecticut State and wrestled for the Blue Devils at the Division II and Division I level under Hall of Fame coach Ken DeStefanis. As a junior, he was third at 118 pounds in NCAA Division II Eastern Regional tournament. A year later, he was 17-10 and third in the New England Division I tournament. He graduated from Central in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Management.
Shook was the assistant coach at Danbury for 11 years under Hall of Fame coach Mike Morris and John Nimock before taking over the head coaching job in December 1999. In 23 years, Danbury went 391-25 and had six undefeated seasons (2020, 2016, 2012, 2008, 2005, 2000).
The Hatters won 18 Class LL titles, 16 State Open championships, including 10 straight from 2001-10, and three New England championships (2017, 2019, 2020). Danbury finished in the top five at the New England meet 12 times.
A happy Rocky Shook at the 2018 New England championship meet in Providence.
“He sets the standard,” Xavier High wrestling coach Mike Cunningham said. “When I took over at Xavier and when (we) were in (Class) LL, I looked at him and said that is the standard. How are we going to get there?
“People think he always gets really good guys but he can really manage a team well,” Cunningham said.
“(Shook) understands the ingredients to create a good program,” said Barry Choolijian, the former head coach Timberlane Regional from Plaistow, N.H., a program that has won a record 10 New England championships. “You can’t just coach the All-Star athletes like (Ryan) Jack. You have to make other kids get better. Ricky does that.”
Shook believed in challenging his team. He thought an undefeated season was a failure on his part – not making the schedule tough enough to challenge his team or the wrestlers.
Shook took Danbury to the Eastern States Classic in New York, the Beast of the East in Delaware and the Sanford tournament in Maine. He set up a yearly home-and-away series with Mount Anthony Union of Bennington, Vermont and Timberlane, two perennial contenders for the New England championship.
“My philosophy is the Bob Serrano philosophy. You have to wrestle the hardest schedule in the world,” Shook said. Before he got to high school, Shook was coached by Serrano, another Hall of Fame coach, in the Danbury youth programs.
“(A loss) is the best thing for them. It always pays off,” Shook said. “Your guys don’t get anything for pinning kids in 30 seconds. That’s why we don’t wrestle in a lot of dual meets and go to tournaments.”
Without that (regular season) challenges, “you get in a tough match at the (State) Open and they’re eyes get really big. They don’t know what to do,” Shook said.
Shook, 57, and his family have a new home in Surf City, North Carolina, a 10-minute ride on his e-bike to the beach. Two other daughters live in North Carolina.
The drive will be much shorter to Raleigh, North Carolina to see former Danbury High wrestlers Ryan Jack, Jakob Camacho and A.J. Kovacs compete with the Wolfpack, who won the ACC title last winter and were ranked in the top 10.
“I don’t know what I wiIl do wrestling wise,” Shook said in July. He could do some announcing for FloWrestling or Spartan Wrestling. He did some play by play work at the recent NHSCA nationals. Perhaps, he will return to officiating, something he did after college.
Shook helped set the stage for his successor, Mike Silvestri, a former Class LL and State Open champion wrestler at Danbury High under Shook. Silvestri also spent two years as an assistant coach with the Hatters from 2011-13.
“I did the schedule for him. I booked the hotels. It is all set up for him. He has all of the curriculums. Everyone is coming back (including assistant coaches Keith Lynch and Thomas Ferrell) except me,” Shook said. “The program is in a good spot.”
Still, it will be tough to leave it behind.
“The kids keep you young and they kept me real young,” he said. “I will miss the kids and the parents and all of the coaches. The travel weekends were so much fun. I won’t be totally away. I will be around.”
As for his legacy, Shook isn’t spending too much time pondering it.
Many of his trophies and awards are in a box in his garage. Should he put them up on a wall in the (New York) Yankees man cave he is considering building or put them up in the attic?
“I never coached for that stuff,” he said. “If you’re coaching for that, you’re coaching for the wrong reason.
“My legacy isn’t about just me,” Shook said. “Danbury tradition went to Mike Morris to (John) Nimock to me and then to the next coach. It’s Danbury’s legacy. It’s not mine.”
Head coach Ricky Shook, far left, and the Hatters won their third New England championship.
Awards and facts
Connecticut Chapter National Wrestling Hall of Fame: 2013
Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame: 2016
New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame: 2017
FCIAC Hall of Fame: 2018
National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame: 2019
State head coach of the year (2): 2000, 2007
National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) state coach of the year (4): 2008, 2009, 2019, 2020
Class LL head coach of the year (14): 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
FCIAC Coach of the Year (6): 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2019
State assistant coach of the year (1): 1999
Class LL assistant coach of the year (3): 1997, 1998, 1999
Gold Key award from Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance: 2021
Doc McInerney State Male Coach of the Year from the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance: 2008
Career coaching record: 391-25
Head coach: 1999-00 through 2021-22 season (23 years)
Career winning percentage: Second in state history (.939) behind Danbury’s John Nimock, who was 167-8-1 (.954) from 1992-99.
