Miami Valley wrestling icon remembered as ‘unbelievable teacher’ of the sport

Bulugaris, who died on Sunday at 78 after a brief illness, left an impact on countless wrestlers and fellow coaches, including Wise, who wrestled for Bulugaris at Wright State and took the reins from him at Beavercreek in 1991.

What made Bulugaris such a good coach?

“His honesty,” Wise said Wednesday. “He was an engineer, so he’s going to tell you exactly what he thinks and how he thinks, and there are not going to be a whole lot of emotions involved. ‘This is what you need to do to get better. These are the ways to do it.’ That resonated with a lot of us, and we knew he cared.”

Bulugaris loved the sport as he explained in a 1971 Dayton Daily News article.

“When they get out there on that mat, they’re out there on their own for a full six minutes,” he said. “It’s a very demanding thing. Teaches more discipline than any sport I know.”

A lifetime in wrestling started in high school for Bulugaris. His son Mike explained how it all began.

“He grew up in this very ethnic Greek family,” Mike said, “and his mother (Amelia) was pretty protective. She always was leery of him playing sports and getting hurt.”

The family had three Chili King restaurants, and Stamat helped them run them.

“They were a hard-working family,” Mike said, “and there wasn’t much time for after-school activities. He finally convinced his mom, with the help of his dad (Michael), to let him play football. His dad liked big-time wrestling. My dad said he felt that his dad would really be interested maybe if he went out for wrestling.”

There was some confusion about the sport at first for Stamat, as he explained in a 2009 Dayton Daily News story.

“When I was younger, my grandfather used to take me to the old Suchers Packing House on the West Side,” Stamat said. “They had an outside wrestling ring and I used to watch those guys. In those days, there were no ropes. Wrestling wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

Bulugaris was a quick learner. He enrolled at the University of Dayton and started a club team there. After graduation, Dayton asked him to start a varsity team in 1968. He coached that team for six years but was frustrated he didn’t have any scholarships to offers, so he left to start the program at Wright State. He coached that program for 13 seasons (1974-86) before deciding he wanted to step away from college coaching so he could watch his sons, Mike and Tony, wrestle in high school.

“I was going to take it easy and watch my kids,” Bulugaris said, “But they offered me the coaching job. I figured, why not?”

It took quite the pitch from Beavercreek Athletic Director Bevan Garwood, who told the Dayton Daily News in 1987 he “hounded him to death.”

Mike was a senior in 1991 when his brother Tony was a freshman. Beavercreek had the best team in the area that season, Mike said, and qualified 14 wrestlers for the district meet. Six advanced to the state meet, and two placed.

“My father was an unbelievable teacher ” Mike said. “He brought an intensity and accountability that was a lot different to the program. Everything was kind of heightened, especially expectations. Being his son and wrestling for him, it was a really unique situation. I think he did a great job as a head coach and father and kind of separating those things. Especially me being the oldest, he taught me that if the program was going to be good, it was going to be hard.”

Bulugaris brought Wise into the program as an assistant coach, and then they switched roles.

“He told Gary, ‘You should be the head coach,’” Mike said, “and then my father for years and years just stayed on as assistant. Like my dad said, his title didn’t really matter.”

Bulugaris continued coaching as a volunteer in recent years, helping out the Beavercreek Junior High team where his grandsons, Tony’s kids, wrestled. He even helped Mike coach his son in the Olentangy school system north of Columbus.

“My dad was very involved with with his grandkids wrestling, which was really cool,” Mike said.

Throughout most of his coaching career, Bulugaris worked during the day at General Motors. He spent 34 years there before retiring. According to a 1990 Dayton Daily News story, he was a senior project engineer who designed brakes for Delco Moraine.

Bulugaris is a member of a number of halls of fame, including Ohio High School Athletic Association Officiating Hall of Fame, the Beavercreek Athletic Hall of Fame and the Wright State Athletic Hall of Fame.

According to his obituary, Bulugaris “is survived by his devoted and loving wife, Karyl Bulugaris; two sons Michael (Jennifer) and Tony Bulugaris; stepdaughters Hilarie Hosier (Jeff) and Hayley Tincu (Jason); and eight grandchildren who adored him as their Pappou: Mason, Gabe, Moira, Kylie, Mia, Ethan, Isaac and Logan. He is also survived by his sister Anastacia Rozakis and her children Melody Hayes, Stellitsa Rozakis, Nikki Smith and Takis Rozakis, Godchildren Amalia Reckziegel and Dean Davell, as well as many others.”

A visitation will be held from 1-4 p.m. Sunday at Tobias Funeral Home in Beavercreek. Funeral services will take place at 11 a.m. Monday at Dayton Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, and Bulugaris will be laid to rest at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum.

The family requests donations may be made to the Beavercreek Wrestling Parents’ Association Fund (P.O. Box 340876, Beavercreek, OH 45434) in lieu of flowers.