Ron Wilson was drawn to the sport of wrestling at the age of 11. He was the Junior High State Champion in Wyoming. His family moved to Ventura County in 1967. At Camarillo High, he became Ventura County’s first four-time wrestling league champion. He was a two-time section runner-up. Ron wrestled at UC Santa Barbara, where he became a conference champion, Most Valuable Player and NCAA qualifier.
He has been a head varsity coach for 36 years, the last 24 at his alma mater. His teams have won 10 league championships, one section title and eight top 10 finishes. Wilson has coached nine individual section champions, 12 state qualifiers, five state placers, three national high school qualifiers and one high school All-American.
Coaching wrestling has taken Wilson beyond the Ventura County borders. Wilson has been an assistant coach on the World Elite Team and the national head coach for teams traveling to Russia and Poland in 1996 and 1997. He was the head coach of the Olympic Festival and assistant training site director for the 1984 Olympic Games. Ron is also part of the Wrestling National Coaching Staff and USA Wrestling World Cup and Championship Team Liaison.
In 1994, the Los Angeles Daily News named him the Coach of the year. He was a Disney Apple Excellence Award Nominee and given the Oxnard Union High School Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. He was honored as Educator of the Year by the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and recognized as a CIF-Southern Section Model Coach. He was named as the Pacific View League coach of the year twice. His team tied the national record for the most points scored in a wrestling dual meet. Ron was named as the 2015 Coastal Conference Coach of the Year and awarded as the Educator of the Month in 2016.
He has also coached youth soccer, track and softball teams in Camarillo for 22 years. He was a clinician at Oklahoma State Wrestling and USA Wrestling National Camps.
Ron and his wife Kathie have been married for 43 years.