2012 Inductee Anthony Coleman, 1999
Anthony Coleman, a 1999 graduate of Bellevue High School, earned five varsity letters in high school and was one of the premier wrestling athletes to ever wear the red and white.
Anthony earned one letter in cross country but eventually concentrated on the sport of wrestling. He went 22-13 overall and was a District qualifier as a freshman in 1996.
During his sophomore campaign, Coleman went 18-9 overall and finished third at the Northern Ohio League Meet. The following season in 1998, he went 32-5 overall and was NOL and Sectional champ. He finished fourth at Districts and qualified to the State Meet, where he tore his ACL during the first match and had to withdraw from the tournament.
Coleman rehabilitated his injury prior to his senior season, and the hard work paid off. He went 39-4 overall, was team captain, team MVP, NOL champion, Sectional champion, District champion, and became Bellevue’s sixth wrestling State Champion. He won the 140-pound weight class just seconds after teammate Matt DePolo won the 135-pound weight class.
Anthony finished with a career record of 111-31 which was eighth on the all-time list. He also earned All-America honors and placed eighth at the National Wrestling Tournament in 1999.
Coleman went on to wrestle for Cleveland State where he won 87 career matches and was named Cleveland State’s Most Outstanding Wrestler in 2001. He was an NCAA Tournament qualifier at 149 pounds in 2003 and at 141 pounds in 2004.
He then served as an assistant coach at Limestone University in South Carolina for one year, was a graduate assistant at Cleveland State in 2006 and 2007, and is currently an assistant wrestling coach at Cleveland State.
Anthony and his wife, Angela, reside in North Ridgeville. He is a sales project manager for Secured Document Storage.