Cale Hoover didn’t know if 12 seasons of success as Center Grove’s wrestling coach would be enough to earn him Hall of Fame status.
The question was answered last spring when Hoover, who led five Trojans teams to sectional championships and six to the Johnson County tournament title, was notified that he would be inducted into the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
The ceremony is Feb. 23 at Jonathan Byrd’s in Carmel.
“It’s very special and truly an honor to be recognized by your peers. It has been a wonderful journey from Albion, Indiana, to where I am today,” Hoover said. “I hope I have impacted the young people I coached as much as they have me.
“It’s kind of a strange feeling. Maybe it’s because I’m 42 and not 60. I have peers of mine who are already in there, but I guess it’s not for me to decide. I’ve been in the limelight to an extent because of where I work.”
Hoover took over at Center Grove prior to the 2006-07 season and led the Trojans through 2017-18. Along the way, he posted a 211-63 record while qualifying 24 individuals for the state finals in Indianapolis.
Eleven Trojan wrestlers earned medals and a place on the award podium; Sean Mappes capped an undefeated senior season in 2012 with a state title at 170 pounds. Hoover, who coached two seasons at Hamilton Southeastern prior to taking the job at Center Grove, has a career record of 238-77.
Hoover started wrestling as a sixth-grader. Before graduating from Central Noble High School (located in Albion in the state’s northeastern corner) in 1996, he twice qualified for the Fort Wayne Semistate. As a junior, Hoover was representing a team of only three wrestlers.
“When I started wrestling, for whatever reason, my coach and I kind of connected,” Hoover said. “You put so much into wrestling and it’s so hard. I set some pretty high goals and didn’t reach them. But I worked and I worked and I worked.”
Hoover wrestled at Purdue University as a freshman and for half his sophomore year. His coaching career began with three seasons as an assistant at Anderson Highland before he took the job at Hamilton Southeastern in 2004.
Other notable achievements for Hoover as Center Grove’s coach include 55 individual county champions, 16 wrestlers who won their weight class at the conference meet, 34 sectional champs and 80 semistate qualifiers.
“So much of program-building is having a system, and you’ve got to be able to teach,” said Hoover, who is Center Grove’s girls golf coach and an assistant for the boys golf team. “I think we did a good job of coaching kids up and got more out of them than most programs.”
