The wrestling world is mourning the passing of a coach who made waves as an athlete in the 1960s. Thomas Martin Sprigler, better known as Tom Sprigler, a 4-time SADC wrestling champion and an NAIA All-American in 1967, has bid farewell to the world at the age of 80 just a few days ago on April 24. Remembering him, a fellow coach shared some kind words on the type of man Sprigler was on a personal and professional level.
Sprigler, who’s trained 29 state champion wrestlers, was a revered figure in the wrestling world. Following his exploits in the wrestling world, he turned to coaching, and it was during the 80s that he led his teams to success. The wrestling teams Sprigler has coached ended five of their campaigns ranked in the top three, and in 1985, he led Laurel High School to a State A championship victory. The legendary coach helped the ‘Locomotives’ to the same glory in 1998 as well. It was in 2019 when Sprigler was inducted into the inaugural class of the Laurel High School Hall of Fame.
Ahead of his funeral at Smith’s Funeral Chapel in Laurel on Saturday, May 3 (11 am), the assistant coach at Billings Central, Angelo Rivera, who’s also the cultural-exchange chairman for the Association of American Universities (AAU) and USA Wrestling, shared a few words about Tom Sprigler, who he claims was a caring person.
In 1974, Sprigler and his wife opened the Laurel AAU Wrestling Club, and Rivera trained there back when he was a young boy. The Billings native would reveal that the legendary coach would pick him up and some other wrestlers every day for training and then even drop them back home in Park City. Rivera claimed that it was a kind gesture that acted as motivation.
“It instilled in me what it meant for us as athletes. He knew that it was important for us. He knew that it was a good thing for us to learn,” Rivera said about Tom Sprigler, as reported by ‘406 MT Sports’. “He wanted to make sure that we had that outlet. He wanted to make sure that we had that ability to pursue something that we loved or that we liked.
Laurel High School Hall of Famer, former wrestling coach, Tom Sprigler dies https://t.co/3X2pfEBXUU via @406mtsports
— John Letasky (@GazSportsJohnL) April 29, 2025
Rivera would also mention how much wrestling meant to him, and after recognizing that, Tom Spirgler would go out of his way to convince his parents for him to be able to pursue a proper career in it. Moreover, Sprigler laid down no conditions when he was helping Rivera and the other fighters he was overseeing personally and training them personally as part of his wrestling club.
“For a couple years, he talked with my parents over and over and over again in order to get me to be able to transfer and come back to Laurel so that I could wrestle, and I could pursue what has become a major part of my life,” Rivera added. “He paid everything forward, without any kind of conditions or anything like that. He just knew that I had a definite passion for wrestling, and I continue on with that type of commitment.”
Tom Sprigler is certainly missed by the wrestling community. Just like Angelo Rivera, another assistant coach has come out to speak on what he thought of the recently deceased personality. Here’s what he had to say.
Tom Sprigler’s former student calls the Hall of Famer a mainstay in wrestling
Ryan Mayes, who’s been the assistant wrestling coach for Laurel High, 19 years and counting, also trained under Tom Sprigler during the 1980s and was even a member of the 1998 State A championship team. He claimed that everybody knew who the recently deceased coach was, as he spent his four years at LHS training under Sprigler. Moreover, Mayes has continued to share the lessons he learnt from his coach with his students as well.
“He was a staple in the wrestling community for so long, and we were there, my classmates and I, at the tail end of it. The thing I remember most is just the mantra, pin to win. And that’s something that even now I find myself repeating to our wrestlers,” said Mayes. He also claims that the ‘pin to win’ advice from Tom Sprigler became a slogan that was printed on T-shirts.
Ryan Mayes also pointed out how strategic Tom Sprigler was with his approach to the wrestling game, claiming that “he had a game plan, and it was you get with the program. So, you [have] got to learn to do that, and it reaps benefits when you do that.” Well, he’ll surely be missed, but will remain one of the biggest icons in Laurel High School’s wrestling history. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.
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