Sussex Central’s Phil Shultie goes out on top
So how does a new coach fill the shoes of his legendary predecessor? He simply spends the next four decades building a legacy of his own.
Phil Shultie, who will retire at the end of the season, capped his tremendous coaching career with a shocking upset of favored Smyrna Feb. 14 in the DIAA Dual Meet State Championship. It was Shultie’s second championship and a storybook ending to an incredible career.
Sussex Central has only known two wrestling coaches in the program’s history, which dates back to Georgetown High School in the pre-consolidation era.
Herm Bastianelli introduced wrestling at Georgetown High School in 1960 and continued his career through the consolidation of Georgetown and Millsboro high schools until retirement in 1976. Bastianelli won 156 in matches in that span, and he was named to the Delaware Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2000 and to the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
A young Shultie was a wrestler on Bastianelli’s team from 1968 to 1971. After attending Appalachian State University, Shultie returned home and became the head coach of district rival Indian River.
Joe Booth was a senior on the Sussex Central team in 1976, and he recalls the match with Indian River.
“Herm Bastianelli took so much pride in seeing a former wrestler of his become a head coach of a program,” Booth said.
After Shultie’s season as head coach at IR, Bastianelli passed the torch to Shultie. After four decades, Shultie ends his career where it began, as he coached his final home meet Feb. 8 versus Indian River.
“I never really thought about it, but it was kind of neat to have my last home meet be against Indian River,” Shultie said.
Shultie is Delaware’s all-time coaching leader with 432 victories.
Shultie and his longtime assistant Chip Illian, who is also retiring, were honored Feb. 8. Sussex Central Principal Bradley Layfield, a former wrestler of Shultie’s, told the crowd, “Phil has outlasted 15 principals and nine athletic directors. When Phil started his coaching career, the price of a loaf of bread was 25 cents.”
Illian has been Shultie’s assistant for 29 years.
“It really hasn’t sunk in yet. It probably will in a couple of weeks, but it has been a wonderful ride,” Illian said. “I have been blessed with the kids that have come up through the program and the parents that trusted me to coach those kids.”
An emotional Illian, standing in a hallway between the Golden Knights locker room and the gym, talked about how many people he has encountered as an assistant coach at Sussex Central. He said he is looking forward to the school hosting his final Henlopen Conference tournament in a couple of weeks.
“I hope I have touched all of the people that I have had the privilege to meet during this ride as much as they have touched my life,” Illian said.
Kevin Charles, a former wrestling official who also recently retired as the executive director of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, was on hand to bid Shultie and Illian farewell.
“Forty years, now there is a lot of endurance there, and I can only think of a handful of coaches in Delaware that have lasted that long,” Charles said.
Charles discussed his officiating days when he had many matside discussions with Shultie. The thing he respected about him was that it ended there.
“One thing I can say about Phil is when the discussion was over, it was over. He didn’t carry it from match to match,” Charles said.
Charles was equally as impressed with Illian’s longevity as an assistant coach.
“The combination of Phil and Chip, 40 years and 29 years, is a sign of a great leader,” he said. “They surround themselves with good people, and that is what Phil has done, especially so with Chip.”
The bleachers were full, with many of Shultie’s former wrestlers donning shirts with the slogan, “I wrestled for Shultie 1976-2017.”
“It was really nice that so many people turned out to honor Chip and I,” Shultie said. “It is touching that they took the time to come out. The bleachers were full, and that was nice to see.”
Standing at the edge of the mat where he has stood for 40 years, Shultie looked on as his team rolled up the blue and gold mat one last time.
“This is it; I’m out of here. It is time for new blood to come in,” Shultie said.
Shultie smiled and blew a kiss as the mats were removed from the gym floor.
Thanks for the memories
By Benny Mitchell
On a personal note, it was never in my plan to wrestle beyond one junior high season. But in the spring of 1979, I received a phone call from a man identifying himself as coach Shultie.
He invited me to come to Sussex Central High School and participate in off-season workouts. Coach Shultie continued to keep me interested and in his program.
After graduation in 1982, wrestling was simply something I did through high school. It wasn’t until the following year that I began to realize how much I learned about life through wrestling and, honestly, how much I missed it.
What was supposed to be one year to do what my friends were doing turned into a lifelong love for the sport that included a 12-year officiating stint, more than 30 years of coaching and, most recently, broadcasting Delaware high school wrestling.
That change was all due to a single phone call from a young coach looking to get his wrestling program on the winning track with a group of freshmen in 1979.
That is the impact coach Shultie had on young men - the ability to have them buy into his wrestling program and make everybody around him successful.
There are two titles that are touching for a man to hear - “Dad” and “Coach,” and in a coaching career, many times they are synonymous.
With that said, thank you, Coach Shultie, for what you have done for thousands of young men at Sussex Central and, more importantly, thanks for the memories. All 40 years’ worth.
