Craig Daily Press

Denver — Roman Gutierrez sits back with a little lean to the left in the chair above the main floor of the Pepsi Center.

A comfortable position for a comfortable man.

He’s keeping an eye on the competition, watching the sport he loves and looking for wrestlers he’s known from years back.

Sitting to his left — but still his right-hand man — is Ron Linsacum.

Twenty-six years Roman has traveled to state as a coach, and for 14 of them, Ron has been by his side.

And the same can be said of Ron, in his 26 years making the trip to state as a coach, Roman has been by his side 14.

Together, they admit, they still are huge fans of the sport they love.

It will never grow old.

They appear calm and relaxed, with mellow murmurs in coach speak only the two really understand.

They can be heard talking about “remember when?” And “what about that guy?”

Like two old guys retired, fishing in a boat.

“We were actually talking about fishing places last night,” Roman says with a grin. “But normally, we comment on the kids who are wrestling. We communicate really well and share the same philosophies as far as wrestling goes.”

The two met while in college at Western State, Roman the wrestler and Ron the fullback.

After they graduated, Ron began coaching at Rocky Ford High School in Eastern Colorado and Roman began his run at Moffat County.

A short stint as head coach in Hayden followed for Ron, until a spot opened up 14 years ago at Moffat County High School.

Now, for 14 years on championship Saturday, the two coaches and their team run laps around the lake in Lakewood.

They share a room while on the road.

“He snores too much,” Roman said. “It’s bad.”

On the way home to Craig, they stop in Kremmling each year at a meat packing plant.

“They like to pig out on all that beef jerky and stuff,” Ron said of the team.

Both coaches agree that once their careers are done, they still will be found hanging out in the stands of a wrestling meet at the nearest high school.

“It will be hard to stay away; I hope I can do it,” Roman said. “But, it will be fun to just sit and watch. I will always be a fan of wrestling.”

Fans of the past and into the future. When asked how many people they knew in the Pepsi center, they both grinned, looked at each other and started to laugh as they said overlapping each other.

“All of them.”