Coaching and Caring : Winning Meets Is Only Half of the Game for John Craven

He has always been there.

When a kid needed a pair of new wrestling shoes but couldn’t afford them, He was there, shoes in hand. If a kid couldn’t make practice because of a job he had to hold down to help support his family, he told the kid he understood.

For 26 years, as wrestling coach at Buena Park High School, John Craven, 61, has been through good (nine league championships), and he has been through bad (seasons when more than half his team disappeared).

“He’s the father a lot of these kids have never had,” said Rick Zabala , Buena Park assistant.

Wearing thick glasses in front of playful eyes, and with an anvil-like hairdo topping his round face, his appearance is as mild as his manner.

Of course, what John Craven looks like has never mattered to those who have benefitted by him most, his wrestlers. What has always been important is that he has been there.

And after the CIF state wrestling meet Friday and Saturday, it will all be over. Craven will retire from the sport he never competed in.

His last season has had the stuff of storybook. Buena Park won the Southern Section 2-A championship about a week ago. It was the first Southern Section title for Craven and only the second boys’ Southern Section championship in school history. Buena Park won a cross-country championship in 1961.

To add to the good times, Javier Frausto, a sophomore wrestling at 129 pounds, won his weight class at the finals, becoming Buena Park’s first Southern Section champion.

Craven was so pleased after the 2-A title and Frausto’s performance that he briefly entertained thoughts of calling off the retirement party he had announced at the beginning of the season.

“It was hard to walk away when things were going so well,” Craven said.

But the storybook has come with its share of dramatic tension. A day after the championship, one of Craven’s top wrestlers, had to leave the team, and therefore did not compete in Saturday’s Masters Tournament, because he had to go to work to help support his family.

“His family wanted him to quit a long time before,” Craven said. “He told me he’d stick through the (Southern Section) finals. But the day after that he was out working full time.”

It wasn’t the first time a kid had to leave the team under such circumstances. It wasn’t the second time, either. Craven has seen money and family problems raid his team almost every year.

When he first got to Buena Park, the city had acquired the derisive tag of ‘Boney’ Park.

“There were a lot of low income families who needed their kids to help out with the load,” he said. “To tell you the truth, it hasn’t changed that much.”

And so he has learned to bend. Has learned how to give something to some kids who have little or nothing. He’s bought untold amounts of shoes for kids who couldn’t afford them.

“He does things like that all the time,” Zabala said. “The kids know he cares. Really cares. He’s not just talking about it. He does it.”

Several years ago, when several kids expressed an interest in going to wrestling camp but couldn’t afford the cost, he organized tournaments to raise the money. Last summer, 14 wrestlers were sent to camp.

“Some of these kids are coming from tough situations,” Craven said. “There’s no need in me making it any harder. I’ve learned to listen.”

He had to read to learn about wrestling. He was a basketball, football and baseball player at Whittier High in the mid-1940s. He admits wrestling did tickle his interest but because his best friend was wrestling at his weight (178) he figured it was better to bypass the sport rather than headlock his buddy.

He got to La Habra High in the late 1950s and coached football and baseball. When he got to Buena Park in 1962 he wanted to do the same thing. He got the football job, but the baseball position wasn’t open to him. Instead of baseball he took the wrestling job.

“I went out and got every book on the subject and read those,” he said. “I went to clinics and I just got down on mat with the kids to see what worked . I was learning as much as they were.”

By the 1970s Buena Park was a recognized wrestling power. It was in the decade that a majority of the nine league titles were won. But things never seemed to get any easier. The problems--money, broken homes--were always there. By 1983, Craven thought he had taken all he could.

“I had heard he might quit then,” said Gary Bowden, Canyon coach. “He’s got one of the hardest jobs around. I know no one would have blamed him for getting out. He’s given as much as any guy could give.”

And having done that, Craven said he could not just leave the program.

“I wanted to make sure there would be someone who cared as much about it and the kids,” he said. “I couldn’t let everything I built up just die.”

He said he finally found that man in Zabala.

“He’s a good teacher and he cares about the kids,” Craven said. “He may not have all the patience you need right now. But he’ll learn. I did.”

‘There were a lot of low income families who needed their kids to help out with the load. To tell you the truth, it hasn’t changed that much. Some of these kids are coming from tough situations. There’s no need in me making it any harder. I’ve learned to listen.’