Mike wrestled for the legendary Mepham teams of the early sixties. Fitz was a Nassau County Champion and was named outstanding Wrestler at the Tournament. He went on to win the New York state title in 1965. Mike continued his wrestling career at Moorhead State in Minnesota. He added another major accomplishment to his resume by earning All-American status by placing in the national tournament in 1969.

As impressive as Fitz’s wrestling accomplishments are, there is much more to the story. Many young wrestlers in Nassau County grew up admiring Mike Fitzgerald. His tough physical style made him entertaining to watch, and his obvious discipline and work ethic made him easy to look up to for teammates and competitors alike. Many future NY state standouts idolized Mike and many Nassau wrestlers wanted to “be like Mike!”

Fitz’s coaching statistics clearly show him to be one of the most successful coaches in Long Island history. Mike was a head coach for 27 years, 26 at Hampton Bays. In 26 years at Hampton, his teams had a 205-127-3 record, while wrestling every tough team that would wrestle them. In those 26 years his teams won a league dual meet title or league tournament an incredible 19 times (10 dual meet titles and 9 league tournament championships). Mike coached 90 league champions and 35 All-County wrestlers. Seven of his wrestlers won county titles and 6 went on to place in the states.

While his coaching stats are phenomenal, what makes them more impressive is that they were accomplished at tiny Hampton Bays High School. Hampton Bays didn’t even have 100 boys in the entire high school and had no history of athletic success when Fitz arrived. Many years Mike had fewer than 20 wrestlers on his team (varsity and JV). With these small numbers, he built one of the most feared small school wrestling programs in the county. Five times his team finished in the top 10 in the county tournament, placing as high as 4th in 1983. No team got more out of its talent than a Mike Fitzgerald coached team. One year, he won a league dual meet title with 13 wrestlers on the roster, one for each weight. His intensity and hard work were hard to match. A typical January day would have him coaching the middle school team immediately after school, the high school team at 4pm and the elementary school kids at night. He was Hampton Bay’s Wrestling.

The most impressive thing about Mike’s career is that he always did things the right way. His honesty and straightforward manner taught young men more than wrestling. His wrestlers learned values and character and were molded into young men. Wrestlers lived at his house when they fell on hard times. He gave back much to the sport by mentoring young coaches as well. He retired from Hampton Bays in 2001, leaving many admirers. He returned to coaching as an assistant at Westhampton Beach while his son Todd was there in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 -2005, he returned to head coaching for 1 year when Southampton didn’t have a coach.

Mike Fitzgerald is one of the most respected men in the storied history of Long Island wrestling. He is a true Hall of Famer.