A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was a state champion for Cedar Rapids Prairie High School. He was a three-time All-American and three-time Big Ten champion who helped the University of Iowa win four straight NCAA team championships. After a fourth-place finish as a sophomore, Zalesky went 73-2-1 as a junior and senior while advancing to the NCAA finals at 142 pounds both seasons. He won the Henry Deglane Tournament in Nice, France in 1983 and the Cerro Pelado International Tournament in Cuba in 1986 while capturing silver medals at the 1983 Pan American Games, the 1984 World Cup, the 1984 Tbilisi Tournament and the 1983 Canadian Cup. Zalesky received bachelor’s degrees in finance, education and Russian language from Iowa while earning his master’s degree in Slavic linguistics and literature from the University of Indiana. After coaching at his alma mater from 1986-90, he spent eight seasons as the head wrestling coach at Palmer High School in Palmer, Alaska. Zalesky was inducted into the Alaska Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010. He then coached nine years at the University of California, Davis, being named Pac 10 Coach of the Year in 2007. Zalesky was head coach at California Baptist University from 2011 until his retirement in 2022. He was named NCAA Division II Coach of the Year in 2017 and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2016.