Dwight Warren first stepped onto a wrestling mat at Baltimore’s McKim Center when he was 13 years old, deciding to join the team with his brother so that they could toughen up and defend themselves on the sometimes rough streets of Baltimore.

It was the beginning of a lifetime of involvement with the McKim Center for Warren, even meeting and marrying his wife Gladys there.

Warren began as the center’s head wrestling coach in 1967 and became its first director three years later. While simultaneously working towards his physical education degree, which he earned in 1975 from Morgan State University, Warren coached McKim from 1966 to 1989, leading his teams to 10 Maryland junior league titles. He then became the head coach at Mergenthaler Technical High School (Mervo), a position he held until 2010. While coaching at Mervo he founded and conducted the Eastside Wrestling Tournament from 1993 to 1996.

He also served as head wrestling coach at Southside Academy, Carver Vocational –Technical High School. Warren was head wrestling coach at Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School, earning Coach of the Year honors after his team became the first inner city school to win the Class 1A/2A regional title. He returned to Mervo as an assistant coach from 2020 to 2022.

He has been a member of the Maryland Wrestling Officials Association since 1982 while also serving as a member of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s state wrestling committee from 1999 to 2002 and as coordinator for the East Region Class 3A/4A Dual Meet Championships wrestle offs.

The Maryland State Wrestling Association presented him with the Johnny Eareckson Memorial Award in 2020. The award is named in honor of National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished Member Johnny Eareckson,

Warren dedicated his life to serving the youth of Baltimore through the McKim Center and as a wrestling coach.

He says that wrestling helped guide his personal growth and development and equipped him with the fortitude and desire to be the best he man he could be.

Warren also proudly says that his 57 years of involvement with wrestling allowed him the opportunity to positively and constructively impact hundreds of young people’s lives.