Throughout his decades of coaching, Art Blake has made a significant impact on the sport of wrestling in Maryland, especially on the Eastern Shore.

Art wrestled collegiately at Western Maryland College, now McDaniel, where he earned a reputation as a fierce competitor who would move around the lineup to help the team, which won three Mason-Dixon Conference Wrestling championships during his time there.  He also played football and baseball, and was inducted into the McDaniel Athletic Hall of Fame.

But it was through coaching that he truly put his mark on Maryland wrestling. It began while he was still in high school with the Hackettstown junior wrestling program in New Jersey. After college he began a two decade run coaching junior wrestlers in Kent County and many from Delaware. He then served as an assistant coach at Kent County High School for seven years during the team’s state championship run.

 He even built, with the assistance of some wrestling families, an outbuilding where wrestlers could come and train to improve their skills.

Throughout that time, Art coached 12 wrestlers that accumulated 22 state titles in Maryland and Delaware. His two sons, Davey and Mikey, each won multiple state championships (5). Davey went on to become the head coach at his, his brother’s, and his father’s Alma mater, McDaniel, for 14 years. Davey continues to coach at his high school, Francis Scott Key, and Mikey volunteers at his son’s high school where he wrestles. This family legacy will be remembered by two sons following in their father’s footsteps as wrestling coaches.

Art and Ginny have been blessed with 2 wonderful daughter-in-laws and 4 grandchildren, Davey and Caitlin and their children, Julia and Joseph (JoJo)

and Mikey and Kelly and their children, Parker and Presley.