Gary Siler served honorably in the US Army after graduating from Bel Air High School. While in the Army He was active in both boxing and wrestling. He was promoted to E4 rank after only thirteen months of service and was honorably discharged after a tour overseas. Following his time in the military, Siler began working in the masonry field, eventually running his own business. When the opportunity rose to work as a masonry instructor at a local high school, he jumped at the chance. He began teaching and coaching wrestling and baseball. After being hired at Hartford Tech, he continued his education and received his degree from the University of Maryland in Vocational Education.

When Coach Siler arrived at Hartford Tech in 1988, he took on the challenge of coaching a failing wrestling program. His first year fielded a team of only eight wrestlers and eight dual matches. By the end of the first season, they won two matches and had one county champ to their credit. Siler, however, was not discouraged. He would go through the hallways and precruit boys out and tell them they were going to wrestle. He also convinced his baseball team to try wrestling. He attended wrestling camps to hone his coaching skills and encourage the team to attend camps and clinics in the off season. The second year recruited twenty wrestlers and a full schedule.

From there, Siler slowly built the Hartford Tech Wrestling program. In 1995 became the frst year of a full Junior Varsity Program. Since then, Siler has put together three full rosters consisting of JV, Varsity B and Varsity A. Over his twenty-four year career, he has brought the first County, Conference, Regional and State Championship to Harford Tech. He has amassed over 350 wins, 33 Harford County Champions, 12“100 Win wrestlers, 31 Regional Champions, 19 Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference Champions, 15 States Finalists, 3 State Champions, and 36 State Placers.

There have been many exciting coaching moments, but one unforgettable match was when Harford Tech defeated private school powerhouse, McDonogh. The match started by Coach Siler's star wrestlers getting pinned or defeated in close matches.

McDonogh had racked up a 23 point lead until the 171 pound match went into overtime and the Tech wrestler won by pin. The team rallied and came on strong defeating the next wrestlers in a series of pins. The match ended with Siler's eventual first state champion, Mike Taylor, prevailing with a major decision. It marked the

First time in the last sixteen years that McDonogh was defeated by a public school. Siler has collected numerous coaching honors including Male Coach of the Year, Harford County Coach of the Year, District Coach of the Year and the 2006 All-Metro Coach of the Year, after winning the Maryland State Championship. The wrestling community is what is truly important to Siler. He spends his spare time co-chairing Grapplers wrestling club, serving as a moderator on the Maryland wrestling forum and is the Northem Representative of the Maryland State Wrestling Association.

Mr. Siler strives for gold in the classroom as well as on the mat. He has produced twelve state champions and five national place winners in SkillsUSA masonry competitions. He has been honored with the Educator of the Year Award by the MSNVP (Maryland Special Needs Vocational Personnel), the Maryland Teacher of the Year Award and the Maryland Educator of the Year Award by the MVA (Maryland Vocational Association).

Gary considers himself lucky to have the support of his wife, Amy who has worked with him side by side and daughters, Tori, 12 and Kaylee, 11 who are his biggest cheerleaders.