Deke Conklin wrestled for the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, captaining his team for two years and culminating his schoolboy career with an Inter-AC championship at 138 lbs. Deke went on to wrestle at nearby Rutgers University, where he competed in the prestigious Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championships and represented Rutgers at the NCAA Division 1 National Championships.

Upon graduation, Deke coached the Rutgers freshman wrestling team before joining the United States Navy. Conklin earned his Naval Aviator Wings and served his country as a Naval Reserve Pilot for the next twenty years before retiring as a Naval Captain. Deke continued to wrestle competitively throughout the 1960s, garnering an alternate's spot to the 1968 Olympic Trials. By 1963, Conklin had earned his Master's Degree in Education from Rutgers, which prepared him for a thirty-two year career in physical education. Conklin's teaching profession would nicely complement a coaching career that would span more than six decades and encompass three different sports.

After spending one year coaching at Sayerville (NJ) High School while in grad school, Deke migrated to Massachusetts and served as head wrestling coach and athletic director at the Roxbury Latin School, where he preceded hall-of-famer Steve Ward. After five years at Roxbury Latin, Deke then moved to Scituate High School, where he would remain as the varsity wrestling head coach for the next twenty-one years.

At Scituate, Coach Conklin established himself as pioneer in Massachusetts schoolboy wrestling, developing the South Shore school into a powerhouse at a time when most of the public-school wrestling programs were found north of Boston. Like most outstanding wrestling coaches, Conklin understood the importance of developing a feeder system. In 1972, Deke formed Scituate Youth Wrestling, one of the earliest youth wrestling programs in Massachusetts. Coach Conklin would lead both the high school and youth wrestling programs throughout his tenure in Scituate.

Conklin had the opportunity to coach numerous successful wrestlers, many who also enjoyed fine college careers. From Fred Leach, a 1958 EIWA freshman champion at Rutgers, to Joe Hayes, a 1991 Massachusetts state champion, Conklin imparted his knowledge and love of the sport to his wrestlers. In the years between Leach and Hayes, Deke developed many outstanding wrestlers, including Paul Catinella and Dave Bong from Roxbury Latin, and Ted Kastner, Bob Kastner, George Stitt, Len Biles, Larry Hall, Tom Carlin, Dave Hastie, Stu McEachern, Bill Fenton, Jeff Putnam, and Tom Teare from Scituate. All of these men, and countless others, are proud to call themselves "one of Deke's wrestlers."

Not one to be idle, Conklin also worked as a wrestling official with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Wrestling Officials Association (MIWOA) and helped out at numerous summer wrestling camps. In the "off-season," he coached soccer, and track and field. After retiring from Scituate, Deke sought out more coaching opportunities, first at Cohasset, and more recently at Keene (NH) High School. Deke continues to coach athletes in pole vaulting and wrestling to this day. This past spring, one of Deke's pole vaulters won a New England title. Conklin's hands-on approach hasn't waned with time; he is rumored to have demonstrated a textbook lateral drop on one of his wrestlers this past winter.

A role model and a valued mentor, Deke is admired and respected by his peer coaches and the grateful athletes that he has coached. They hold Deke in high esteem for his sense of fair play, his genuine interest in others, his enthusiastic nature, and his innate understanding of athletes. Conklin appreciates the balance between sports and other aspects of life; he realizes that lessons learned from athletics are transferrable and that integrity is non-negotiable.

Deke has three children, Sara Jane, Tekki, and Dwight, and six grandchildren, Garret, Tyla, India, Dylan, Savanna-Max, and Jack. All of them are special to Deke, as is his new companion, Barbara Fraser. When he's not spending time with his children and grandchildren, or volunteering as a coach, Deke can be found working on Barbara's farm or sailing on a nearby waterway. In recognition of his many years as a mentor and coach, Deke Conklin is being honored by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for his Lifetime Service to Wrestling.