For the better part of a decade, around the turn of the last century, Coach Brian Gallagher and his Foxboro wrestling teams reached heights that few programs have ever seen. Brian, better known as "Gal," had instilled his breed of toughness and relentless work ethic into those Warrior teams. They responded by serving notice to the Hockomock League and the rest of Massachusetts that Foxboro Wrestling was a force to be reckoned with.

Gallagher was born and raised in Foxboro, Massachusetts, in a family of rough-and-tumble brothers. He attended the local high school and played football and wrestled for Foxboro High. Gal is quick to admit that he wasn't really a star on the wrestling mat, but it was during this time that Brian fell in love with the world's oldest sport.

Upon graduation from high school, Gal left his home town to attend Siena Heights University in Michigan. During his freshman year at Siena, a friend approached Brian with an opportunity that would ultimately change his life. Gal was offered his first coaching job as an assistant at Morenci (MI) High School, where he helped lead the wrestling team to the 1982 Class B Michigan State Championship.

After earning a degree in Criminal Justice from Siena, Gal returned home and began a career in law enforcement. While working as a prison guard, Brian started the wrestling program at Sharon High School. After four seasons of progress with the fledgling Sharon program, Gal took his dream coaching job - head wrestling coach at his alma mater, Foxboro High School. By then, Gallagher had also become a Foxboro police officer; in many ways, Gal had truly come home.

For the next eleven years, Gal's Foxboro Warriors would enjoy unparalleled success. Under Gallagher's leadership and with assistance from Coach Jim Fraser, those Foxboro teams would win seven straight sectional championships, earn six state championships, and churn out a staggering number of individual championships. During Gal's tenure, his Foxboro teams produced 56 sectional champions, five Lowell Holiday champs, nineteen state champions, three all-state champs, and one New England champion. In the midst of Foxboro's streak, Massachusetts initiated the All-State tournament, bringing together the top wrestlers from all three divisions. When it was decided that no team scores would be kept for this tournament, some postulated that this decision was due to Foxboro's dominance during this era. The legacy of no team scoring at the All-State tournament is still sometimes referred to as "the Foxboro Rule."

Stepping down after yet another state title at Foxboro in 2001, Gal took a short break from coaching. The following year, he returned to the mat, taking the reins of a struggling Walpole program that had only seven wrestlers. With the help of several former Foxboro wrestlers, Brian turned Walpole into a very competitive team that would yield two individual state champions.

After six seasons in Walpole, Gal would once again step down from a winning program that he had built. Brian was now focused on spending more time with his daughter Courtney and his three sons Ryan, Brett, and Evan. Two of the boys - Ryan and Brett - had been wrestling for Gallagher and his good friend Pat Coleman in the Norton Youth Wrestling program. By the time Pat's and Brian's sons had reached high school age, the two coaches had joined forces to establish a wrestling program at Norton High School. Not surprisingly, Gal couldn't pass up the opportunity to coach his sons and contribute his wealth of knowledge to a new wrestling program. Those Norton teams would flourish under the tutelage of Coleman and Gallagher, earning three league championships and a state dual meet title. It was during the years at Norton that Brian enjoyed his proudest moments in wrestling. Contributing to the development of another winning program while seeing his son Brett earn two sectional and two state championships was the culmination of Gal's coaching career.

After more than two decades as a wrestling coach and 21 years as a head coach, Gallagher had left an indelible mark on Massachusetts wrestling. He is proud of the effort and heart displayed by all of his wrestlers that stepped onto the mat, each of whom were successful in their own way. Brian's legacy is evidenced by the eighteen former wrestlers who went on to become coaches, eight of them serving as head coaches. During his career, Brian was the architect of no less than four wrestling powerhouse programs; he won more than 200 dual meets and developed countless individual and team champions. All the while, Gallagher was a positive role model for his wrestlers, a coach who focused on his athletes' personal success even more than their wrestling achievements. Over the years, Gal was named sectional coach-of-the-year seven times, state coach-of-the-year four times, and Boston Globe coach-of-the-year three times. In recognition of his accomplishments, Gallagher was inducted into the Massachusetts Interscholastic Wrestling Coaches Association (MIWCA) Hall of Fame in 2011.

Gal is now retired from coaching and law enforcement. He still resides in Foxboro, where he enjoys spending time with his family.

In recognition of his service to the sport of wrestling as a coach and mentor, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is honoring Brian Gallagher with its award for Lifetime Service to Wrestling.