Terry Devereaux, who has been involved in Maine high school wrestling for nearly 50 years as a wrestler, coach and official, was inducted into the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame on March 9 in Providence, Rhode Island. Contributed photo from Terry Devereaux

For nearly 50 years, Terry Devereaux has seen it all when it comes to Maine high school wrestling, as a grappler, a coach and an official.

And on March 9, Devereaux was rewarded for his lifetime of service.

Deveraux, 63, was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in Providence, Rhode Island. He was first informed of the induction by Maine Principals’ Association assistant executive director Michael Bisson.

“It’s definitely an honor, I was a bit surprised,” Devereaux said. “The first thing I said to Mike Bisson was, ‘You know Mike, there’s quite a few guys who should be in there instead of me, guys who are better wrestlers, better athletes and certainly more successful coaches.’ His response was, ‘You’ve spent a lot of years involved (in wrestling) here and it has not gone unnoticed.’ I look at (the honor) as being involved in a lot of things over a long period of time.”

A 1979 graduate of Belfast Area High School, Devereaux was a four-year starter for the Lions, and was both a state and New England runner-up during his senior year. He competed under legendary coach Ted Heroux, who had a 602-168-3 record during his tenure from 1967-2012, leading the Lions to eight Class B championships. Heroux, a 2012 inductee to the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame, died in 2017 at the age of 74.

“He was the kind of guy that a lot of the kids looked up, and he had that persona that, if he wanted you to wrestle, that was a big (deal),” Devereaux said. “Everyone admired him at that point.”

One former opponent who remembers Devereaux’s skills is Gardiner coach Matt Hanley.

“He beat me in a freestyle tournament, back in ’79, I believe it was. He beat me, I can’t remember the score. I didn’t like him at first,” Hanley joked.

Devereaux continued his grappling career at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and was a letter winner for the Monarchs (the school discontinued its program in 2020 for financial reasons). After graduation, Devereaux began his coaching career, first serving as an assistant at Belfast. He gained his first head coaching position at Cony in 1988. It would be the first of two head coaching stints (1988-94; 1998-2000) Devereaux had at the Augusta school. He would also lead the Winslow High School program in 2014. He was twice named Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference (KVAC) Coach of the Year.

“I owe Terry so much,” Cony coach Shawn Totman said. “I had been away from wrestling since high school, took a job (as an assistant) at Cony. He was the one that approached me (years ago) and asked if I wanted to get back into it, on a volunteer level first. There’s so many connections from my coaching career to things Terry taught me, not just in wrestling itself, but how to handle a team. There’s so many things that I can say I owe to that man. He’s the epitome of what a role model is. I can’t thank him enough for the things that he’s done.”

Devereaux has also served as an assistant coach throughout the years at Belfast, Gardiner, Erskine Academy of South China and Cony.

“He came down and helped me one year as an assistant (at Gardiner) and knocked one of the front teeth out of my wrestlers,” Hanley said. “The time that he spent at Old Dominion, he learned that next level wrestling, the set ups to the set up (of a move)… One (day), at one of the practices, a kid said, ‘You know, he’s kind of a different coach.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s because he’s teaching you at a different level.'”

Devereaux also covered high school wrestling as a freelancer for the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel.

As the years have gone on, Devereaux has seen changes in how grapplers attack the sport.

“Kids will watch the high level wrestlers (on the internet),” Devereaux said. “Those kids (usually) can’t do what the kids at the higher levels do. They see so much technique that looks so cool to do, they can’t possibly learn it and can’t possibly master it. Sometimes, the kids want to learn the high level moves, but they don’t want to learn the fundamentals. In wrestling, techniques have evolved so much (over the years) and changed, kids are trying things they aren’t capable of. They’re better off sticking to the fundamentals and learning those well.”

Devereaux has also served as a wrestling official for more than two decades and been the site director for numerous tournament over the years, from the youth level to high school championships.

“Terry just does everything right,” Totman said. “Whenever he’s involved in anything, you know it’s going to be done right. It’s going to be done with care. It’s going to be run efficiently. It doesn’t matter if it’s a practice, a meet or running a tournament, he just does it a high level. I wish I could get (to that level). He’s kind of placed the bar of being involved in wrestling at a high point.”

The father of a 6-year old son, Devereaux still sees a long future in the sport, despite his nearly five decades of service.

“I haven’t really pushed anything on him as far as getting involved in wrestling, but I’m probably looking at about another 12 years of being around a wrestling mat,” Devereaux said with a laugh.