Name: Chuck Pipher

Age: 40

Quotable: “I want to give back to what’s been a part of my life.”

Chuck Pipher starts his day before the sun rises and returns home long after the sun sets.

The 40-year-old Hotchkiss man gets started on his woodworking business. A couple hours later, he takes his youngest daughter to school, checks back at his shop then heads to Grand Junction for his “other job” as the Mesa State College wrestling coach.

By the time he returns home to Hotchkiss it’s close to 9 p.m.

Pipher, who stays in Grand Junction some nights, doesn’t need the wrestling coach job, but he’s always had an interest in coaching a college program.

“I want to give back to what’s been a part of my life,” Pipher said. “My brother (Andy) and I have always coached because of the passion we have for the sport.”

Pipher was born and raised in Hotchkiss by a coal miner and logger.

“One of our cousins, Curly, was living with us and he wrestled for Paonia,” Pipher said. “He was a state champion at 167 (in 1975). My dad was interested in (wrestling) and we (Chuck and his two brothers) got interested. Mom loved it too. She was raised with four brothers. (Wrestling) was ideal for my dad’s line of work. As he got older, he was more involved.

“It’s a family deal. We did a lot of traveling in the camper. We stayed the night before and did a lot of freestyle tournaments. A lot of them were run by Charlie White.”

Pipher went on to win two state titles for Hotchkiss. His younger brothers, Andy and Clint, went on to win one each.

From there, Pipher went to the University of Southern Colorado, now CSU-Pueblo, and became a four-time NAIA All-American.

He was a national runner-up as a freshman and three-time national champion and a three-time academic All-American.

He received his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Sciences and Technology with a teaching certificate in 1990.

He intended to be a teacher and coach.

After he finished his education, he was a student assistant coach at USC for a year. He found an assistant job at Arizona State University, where he discovered another career.

He found a custom cabinet job and worked from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. then spent the rest of the day working out and coaching wrestling.

“The opportunity rose to start a cabinet business,” Pipher said.

After one year, he took an assistant coaching job at Western State and started his own cabinet business in Gunnison.

Pipher and his son, Charlie, met his wife, Deana, and her daughters Kendal and Peyton, then Chuck and Deana had a daughter, Grayson.

To better accommodate the growing family, Pipher took a teaching and coaching position at Hotchkiss High School in 1996. He resigned from teaching in 2000 with his cabinet business continuing to grow, but continued to coach the varsity wrestling program.

The Bulldogs won two state team titles in 2000 and 2004 and placed in the top five nine consecutive years. He was the National High School Wrestling Coach of the Year in 2004.

Pipher hired more employees, built a bigger shop and started remodeling kitchens along with building and installing cabinets.

Pipher coached Hotchkiss through the 2005-06 season and was planning on resigning after the season so he could spend more time watching Charlie wrestle at Western State and Grayson play basketball for Hotchkiss.

Then he heard Mesa State was bringing back wrestling and was interested. He was hired in March 2006.

“I talked to Grayson and she was all for it,” Pipher said. “She said, ‘Dad, all I’ve known you to do is coach. If her support was there and my wife’s, that’s all I needed. I have a good crew in my (cabinet) shop.”

Pipher starts some days at 4 a.m. in his Pipher Woodworking Shop. He takes Grayson to school, returns to the shop for an hour then heads to Grand Junction. He heads back home around 7:30 p.m. and gets home by 9.

“The winters are tougher, it gets dark earlier,” Pipher said. “I take Grayson to school to spend some time with her, drop her off at school and go back to the shop for an hour and draw up plans.

“My wife has been a savior. She has stepped up to the plate on that. The guys have been great. They’ve accepted the way it is.”

Twice a week, Pipher stays in Grand Junction as long as the Mavericks aren’t wrestling out of town.

“The thing about a new program is it’s like running a new business,” Pipher said. “You have to surround yourself with good people. We already have that here at Mesa with the administration and the coaches. My assistant (coaches), Anthony Guillen and Jared Timothy, have stepped up as well.”

Pipher studies all of the business work orders and takes copies with him. He is on the phone often with his workers going over the plans as they complete the jobs.

“People give me a hard time about not being organized,” Pipher said. “I realize I may not be on paper, but I’m more organized than people give me credit for. I have a lot of sleepless nights, but by nature, I work hard and am organized.

“I have to think through things more. Sometimes I end up being a go-fer. We have to make a lot of trips to Grand Junction for supplies so I spend a good part of my day doing that too.”

He does more than coach the Mavericks, he raises money for the program.

“I think my business has helped me to be a better coach, especially with the fundraising part of it,” Pipher said. “The crab and steak feast is our main fundraiser for the year. There are enough advocates of wrestling to raise money. You see it when you go to the Warrior Classic. My goal in my tenure is to ensure the safety of the Mesa wrestling program in a financial way and win national titles.”

Pipher had close to $100,000 raised from Dan Gable’s visit back in the fall of 2006. That helped establish the scholarship base. Pipher started a wrestling camp last summer.

Pipher credited former Western State College wrestling coach and current athletic director Greg Waggoner for ideas in fundraising.

Pipher said Kevin Brooks, Monte Griffith and Ryan Mizushima deserved credit for helping with fundraising projects.

“We’ve got to prove ourselves as a program,” Pipher said. “I want to coach at least 10 years and we’ll go from there, but a lot can happen in 10 years.”

E-mail Allen Gemaehlich at agemaehlich@gjds.com.