Sallisaw girls wrestling coach has accomplished a lot in 25 years of coaching

Darrel Hume was born in Key West, Florida, and grew up all over the country as a Navy brat.

When his dad retired, the family settled in Stilwell. He graduated from Stilwell High School in 1982. He was Stilwell’s first state wrestling champion as a junior and won his second state title as a senior. He received a scholarship to wrestle for Oklahoma State University. He competed with the team for a season until an injury put an end to his college career. He later went on to compete in the Olympic trials.

After college Darrel went to work selling cars, working at La-Z Boy furniture and becoming a blacksmith/farrier. He also coached youth programs on the side. He went back to school and completed his college degree in 1990.

In the fall of 1998, he began coaching wrestling at Sallisaw Public Schools. The team finished last in the state that first year. Things improved after that.

Throughout his 25-year coaching career, Hume has had 91 state qualifiers, 60 state placers, 36 state finalists and 20 state champions. Out of those champions, one was a four-time state champion, four were three-time state champions and two were two-time state champs. There were 16 third-place finishers and eight fourt-place finishers. Hume was voted 2011 Class 4A Wrestling Coach of the Year and 2018 Small East All-State coach Under Hume’s leadership, the Sallisaw Black Diamonds wrestling team was district champions six times and district runners-up eight times. They were also regional champions three times, regional runner-up once, state runners- up twice and dual state runner-up twice. Additionally, during the Hume era, the Black Diamonds placed third at state twice and fourth place at dual state.

Hume, along with assistant coach LuWella Harris, is now coaching the girls’ wrestling team at Sallisaw High School, and there are high hopes for success. Sallisaw wrestling will continue to shine.