We hear speculation about dynasties year after year in professional sports, but rarely in high school sports.
It is a term that is used with a certain prestige in the sports world and only a select few qualify. It comes with dominating performance over a considerable time span, usually at least three years.
The Sunnyside High School Blue Devils wrestling program has been a dominant opponent over the past decades, amassing 28 state championships. The results over the last 12 years have launched Sunnyside into a dynasty thanks to the DeBerry family.
Bobby DeBerry took over as the coach of Sunnyside’s wrestling team during the 1994-95 school year. He came to Sunnyside after starting his career as an assistant coach at Pima Community College and serving as head coach at multiple high schools around Tucson, including Canyon Del Oro.
DeBerry led the Blue Devils to 12 straight state championships on his way to receiving Coach of the Year honors from the Tucson Citizen this year, something he considers “luck.”
With a résumé that includes National Coach of the Year from the National Wrestling Coaches Association, many would argue otherwise. The NWCA Coach of the Year award is voted on by coaches all over the country.
He can credit much of his recent coaching success to his own bloodline, his sons Kyle and Kory.
Kyle attended Sunnyside from 2002 to 2006 and was a four-time state champion during that time. He is only the 21st person to win four high school state titles in the history of Arizona. He compiled a record of 176-14 over his high school career.
Since then, Kyle has gone on to wrestle at Arizona State University, where he has been for the past two years and is currently a red-shirt freshman weighing 165 pounds. He missed this year’s NCAA tournament by one match and was ranked 33rd, one more than the tournament field of 32.
Kory, Bobby’s youngest son, has picked up right where Kyle left off. As a sophomore, Kory has already captured his second state championship for the Blue Devils and has posted a record of 44-5 throughout this season in the 140 pound weight class.
His success was awarded at the end of the season with accolades such as Wrestler of the Year from the Tucson Citizen. But just as Kory has helped his father’s success, his father has helped in return.
“I like being coached by my dad because it makes me work hard and he makes me stay focused on school too,” Kory said.
Bobby coached both Kyle and Kory and many kids from their youth, some being as young as four or five. He takes part in a youth program with help from his wife, Kathy, who is around wrestling enough to be a certified coach.
Kory may have difficult shoes to fill in following his brother, but it is a burden he takes in stride.
“Everyone expects me to do what he did,” Kory said. “But I’m myself so I just do what I’m able to do.”
And that seems to be working out just fine as Kory rakes in his state championships and Wrestler of the Year accolades, awards his brother also garnered as a senior at Sunnyside.
The DeBerry family shows no signs of slowing down even after Kory graduates and goes to college. Bobby, 48, is at the peak of his coaching career even after 14 years at Sunnyside, and Kathy has been right by his side the entire way. He has no plans to leave Sunnyside anytime soon, either.
“I’ve thought about maybe moving to coaching college,” DeBerry said. “But with these budget cuts that are happening, it’s probably best to stay where I am. A move might not be the best idea.”
Kyle and Kory have no end in sight as they continue their wrestling careers and rewrite the record books both in Tucson and Tempe. Kory might follow his older brother to ASU, but he has not made any decisions yet.
The DeBerry dynasty is intact and continues to grow as the Sunnyside wrestling program continues to flourish.
As for now, Bobby considers each son “just another kid on the team.”
