There was a time when a family would use a crest to advertise the feats of their brood to all who passed. Although the days of shields emblazoned with accomplishments blended into legend have passed, the DeGain family could easily fill one.
In the top corner of the crest would be four crowns placed upon a wrestling mat representing the DeGains? four high school state championships. Next there would be a wrestling singlet draped across a college diploma portraying the opportunities wrestling has afforded them. At the bottom of the crest, a burnt out candle would represent the long hours the DeGain family has put into wrestling over the years. And finally, a broken lamp set upon a wrestling mat would complete the crest.
‘Everything in our house was plastic. Our mom wouldn’t buy anything glass because we would break it,? said Joe DeGain, the oldest of three brothers and the current Clarkston wrestling coach. ‘You couldn’t walk through the hallways without one of us kids tackling the other.?
The DeGain household, and all the lamps and plates inside, somehow withstood Joe and his brothers Pat and Clint as they grappled their way to the top of the high school ranks and into college. While Mike DeGain, who like his sons was crowned a state champion in 1976, was an integral part of the boys success, Their Mother, Donna, was the one who introduced them to the sport.
‘I didn’t have any thoughts about getting the kids into wrestling,? said Mike, who at the time was coaching wrestling at Royal Oak Dondero. ‘One day I got home and there was a note from my wife that said ‘took the kids to wrestling practice.??
A leaflet for the Utica Hawks had come home and Donna felt the time was right for the boys to step off the sidelines of the Dondero practices and onto the mat.
‘Joe (age eight) and Pat (age four) seemed to like it right off the bat. Clint (age two) was still a little young. He and I just rolled around on a mat in the corner,? said Donna.
Being the baby of the family, Clint received extra training growing up from his brothers.
‘They would come home from practice and still have energy left over and beat me up most of the time,? said Clint. ‘In the long run (my brothers) got me where I am today.?
Today Clint wrestles for The Citadel, although his freshman campaign has been cut short by an ankle injury.
Pat wrestles for Indiana University, and in his senior year is making a run at All-American status. He helped the Indiana team to a 19th place in the national collegiate wrestling polls and recently won the prestigious Midland Tournament heavyweight division.
Joe was a four-year-letter winner at Michigan, captain of the wrestling team in his senior year and named to an All-Big Ten team.
‘Some parents make the mistake of pushing their kids before the child is committed to the sport. You have to keep some desire burning or they will burn out,? said Mike. ‘We only let them go to one tournament a week (as kids), that seemed to be the key to keeping them from burning out.?
Last season Joe took over for his father as the Clarkston wrestling team’s coach. Mike was ‘not as young as he used to be? and tired of being an engineer by day and coach to the Wolves in his free time.
‘I felt I left the program in good hands with Joe. He had already coached for two years (at Flint Kearsley),? said Mike. ‘He calls me a lot, most of the time he has everything figured out he just wants to see what I think too.?
Mike still runs the Oakland County tournament, an event that he wrestled in when he attended Madison Heights.
‘Eight years ago the Oakland County tournament was in real trouble. It is a hell of a tradition,? said Mike .
Long before her boys ever wrestled in the Oakland County tournament, Donna remembers her sons sleeping in their singlets so they could roll out of bed, only to continue sleeping in the car on their way to a weekend wrestling tournament.
‘My dad would wake us up and throw us into the car to get us to tournaments on the weekend,? said Pat. ‘All of the Saturdays and Sundays (our parents) spent with us at tournaments and all of the entry fees they put up, thank god we could get scholarships and pay them back.?
Time passed and tournaments were won and lost. Miles were traveled and singlets washed. Then in 1989, the DeGains moved to Clarkston. Mike coached the Clarkston youth wrestling program until landing the CHS coaching job in 1992.
‘I don’t think we’ve ever had a conversation without wrestling working its way in somehow,? said Donna.
Wrestling was so entrenched into the daily lifestyle of the DeGains that one Christmas, Donna’s attempt to introduce something else into her sons? lives backfired completely.
‘We got them a snowmobile one Christmas, they all just looked at it like they did not know what to do with it. Finally Joe said ‘we could sell this and buy a wrestling mat,?? said Donna.
Which is what they did. And while their Christmas present that year did not get the boys out of the house completely, the wrestling mat downstairs did ease the pounding the DeGain household underwent on a daily basis.
These days Donna has taken her antique lamps, long stored out of harms way, out of the attic.
Her boys are grown and the mother who for so long was the ‘lunch lady and singlet washer? has been set free.
‘I could move on to the next phase of my life but I’m having too much fun traveling and seeing them,? said Donna.
Her next trip will be to South Carolina to be with Clint as he undergoes surgery, something she has not quite grown accustomed too, but knows is part of the sport.
Clint hurt his ankle in the first match of his collegiate career, but perserveered to finish second in the tournament, going 4-1 on the day, He lost to a fellow teammate in the final.
While he loves the weather in South Carolina, Clint is still tied to Michigan by his family and Linsey Walker whom he has dated since the two were freshmen at Clarkston High School.
‘I’ll be bumming out and I’ll call her and she will dig me out of whatever rut I’m in,? said Clint.
Clint may still have three years of college left but he is already thinking about graduation and the possibility of running his own wrestling program.
‘I want to help others accomplish things I could not. I think it would be fun if I could coach a program in the same league or district as Joe. We could have a little battle every year,? said Clint. ‘I’m trying to pay my parents back for all of the sacrifices they made for me… besides they told me I’m not allowed back home without a diploma.?
Pat is actually closer to taking the brothers sibling rivalry to the next level. He will graduate from Indiana at the end of the year with a degree in physical education and wants to pursue teaching and coaching. Pat and his fiancee Nicole Hill, who also graduated from Clarkston, are currently deciding between beginning their professional lives in Chicago or someplace in Michigan.
‘I miss everything about Clarkston, the people, my friends, I don’t get to see many of them anymore,? said Pat DeGain.
Joe and his wife Elizabeth, with their children Madeline, 8, and Lillian, 1, reside in Grand Blanc. The couple’s third child is on the way and his name will be Sam.
Even though the boys have grown up, to some extent their sibling rivalry still continues to burn.
‘We’ll be sitting around having a good old time and then Joe will kind of egg things on,? said Clint. ‘He’ll mention how he won a state championship, and then Pat will say he won two state championships, but then I’ll say ‘I was three time state qualifier.? The argument just goes on and on from there.?