Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 7, 1994 TAG: 9405070056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Shelton, 54, was one of the state's great wrestling coaches when he was at Northside from 1962 through 1970. Shelton's Vikings teams won three state 1-B or Group AA wrestling titles and were runners-up in the fourth year during a span from 1967-70.
Overall, Northside won 63 consecutive dual meets - a school record that still stands - and coached 11 individual state champions.
Shelton left to become wrestling coach at The Citadel, a job he held until retiring four years ago. He remained at the military college as a consultant to the program and continued as an associate professor in educational psychology.
At The Citadel, Shelton's teams didn't win any conference championships. However, he had 13 individual conference champions in the last 12 years before he retired in 1992.
Walt Nadzak, The Citadel's athletic director, said, "It's really a sad day around here. Ken was so well-liked."
Nadzak said he had talked to Shelton this past week about returning as full-time wrestling coach in two years. Since he quit as head coach, it had been a part-time position.
Shelton's influence in Roanoke Valley wrestling has continued nearly a quarter of a century after he left. When the Virginia High School League moved the Group AA and A state tournaments to Salem two years ago, Shelton returned at the invitation of meet director Larry Hall, his successor at Northside, to be honored and to hand out trophies.
"That [coaching at Northside after Shelton] was a tough path to follow," Hall said. "He really developed and was the founder of the program at Northside, but I enjoyed working with him and stayed in contact with him for the eight years I was at Northside."
Hall now leads the officials who call the Roanoke Valley and area wrestling matches. Many of the officials wrestled under Shelton at Northside. They include Rick Schilling, Ron Childress, Stan Parker, Mike Winston, Pete Minton, Greg Deacon and Gary Davidson, who has retired from officiating.
Besides influencing Hall, Shelton had a great impact on local coaching, most notably on Lord Botetourt's Mark Agner, who wrestled at Northside and at The Citadel, and on Dickie Myers at Glenvar.
"For me, I measure all my coaching experiences back to Coach Shelton. I wrestled for him here for four years, he got me a job here where I coached for six years and I returned here to get my master's degree," Agner said from Charleston on Friday night. "For me, personally, Coach Shelton might have been the most influential person in my life, from my education to my initiation into wrestling to my initiation into coaching."
Shelton also left his mark on Northside and Roanoke County's educational system. Northside principal Donna Henderson; Jim Gallion, director of administration for Roanoke County schools; and Shelton formed the guidance department at Northside in the late 1960s.
Allen Journell, assistant principal at Northside, wrestled for Shelton.
"He was a tremendous coach, he was my second daddy," Journell said. "He took the kids as his own and took a special interest in all of them. He was a special person."
Shelton also was head football coach of the Vikings for two years and was an assistant for the other six years from 1962-70. As head coach, he won the Blue Ridge District twice, but in those years there were no playoffs, so the Vikings didn't have a chance to play for a state title.
Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the Summerall Chapel on The Citadel's campus.
Shelton is survived by his wife, Lee, and two children: Jim Shelton and Angela Blalock, both of Charleston.
by CNB