![](/Files/image/articles/sensenbaugh.jpg)
This is not to say that Dean Kenneth Sensenbaugh was not an athlete. Born in Empire, Calif. in August 1924, Sensenbaugh played football, baseball and basketball at Modesto High School. At Modesto Junior College, he excelled as an all-state quarterback in 1943 and 1944, leading the 5-1 Pirates to the 1943 state title. In addition, Sensenbaugh was the point guard for the basketball team that won the MJC Tournament.
Sensenbaugh interrupted his educational and sports career to serve in the Army in 1945 and 1946, then enrolled at San Jose State, where he was a reserve quarterback in 1949 and 1950. After earning his bachelor's degree at SJSU, Sensenbaugh entered Stanford University, where he acquired his Master's, then launched his long coaching career, first at Modesto High, where he coached football, basketball and track. He then moved on to MJC in 1956, where he was asked by a group of young wrestlers to start its team. With that move, MJC became only the third Northern California community college to offer wrestling 60 years ago.
During Sensenbaugh's tenure at Modesto Junior College, the Pirate mat squad won six regional titles and placed second in the state in 1959-60. Six of his teams went undefeated and, during one run in the early 1970s, won 97 out of 100 dual matches. A dozen of his MJC wrestlers earned California state community college titles.
Despite never having wrestled, Sensenbaugh earned a place in a number of halls of fame, including the Modesto Junior College Hall, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the California chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
"He was extremely supportive of the wrestlers and took care of them in so many ways," said Lee Ehrler, a Modesto Junior College state champion under Sensenbaugh who later served as Pirates coach from 1986 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2010. "He made sure you had every opportunity to succeed."
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now