By Kathryn Reed

Dave Borges says he never made it to the elite category in wrestling. That changed Saturday night when he received the Lifetime Service Award from the state Wrestling Hall of Fame.

“Dave is being recognized because of his long years of dedication and work and community service mindedness within the wrestling arena,” said John Taylor, who nominated Borges for the honor. “He has just given a lot of his time and efforts.”

Taylor also credits Borges for training referees in California and Nevada.

Dave Borges

Borges was one of 11 people to receive the Lifetime Service Award at the May 15 dinner in Sacramento before hundreds of people. The actual hall of fame is in Clovis.

He is one of the younger inductees. He also got in on the first ballot.

For 43 of his 56 years Borges has either been a competitor or a coach. And most of that time on the mat has been in South Lake Tahoe.

“The thing that stands out for me is my teammates along the way. Even today, (Taylor) who nominated me, I wrestled in the early ’80s and we are still great friends,” Borges said.

He said there is a camaraderie that grows as wrestlers compete, along with respect and lifelong attachments.

Although Borges has fleeting thoughts of competing in the senior circuit, he admits the sport is now a hobby and not a vocation.

“I’ve had desires to compete in (senior nationals), but then I see who is on the list. They are tough,” Borges said. “I keep it in proper perspective.”

Some of the guys still competing have day jobs, like being a Marine, that are more conducive to competing regularly. Borges is a chiropractor by trade.

It was his older brothers who got him interested in wrestling when he was a seventh-grader at what was South Tahoe Intermediate School. They competed, so then he did. So did the youngest Borges brother.

It was at South Tahoe High School that he developed his skills that allowed him to compete at the university level. A hand injury prevented him from wrestling his fourth year at Pacific University in Oregon.

He calls himself an above average wrestler who could hold his own against the elite wrestlers back in the day.

As an amateur he wrestled in Japan and Korea.

“There’s no money in wrestling. There are no sponsorships,” Borges said. “A lot of top guys in mixed martial arts have a wrestling background.”

Now Borges’ emphasis is coaching kids, mostly ages 5-12.

“We have some tough wrestlers,” Borges said of the youths on the South Shore.

They have a tough coach – a hall of famer, now.