Wrestling coach Allen Held is Miami Herald’s Broward Lifetime Achievement Award recipient
For more than three decades, Allen Held has been a mainstay in the Broward County high school wrestling scene, helping bring three separate public schools to relevance during his time as a coach.
That time, however, has come to an end. Held retired at the end of the season, capping a 34-year career that included stops at Hallandale, South Broward and most recently a decade at Cypress Bay.
For his longevity and success, Held is the Miami Herald’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in Broward County.
“When I started coaching, it was always something I wanted to do,” Held said. “I always wanted to be a PE teacher and a coach. And then once I started doing it, I just kept doing it and doing it. You realize as the years go by and you’re doing something you love, it’s not a job. You just keep doing it and enjoying it.”
The decision came at the right time, too. Held’s wife had a stroke last year and he is spending most of his time now taking care of her.
“Family has to come first,” Held said.
Overall, Held’s teams went 701-146 in dual meets and oversaw 10 individual state champions.
He was a seven-time Miami Herald Broward Wrestling Coach of the Year, and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2017.
He spent the past decade turning Cypress Bay into a respected wrestling program in the state and gave the group an identity. “Bad Bay Wrestling,” as they eventually named themselves, went from scratching to get wrestlers to qualify for state while competing in Class 3A with the likes of South Dade and Southwest to regularly having multiple members of the team make it to Lakeland and later Kissimmee.
They had their best season yet in 2023, finishing fifth at state after getting no higher than 11th place in Held’s previous nine years.
Included in that team finish was Cypress Bay having its first individual state champion under Held’s watch in Andrew Punzalan, who won in the 106-pound class. Assistant coach Mike Otero will take over as Cypress Bay’s head coach.
“When I got to the school, we were probably not one of the stronger programs at Cypress Bay,” Held said. “But we had an identity change and called ourselves ‘Bad Bay Wrestling’ and went out there and competed each week with the best teams in the state. Obviously competing with South Dade and Southwest, you want to get them as many times as you can. All season, we worked out with them and during the season we competed against them. The kids were buying in. They really wanted to be one of the best programs. ... The kids stood up to the challenge. At first we were scared of those teams, and then we welcomed the challenge. That’s all I can ask for.”
It was the same at his previous stops.
His coaching career began in 1990 at Hallandale, where in just seven years he turned a program with almost no history with wrestling into one of the county’s best. He stayed at Hallandale until 2003 when he started a decade-long run at South Broward. Held also coached football at both schools.
In addition to the team accomplishments, one of Held’s best memories came in 2008 when he coached his son, AJ Held, to an individual state title while at South Broward. AJ won in the 160-pound class in 3A. Other big names he coached included Davin Joseph (who went on to play nine years in the NFL) at Hallandale and Kevin Grooms at South Broward.
“Each and every one of them has their own story,” Held said. “That’s a part that’s always special to me.”
And Held won’t be going too far from the wrestling scene. While he won’t be coaching, Held plans to help organize two of the state’s prominent regular-season tournaments: Cypress Bay’s preseason classic Seahorse Open and the Bobby Stanley Duals held at Cardinal Gibbons.
“I won’t be working with the kids, which is what I loved to do the most,” Held said, “but I’ll be around.”
.JPG)