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Charlie Bacon with his wrestlers at the 2025 state tournament

Wrestling Coach Says Trenton Uplifts Residents

Julie Hill Lehr

Last month I focused on THS boys basketball coach, Jon Guthrie. Jon suggested that we should make sure to let the community know more about head THS wrestling coach Charlie Bacon. So, Trenton Tales from Julie Hill Lehr will feature Charlie this first month of 2026.

Charlie Bacon was born and raised in Trenton. He truly believes in the community and what it has to offer, and Charlie says it offers him a lot.

Charlie’s parents are Tom and Ronda Bacon who attended Trenton schools. Tom was a pharmacist and worked at Fair Drug for many years while Ronda was a nurse for Dr. David Ryan and then decided to stay home with her kids when they were born. His sister Callie works at BTC bank. His family supports the community and they all are proud of where they live.

Charlie said that when he was young there was always something to do in Trenton. He played baseball and spent a lot of time with his friends at the pool in the summer. In middle school he remembers walking to the movie theater and after the movie, getting a snack at the Pizza Hut. He said one of his favorite memories growing up was he and his friends helping his dad with square bales of hay in the summer, picking them up in the field and then stacking them in the barn in really hot temperatures.

Charlie has always been very sports oriented. In Trenton Middle School and Trenton High School he participated in sports throughout the school year. He played football in the fall, wrestled in the winter, and ran track in the spring.

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Charlie Bacon with his wife Savannah

A big part of the reason he enjoyed sports was because of his coaches.

“I had some exceptional coaches from middle school all the way to high school,” he said. “Gary Ferguson and George Moore were my middle school coaches and they ran a tight ship. I always respected them and their style of coaching. In high school Rich Griffith and John Adwell were the two coaches I spent the most time with and I thought both of them walked on water.”

Wrestling became his main focus. In high school Charlie’s freshman goal was to make the varsity squad where competition was tough.

“It goes without saying that I had two of the best wrestling coaches in the state with Ron Hurst and Bill Hill,” he said.

After much hard work, Charlie earned a state medal in wrestling his senior year.

When he graduated from high school, he attended Drake University but soon transferred to Missouri Western State University to pursue a teaching degree. Charlie worked his way through college with the end goal to get his degree. He worked nights at UPS as a preloader and then went to class throughout the day. It was a really good job, but he didn’t get a lot of sleep between working from 2 am to 8 am and then going to class.

“This was the character-building part of my life,” he said.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a minor in chemistry and secondary education. Later he earned a Master’s Degree in Secondary Administration. Why science?

“I always enjoyed biology with Mr. Larry Danner in high school and have always been interested in nature and how our bodies work,” he said. “I was terrible at chemistry at first and am still shocked I have a minor in it, but I did gain a new appreciation for it in college.”

Coming back to Trenton to work was a happy surprise for him. Charlie explained that while he was finishing his bachelor’s degree, he did some student teaching in Trenton and loved it. While he was student teaching, he was also hired as the assistant wrestling coach under Bill Hill.

“I learned so much through that experience and it just happened that a job became available in Trenton the semester after I graduated.”

Charlie served as Bill Hill’s assistant wrestling coach for four years. After Bill’s retirement, he was promoted to the head wrestling coach position for the 2012/2013 season. He explained that becoming a good wrestler is about hard work.

“I always tell my wrestlers that the best part of the sport is that you don’t have to be the fastest, biggest, or strongest to become a good wrestler, but you better be ready to work harder than you ever thought possible and learn perfect technique to earn that success,” he said. “We have a couple of things that we say often in the wrestling room. The first is ‘embrace the grind,’ which means that practice shouldn’t always be fun, sometimes it is a grind and when you learn how to mentally deal with that, the better it gets.

The other thing we say is, ‘What are you willing to do when nobody is watching?’ This basically means are you willing to put in extra work when there is no crowd watching. Wrestling is more than a sport; it has to be a lifestyle.”

Charlie looks back fondly on his career and how Trenton helped shape the person he is today. He said he attributes part of his success to the great teachers and coaches he had while he was a student.

“I am so grateful for all of the teachers and coaches I had throughout my time growing up in Trenton, he said. “They were such positive influences on me and my teaching career, and there are too many great teachers to mention. I am so proud to be part of a program that has had only three head coaches in the past 50 years.”

Charlie explained that his job is the best because he gets to work with high school kids daily. He tries to create an interesting and fun environment in his classroom. He wants to make the same impact when he is coaching.

“The best part of coaching is seeing kids who may not have a ton of wrestling experience as freshmen, earn a state medal by the time they are seniors,” he said. “The other part I love watching is the impact that the sport of wrestling can have on a young person’s life. It teaches so many valuable life lessons that they can take with them as they graduate and move on into adulthood.”

So far this year the THS wrestling team is going strong. Charlie expects that it will be a good year for the Bulldogs. Last year the team placed 7th at the state tournament including a state champion and three other medalists and another state qualifier. Three of those wrestlers are back for the 2025-2026 season. They have 27 boys and six girls competing this season.

“This group of kids is putting in the work,” Charlie said. “It’s going to be an exciting season for Trenton wrestling.”

Charlie said that both when he was a student and today, he appreciates how much the community supports the local sports teams.

“Like today, I always remembered how the community rallied behind our local sports,” Charlie said. “C.F. Russell Stadium was packed on Friday nights and the high school gym was packed to the balcony for home wrestling meets. It was and is an amazing atmosphere to compete in.”

When he isn’t teaching or coaching Charlie enjoys his life in Trenton. Charlie had known his wife, Savannah for a long time since she was a friend of his sister. Then after she finished cosmetology school and in his second year of teaching they started going out. One of their first dates was at the Royal Inn.

“She must have been impressed because we’ve been married for 10 years, he said.”

It was easy for Charlie and Savannah, also a Trenton native, to decide to make their home in Trenton. Savannah owns her own hair stylist shop in town and the two have built a satisfying life in the community.

They love attending music festivals at the Black Silo Winery and attending the Missouri Day parades.

Charlie has a lot of hobbies including hunting, biking, lifting weights and camping in Colorado in the summers, but his favorite hobby is music. Charlie plays the guitar and has played and sung for a few events in town.

“I have played some shows for the annual Barktober Fest, which is a fundraiser for the Green Hills Animal Shelter, and for the Leadership Northwest event that has been held on alumni weekend at the Black Silo Winery,” he said.

Charlie said that a life balanced between God, family and friends is important in the way he lives his life. He said it is important to find meaning in every single day.

“I once heard a story about a man who asked the hypothetical question, ‘If I gave you a million dollars today, but you wouldn’t wake up tomorrow would you take it?’ Of course, the person he asked said no immediately. To which the man replied, ‘If you believe a day is worth more than a million dollars, why do you wake up and treat every day like it’s worthless?’”

Charlie tries to live each day to the fullest. “To me success means I can lay down each night knowing that I did my best, made somebody smile and hopefully made a positive impact on somebody or something.”

He wants the students he works with to be present in their lives.

“It seems like many kids are in a big rush to graduate, move away and get on with their lives, but I would recommend they slow down, take all of the lessons and opportunities that a small community has to offer,” he said. “Mainly I just want them to be present and enjoy the moments they are in.”

Happy New Year Trenton! My wish for the entire community is to have a healthy, happy and productive 2026! Don’t forget to send your ideas on who to feature next month to me in care of editor Gabe Stark, GStark@cherryroad.com or contact him at 660-654-0926.