Como earns spot in AK Valley Hall of Fame after helping to build Burrell’s wrestling success

By: Michael Love
Saturday, March 12, 2022 | 5:02 PM

Chris Como lives and breathes Burrell wrestling.

It has been that way since he started in the sport in junior high close to four decades ago.

As a competitor through high school and college and continuing as a coach with the Bucs for the past 25 years, Como has promised himself and those he mentors 100% effort.

That dedication is not lost on the wrestlers he has guided, the coaches he has worked with and the many others in the Burrell wrestling community who share a passion for the team and the program overall.

Como’s accomplishments in wrestling garnered notice from the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame, which will celebrate him and several other area athletic greats at the 51st induction banquet May 21 at the Quality Inn, New Kensington.

“It’s a great honor to me because my roots are in the AK Valley,” said Como, 50, while driving to Hershey on Friday afternoon to join the Burrell wrestlers at the PIAA championships. “I was born and raised in Lower Burrell. Some of my coaches and mentors along the way have been inducted into that same hall of fame, so to share this with them, it is very special. I look forward celebrating this.”

Burrell athletic director Drake D’Angelo is proud of what Como has brought to the Bucs wrestling program, both on and off the mat.

“Chris is the Godfather of Burrell wrestling,” D’Angelo said. “He put in the time and effort to help build the program to what it is today. He continues to support all the kids and athletes, even on a volunteer basis. It’s not just the high school wrestlers but all of them in the program from the youth levels on up. He’s also a strong sounding block for our other coaches to help them as well. This (hall of fame) honor is awesome. It’s so well deserved for what he’s done for Burrell wrestling and wrestling overall in the AK Valley.”

Como originally came from a football family as his father was a youth football coach in Lower Burrell for more than two decades, and his brothers were high school standouts and played in college.

Como gave football a shot along the offensive line and at inside linebacker, but he soon changed his athletic focus.

“I was undersized, especially for the positions I played,” Como said. “So I decided to give wrestling a try, and I fell in love with it.”

Como spoke fondly of one of his early wrestling influences — Ed “Frenchy” DesLauriers — who died in December.

“I started wrestling for his Christian Athletic Wrestling Association in the sixth grade,” Como said. “I was a late bloomer in the sport as compared to a lot of kids in the sport today who are almost wrestling right out of diapers. I developed a passion for the sport, and he really inspired me and believed in me. That drove my passion. It sent me down a really positive path.”

Como said he took his lumps in his early years in wrestling, but he started to see some success when he got into the high school ranks.

He won two section titles in three varsity seasons at Burrell and placed twice at regionals. He was a WPIAL runner-up as a senior in 1989 and finished seventh at the PIAA tournament.

“I had a good Burrell career, but by the standards for Burrell wrestling today, not nearly successful as some of the kids who I’ve coached,” Como said.

Como made his collegiate mark at Pitt-Johnstown, where he was a team captain and became an NCAA Division II All-American with an eighth-place finish at 142 pounds at the 1994 national championships.

“That is really where I came into my own as a competitor,” Como said. “I couldn’t have had a greater coach than the legendary Pat Pecora. He’s the winningest coach in NCAA history right now, and he’s still going.”

Como’s coaching genesis started at UPJ in the 1995-96 season. He was able to relish in the journey to the program’s first national team championship.

“Coach Pecora always preached that if something has given you a lot, the most rewarding thing is to give back,” Como said. “That’s really stuck with me all these years.”

Como came back to the Pittsburgh area and back to Burrell as an assistant under then-head coach Shawn DesLauriers, and he helped the Bucs claim their first Class 2A team title.

“The roots of my coaching success at Burrell were cultivated during those few years working with Shawn,” Como said.

Como became Burrell’s head coach in 1999, and over his 11-year tenure, he compiled a 141-43 record, guiding the Bucs to WPIAL titles in 2004, ’07, ’08, and ’09. Burrell also claimed the 2008 PIAA title.

He coached 23 WPIAL champions, eight state finalists and three state champions. One of Como’s top Burrell products, 2006 grad Josh Shields, took over as coach in the summer of 2013.

“When I took the head coaching job, we had already won a WPIAL title,” Como said. “But an objective of mine was to continue to raise the level of the wrestling program. We became a consistent winner year in and year out, and that started with changing the culture. A lot of the success the kids have had over the years is because of the family atmosphere that was created and continues today. These kids are like family, and we all live and die with them on the mat.”

When Como stepped down as head coach after the 2008-09 season, he vowed to continue on as an assistant, and he was able to follow through on that wish.

“I knew that if I followed a lot of the things that Pecora taught me, I would be able to find my own coaching success,” Como said.

Como’s eldest son, Anthony, 14, is carving his own athletic path in soccer.

“That’s where passion lies,” Como said. “He’s good at it. He’ll be going into the high school ranks next year.”

However, his sons, Luke, 12; and Anthony, 7, are carrying on the Como wrestling legacy, and he is helping coach them in club wrestling at The Mat Factory in Lower Burrell.

“They both have a passion for it. They have all the intangibles,” Como said. “I want to help show them the path so they can have success down the road.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell