Ask Tom Best about his memories of life as a Naperville Central wrestler and you will uncover a treasuretrove of statistics and stories, all presented with an uncommon blend of reverence, gratitude, and love.An incredibly accomplished wrestler, Best is quick to highlight the achievements of his teammates, theexamples of those who preceded him, and the unwavering support and high expectations of hiscoaches. And yet, his own resume is remarkable. As a sophomore, Best won the Jr. Olympic FreestyleIllinois Regional tournament and the 5-State Regional tournament, placing 5 th at Nationals. As a junior,he won Conference, Districts and Sectionals, placed 3 rd at State, and ended his season with a record of34-1. He was named team MVP and earned All-State and All-American recognition. Best took first in theAAU Freestyle State Tournament and traveled and competed in Romania. He was named captain in hissenior year, placing 2 nd at Conference, 1 st at Districts, 2 nd at Sectionals, and 3 rd at State, with a seasonrecord of 26-5. He once again was named to All-State and All-American teams, was invited to andparticipated in the Olympic Training Camp, and earned a wrestling scholarship to NorthwesternUniversity.In all of this individual achievement, Best remembers most the team accomplishments: “Looking back,the team we had my junior year and how we competed at Sectionals is one of my highlights. Two weeksbefore, we lost to Dekalb by ¼ a point in the Conference tournament, but we turned the tables in thesecond round.” Citing tremendous performances from team captain Dave Larimer and teammates DonLarimer, Ron Johns, and Mark Milne, as well as his own victory over a state-ranked, undefeatedopponent, Best smiles thinking about the triumph: “We won Sectionals for the first time and Dekalb wasa distant second. The look on Coach Young’s face was priceless! That is a memory I will never forget.”That particular memory is made even sweeter by the road he and his teammates took to make thedream happen. Best remembers the incredible summer before his junior year when the Larimerbrothers set up their garage as a training room with a wrestling mat so the team could continuepracticing and competing in freestyle tournaments. “We all grew individually as our skills and confidencecontinued to improve, as well as bonding us together as friends and as a team,” he said. “That summerwas pivotal in the successes we all accomplished the following two seasons.”Garage wrestling was a natural extension for Best, who counts himself privileged to have the example ofhis older brother, Steve, himself an All-State wrestler, who mentored him throughout his competitiveyears. Best shared, “Although I was only seven years old when he first started, I didn’t have much choicewhen he needed someone to practice on at home. I became his guinea pig. When I entered junior high,my love and passion for wrestling became a focal point of my life. Steve taught me not only techniquesand strategies but also how to prepare. He was always in my corner, both literally and figuratively.”Also in his corner, and at the center of his heart, was Coach Bill Young. “About 20 years ago, I stopped into see Coach Young at a practice. I wanted to thank him and shared that he was one of the mostinfluential people in my life,” Best said. “Although he could be very tough and expected a lot, hebalanced it with genuine love and concern for the wrestlers. I told him my experiences in wrestling hadas much, if not more, prepared me for life as a classroom did. It taught me discipline, character and howto not give up through challenges and disappointments. When I shared that with Bill, he smiled and saidthe same was also true for him.”After high school, Best earned a degree in Communications. His post-wrestling dream came true in 1990when he, his parents, and his brother, Steve started a business in wholesale distribution called BestEnterprises, LLC. In 2006, they added a second company, FedTech, LLC, which provides contractingservices to the federal government. Through his work, Best quickly came to appreciate how muchwrestling shaped him. He explained, “When I approach ‘managing’ people, I come at it from a coachingperspective in the same way Coach Young did with his teams. You combine the goals, expectations, anddisciplines needed with love and support to the individual, and they will flourish. I never get tired ofseeing the results.”Best channels the best of all that wrestling taught him in his most important endeavors: parenthood andgrandparenthood. Married for thirty-six years to wife, Beth, he treasures his life with her, their threechildren, and three grandchildren.A lifelong wrestler at heart, Best knows what it takes to be his best: “Over the past 44 years sincegraduating from Central, when life has been hard and unfair at times, I often think back to wrestling. Iremain committed to my priorities and goals and remind myself what I learned. Life goes by extremelyfast and the last thing I will do is hold anything back...I tell myself to ‘leave it on the mat.’ When you dothat, there aren’t any regrets.”