Thursday, July 17, 2025
Wrestling is one of the biggest sports in Long Beach, and you can’t talk about it without thinking of Leo Palacio. Due to his lifetime of service to the sport and the community, he was recently inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Palacio and his family moved to Long Beach from Medellín, Colombia, in the 1970s. He started his wrestling career at Long Beach Middle School and High School, being named county champion in 1981, to all-county four times and was a part of them winning the state title in 1982. He wrestled alongside his brothers, Luis and Al, as well.
Upon graduating, he took his talents to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he made his mark as a two-sport athlete.
“I got recruited to wrestle and to play soccer at North Carolina,” Palacio said. “I had a dual scholarship where it was half soccer and half wrestling. So I ended up doing both.”
He then came back to Long Beach and began coaching alongside his former coaches, Paul Gillespie and Reggie Jones. He acted as the middle school wrestling coach and assistant varsity coach from 1985 to 1996. During that time, Long Beach won 17 Nassau County titles and the 1987 state championship.
“I had the pleasure of coaching some great individuals, to this day,” Palacio said. “Where these kids started and where they ended up, that’s the most important thing.”
Now, since 1998, Palacio has been assisting Ray Adams in coaching the Long Beach Marines. During this span, Long Beach’s wrestling program hasn’t slowed down. The program won two state dual meet titles in 2016 and 2017, and was awarded the Pascal Perri Cup twice by the Friends of Long Island Wrestling, being the top-ranked team in the state.
“It has been an honor to work with him,” Adams said of Palacio. “He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest coaches out there and one of the greatest human beings, period. I learn from him every day, he’s just unbelievable. The impact that he has had is immeasurable.”
During this current span, he has helped Long Beach win five more county titles and coach 10 state champions. He has coached Eduardo Delgado, P.J. Gillespie, Elijah Rodriguez and Dunia Sibomana to be champions, and Jacori Teemer to becoming Long Island’s first-ever five-time state champion. Palacio’s son, Dylan, also won the state title in 2012.
Throughout his career, Palacio has won several awards. He was awarded the Nassau County Coaches Assistant Coach of the Year award and was the recipient of the NWCA New York State Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year in 2017. Now, Palacio can add being elected to the Hall of Fame for his lifetime service to that list.
“It just symbolizes the hard work has paid off,” Palacio said. “It’s an honor to be part of this hall of fame because of who’s there and what they’ve done. These are people that you used to look up to. It was a great honor on my part, for what my family has done for wrestling, my brothers and I.”
