Wrestling Coach Lauds Champion Lost in Accident

Former Fresno City College wrestling champion, Matt Hickman, 25, died from injuries resulting from a solo accident on Interstate 5 on March 5.

Hickman was returning from the California Interscholastic Federation State Wrestling Championship in Bakersfield.

Hickman was a highly-touted recruit from Adolfo Camarillo High School where he was a junior national All-American in Freestyle and Greco-Roman. Hickman also had offers from Division II and Division III schools before deciding to attend Fresno City College and wrestle in 2011.

In the end, it was because of his long-standing relationship and loyalty to FCC coach Paul Keysaw that he came to FCC. Coach Keysaw had first coached Hickman since the player was in the fifth grade.

“It was a real privilege for him to come to Fresno City College and wrestle,” Keysaw said. “It speaks to his loyalty; he was really loyal to me, and that’s really why he came to Fresno City College.”

In addition to his loyalty, Hickman was kind and generous, according to his coach. Keysaw spoke of how Hickman stood up for the underprivileged, the disabled and the people who looked different or acted different.

“He had a heart like no other and at the same time had a ferocious appetite to compete,” Keysaw said. On the mat, Hickman was “relentless and fearless.”

Relentless and fearless are fitting for the wrestler who stood at 5’6 and weighed 165 pounds. Hickman wasn’t the biggest guy on the mat, and Keysaw said almost every opponent Hickman wrestled was at least a whole head taller, so he had to devise a strategy on how to win.

“That’s why I say he was tough,” Keysaw said. “He was tough enough where I had the faith to move him up, and he won a state championship at 165 pounds.”

Hickman left his mark not only on the wrestling mat, but with his coaches and his teammates and everyone he interacted with at FCC.

His teammates said he affected a lot of people — young and old. His friends and others in the wrestling community say they were drawn to him because he was a special kind of wrestler.  “I’ve been coaching for a long time,” Keysaw said. “Kids like Matty don’t come along all the time; they’re few and far in-between.”