Shelby’s own Edmundo Flores celebrated his induction into the Michigan Wrestling Association Hall of Fame Nov. 8, and the very next week he was notified that next May he’ll receive a Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Michigan chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The dual honors mark a huge highlight - but not in any way the end - of a lengthy officiating career.
“I can’t say it’s been a heck of a career, because then people think I’m leaving, but so far so good,” Flores said. “I just hope to keep continuing it until I can no longer do it. When I finally decide it’s no longer any fun, I’ll put my wrestling shoes in the middle of the mat (the universal sign in the sport that you are retiring). I’ll take off my umpiring stuff and leave it on the softball diamond. I’ll walk away.”
Flores grew up in sports, and particularly in wrestling, where he was part of the Shelby Tigers’ 1972 state championship team. He said at one point, his Tigers won 42 consecutive dual matches until an upset loss to then-powerhouse Fruitport.
He landed in Shelby through a family connection - his aunt already lived here when his mom, who’d grown tired of the migrant’s life of “following the fruit belt” for work before returning to the family’s native Texas, decided to put down roots with Edmundo and her other six kids in Oceana County. She never left, even when Edmundo’s father passed away while Edmundo was a Shelby freshman.
After years of sacrifice from his mom, Flores offered her a measure of payback when he graduated college - he wrestled at Lake Superior State and Grand Valley State, graduating from the latter after twice qualifying for the national tournament - with the intent of becoming a physical education teacher. Although he could’ve gotten a job at virtually any bilingual district he wanted to, he told his mom he wasn’t going to leave her behind. When his mom shared that she didn’t want to leave the county, Flores’ decision was made, and he instead got a job in shipping and receiving at now-defunct Oceana Foods. He retired from Gray and Company in Hart four years ago.
It’s a story he often shares with kids, especially lower-income kids and Hispanic kids, some of whom remind Flores of himself. He makes sure they know that their parents are here because they wanted the best for their children - so make it count.
“Especially for the minority kids, their way (to a better life) is, for a lot of us, athletics,” Flores said. “Academically, it’s coming around...(I’ll say,) ‘Your mom and dad, their parents were the migrants who moved it on to their kids. But your mom and dad thought, ‘We’re not doing that to our kids. We’re not picking them up and throwing them around. We’re going to stay here and establish something.’”
Flores’ officiating career didn’t begin by choice, he said. Working for the Village of Shelby’s recreation department in high school, he was informed by his boss at the time that he would be umpiring a youth league baseball tournament the next day. Flores enjoyed it enough that he kept coming back when asked, and it became a passion - and a way for him to put his teacher’s spirit to use by interacting with kids.
Flores enjoyed many career highlights, especially in the early years. He once umpired an all-star game at Marsh Field that involved many local legends and also included former Detroit Tiger Howard Bailey, who pitched against longtime Muskegon-area legend Les Gowell in a game that ended 1-0. Flores has done tournaments in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; St. Augustine, Florida; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; and in California.
His roots remained in West Michigan, though, where he’s made a name for himself officiating wrestling and umpiring softball. He’s best known for his gregarious manner - there’s no one he won’t have a chat with - and a couple of signature moves. When he scoops up a ball that’s out of play on the softball diamond, he’ll flip it back to the pitcher behind his back. And when he’s on the mat and a pin is recorded, you’ll see Flores spin 90 degrees and blow his whistle.
“Other officials see that and they start doing it, and I go, ‘Hey, there’s a royalty fee. Every time you do that, it’s a dollar,’” Flores chuckled.
More than a showman, though, Flores is one of the best, and he has the credentials to prove it. He said he’s officiated at 23 individual wrestling state tournaments and 30 finals in all - an assignment that comes by recommendation.
“It’s a different breed of person,” Flores said of officials. “I can’t make you an official. I can’t. You’ve got to have a love for it or you don’t. You can’t be halfway, because if you’re halfway, you’re going to get eaten up because people are going to be jumping on you all the time. You’ve got to have thick skin, but again, if they respect you and you respect what they’re doing, they kind of leave you alone.”
Like any official or any person, Flores isn’t perfect, and he said if he knows he got a call wrong, he’ll say so afterward. He says he’ll engage with most anyone about his calls, as long as they treat him like a human and speak at a normal volume. It’s been close to 20 years since it’s gone as far, he said, as removing someone from a match.
“’Just relax and talk to me,’” Flores said he’ll advise fans and coaches. “’Nobody needs to know what we’re talking about but you and I. If it happens that you have to leave, I’m just going to tell you that you’ve got 60 seconds to do it, and that’s up to you.’”
Flores has been around long enough that he’s seen generations of wrestlers come through. His fellow 2025 inductee, former Hesperia coach Craig Zeerip, has been around Flores’ matches for decades. Flores met Justin Zeerip, Craig’s son, as a 6-year-old kid on the wrestling mat, getting “the best seat in the house” as Justin and his younger brothers Collin and Brandon reeled off spectacular Hesperia careers. And now, Flores officiates matches Justin coaches in at Whitehall.
“Being in West Michigan, I couldn’t ask for a more stand-up guy officiating,” Craig Zeerip said of Flores. “He was always consistent and fair. He always had great management. Sometimes as a coach, you get really excited in those pressure situations, and Edmundo is probably one of the best officials I’ve ever seen at being able to come talk to you and explain things well. You’re always so excited to have him available and right there officiating. He cares about the kids.”
Flores is always willing to mentor the next generation of officials if they show they’re up to it. He said a former Grand Rapids West Catholic and current Cornerstone University wrestler, Thomas Zielinski, is one who has what it takes. The MHSAA is often reminding fans through in-game announcements that there is a shortage of officials, and though he’s not done yet, Flores doesn’t want to see that exacerbated when he and fellow veterans begin to move on.
Flores said he’s been told he’s only the second official to be inducted into the MWA Hall of Fame, and he takes pride in what he’s accomplished. But apart from perhaps having thicker skin than some others, he said there’s no reason others can’t have the kind of officiating career he’s had.
“Who am I? I’m nobody, really, but the life of sports has taken me to areas where I can still interact with a lot of kids and ask them how they’re doing and how things are going at home,” Flores said. “I must touch those people in the right way because they feel comfortable talking to me, not fearing me because I have an official’s uniform on...If I can convince a coach to coach his kids and not coach me, I’ll do it. That’s a big plus, because that’s one less burden on me. It seems to have worked, both on a softball diamond and on a wrestling mat.”
