PEABODY — The Peabody/Saugus and Marblehead/Swampscott wrestling teams opened their dual-meet seasons Wednesday in front of a packed gymnasium at Peabody High.
While Peabody/Saugus (1-0) came away with a 47-30 win, the night wasn’t about winning or losing; it was about celebrating the life of Freddy Espinal, a Peabody up-and-coming wrestler who was only 17 when he died unexpectedly in September shortly after the start of his junior year.
Family, friends, classmates, teammates, coaches – you name them and they were there, all to honor Espinal’s memory and dedicate a scholarship created in his name. The Freddy Espinal Scholarship is reserved for Peabody High senior athletes who intend to pursue careers in criminal justice.
“There hasn’t been a day we haven’t thought about Freddy,” said Peabody/Saugus coach Wayne Moda. “These last few months, we’ve thought about how to keep his memory alive, so it is with great pride that I announce the first year of the Freddy Espinal Scholarship. Freddy really enjoyed community service and had signed up for the criminal justice program at the high school. That’s how this scholarship came about.”
Espinal’s family members, decked out in “Wrestle Like Freddy” t-shirts, received a standing ovation after being introduced. Espinal’s aunt, Mabelline Soto, spoke on behalf of the family. She thanked Moda, Principal Brooke Randall, the football and wrestling communities, and the “entire City of Peabody for the outpouring of love and support during this extremely difficult time.
“Words cannot describe the gratitude [the family] feels,” she said. “May you all keep wrestling like Freddy.”
A spotlight shined on Espinal’s wrestling shoes that had been placed in the center of the mat by Peabody/Saugus captains Max LoRusso and Mike Maraio. Public address announcer Nino Funari explained the significance of the shoes.
“In a long-lived wrestling tradition, a wrestler’s shoes are left at the center of the mat to signify they have wrestled their last match,” Funari said.
After that, the gymnasium lights were dimmed. Fans illuminated the gym with their cell phones. A moment of silence was observed. Espinal’s father, Rafael “Freddy” Espinal Duran, joined the captains of both teams for the coin flip.
This would have been Espinal’s third season on the wrestling team. He excelled at youth sports and also played one year on the Tanners’ football team.
“He was passionate about his family and wrestling, and worked incredibly hard at the sport after falling in love with it as a freshman,” Moda said.
Moda said it didn’t take long for Espinal to learn “that the only way to be as good as you want to be is by working exponentially harder every single day and he embraced that.
“He had an attitude that did not have the word ‘quit’ in it,” Moda said. “And he was a leader. I have no doubt that by his senior year, he would wrestle for a state championship. He had so much unrealized potential that I know would have surfaced.”
Peabody Athletic Director Dennis Desroches coached Espinal on the Welch School basketball team when Espinal was a fifth grader.
“I have very fond memories of Freddy,” Desroches said. “This is a very special night for everyone, including myself. It’s wonderful that people are putting their time in for this and, of course, the development of the scholarship is wonderful.”
LoRusso, Maraio, and their teammates wore warmups with a specially-designed logo on the back that included Espinal’s name, weight class (165 pounds), and both “Wrestle Like Freddy” and “Forever in our Hearts” messages. They said this season is all about keeping Espinal’s memory alive.
“The scholarship is an amazing thing and is going to keep Freddy’s name going forever,” LoRusso said. “We’re all wrestling for Freddy, not just for this season, but every single night we get on that mat be it a game, a meet, a tournament, a practice. We are wrestling for Freddy.”
“The scholarship is a great thing,” Maraio said. “It just shows the support from the community, whether that’s the wrestling community, the Peabody community, the Saugus community, and the football community… It says so much about who Freddy was.”
Espinal’s father echoed the words of the captains.
“Without the community, I don’t think we are going to make it,” he said. “I lost my whole life, my heart is broken, but we all have so much support for the community. The scholarship will keep his memory alive.”
Espinal’s stepmother, Adell LaBonte, agreed.
“We wanted a way to keep Freddy’s name alive,” she said. “He always wanted to be a police officer, so this is a perfect way to honor him and help a student who, like Freddy, wants to serve the public.”
Marblehead/Swampscott (0-1) coach Mike Stamison said some of his wrestlers knew Espinal personally, having wrestled with him in the offseason at Moda’s Red Roots Wrestling Club.
“We’ve been thinking a lot about Freddy and his family. Some of my kids were with him when he passed away, but at the end of the day, while we are NEC (Northeastern Conference) rivals, this is so much bigger than that tonight,” Stamison said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Freddy’s family. The scholarship is just incredible. It seems like the whole City of Peabody is here tonight.”
