Wrestling began at St. Paul Academy during the 1959-60 school year. The program would continue until 1989 and claim numerous conference championships. Peter Wright '67 set a program record of 57-19-2 during his career at SPA.
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David Goins '64 was a dominant athlete at St. Paul Academy where he competed on the football, wrestling, and track and field teams. David, along with his brother James, were the first African-American students to attend St. Paul Academy and immediately made their mark on the playing field and in the classroom. Described as one of the most dominant male athletes in the 1960s by Dan Starjash '68, Goins was also acknowledged by fellow classmates and other alums for his athleticism.
As a senior and co-captain of the football team, Goins led the team to a 4-1 record, scoring 24 points while guiding the team to a 21-0 win over Breck and 7-0 win over Blake. He would go on to earn All-Conference honors his junior and senior years.
Goins especially excelled in wrestling, going undefeated his junior and senior years and concluded his senior season at the MISL wrestling tournament, where he won the heavyweight category 3-0 against a rival from Concordia. He would be named All-Conference three years in a row, co-captain of the team, and was the MISL Heavyweight Champion his junior and senior seasons.
On the track, Goins was named All-Conference three years in a row and served as a co-captain his senior year. Goins graduated Cum Laude from St. Paul Academy and was awarded the Boys’ Athletic Bowl, given in memory of Thomas Frenzel '49 to a member of the boys’ varsity teams for exceptional performance and leadership. He attended Harvard University and eventually settled in San Diego, California where he managed a drug rehabilitation program, CalWorks. Goins passed away in 2017.
