Michael I. Eschrich, a teacher and wrestling coach, died Thursday in Ebeid Hospice Residence, Sylvania. He was 66.

He had cancer, said his brother, Bob.

Mr. Eschrich — Coach E to wrestlers — retired in 2009 from the Benton-Carroll-Salem Local Schools, where for nearly 30 years he taught social studies and coached wrestling at the middle school in Oak Harbor.

Afterward the Perrysburg resident traveled widely — Moscow, Budapest, London — as one of his star wrestlers, J.D. Bergman, competed in world events. Mr. Bergman, 30, who was an All American at Ohio State and is on Team USA, wrestled for Mr. Eschrich at Oak Harbor.

“He was just one of those people in life who was a gifted teacher who knew how to pass along his knowledge of wrestling,” his brother said.

During the summer, Mr. Eschrich rounded up promising young wrestlers from the region and drove them to tournaments from North Dakota and Iowa to Florida. He preferred that his athletes compete in the offseason rather than merely attend tutorials.

“It’s always different on the mat,” said Mark Tinney, an assistant varsity wrestling coach at Rossford High School who 30 years ago was one of the youngsters driven far and wide by Mr. Eschrich. “He always said, ‘You’re only as good as your competition’ [and] ‘The only way to get better is to actually wrestle.’ ”

The usually easy-going Mr. Eschrich was strict when it came to comportment. A student athlete saying something inappropriate on the drive to a tournament might find himself on the side of the highway doing push-ups, his brother said.

Mr. Eschrich demanded that wrestlers shake hands and leave outbursts in the locker room, Mr. Tinney said.

“He stressed you act the same whether you win or lose,” Mr. Tinney said. “He taught me to be compassionate. There’s a lot of kids who don’t have a good home life. Wrestling is a good funnel to make them good men. It’s a life experience. Once it’s in you, you don’t leave.”

Mr. Eschrich began his career teaching junior high social studies and coaching junior high wrestling in the Anthony Wayne Local Schools.

With his longtime companion, Susan Roskuski, he took fishing trips to a lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that he had regularly visited starting when he was 18.

He was born May 3, 1948, in New York to Marguerite and Sheldon Eschrich, and the family moved when his father was hired to be the organist at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in East Toledo. He was a 1966 graduate of St. Francis de Sales High School, where he learned wrestling from coaching legend Richard “Doc” Leffler, though he did not compete. He later took part in amateur matches. He received a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Toledo.

Surviving is his brother, Robert Eschrich.

Visitation will be from 2 to 7 p.m. today in the Dowling Funeral Home, Sylvania Township, where a funeral service will start at 5 p.m. A memorial Mass will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m., in St. Rose Church, Perrysburg, where he was a member for 30 years.

The family suggests tributes to the American Cancer Society.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published November 2, 2014, 3:20 p.m.