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By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
SHELBY — Edmundo Flores, 69, has been officiating high school and youth sports for 45 years, using his signature spin move in wrestling and flipping maneuver in softball to the delight of spectators.
He spins on his stomach and slaps the mat when signaling a pin. His trademark move as a softball umpire is flipping the ball behind his back to the pitcher. “People know that when I turn, it’s over,” he said of the wrestling maneuver. “When I get a loose ball, I’ll throw it back to the pitcher behind my back.” It has earned him the nickname, “The Show.”
The 1973 Shelby High School alumnus will be inducted into the Michigan Wrestling Association Hall of Fame in November. A stand-out high school wrestler himself, the diminutive Flores competed in the 118-pound weight class. “I only weighed 115 pounds.” Flores was on the Tiger grappling squad that captured a state title in 1972, which was the same year the Shelby Boys Varsity Basketball Team also won its second straight state championship. He also ran cross country and track.
After high school, Flores attended Lake Superior State College and then Grand Valley State University and competed in wrestling at both schools, excelling in the sport. He even tried out for the Olympics in 1976, advancing to the final trials.
The cheerful and energetic Flores has no intention of retiring from officiating any time soon. “When it’s no longer fun, I’ll walk away.” But he continues to enjoy officiating the sports he loves.
The experienced and approachable ref is in high demand. He recently completed an ‘umping’ stint of 24 out of 25 days. Starting next week, he will officiate 20 straight days. There is a shortage of officials, he said.
He retired about five years ago from Gray & Company in Hart, where he worked in the shipping and receiving department for 15 years. He worked for Oceana Foods in Shelby for 20 years prior.
He never married or had children. “I married sports,” he said. “I’ve been involved in sports my whole life as a competitor and as an official. It’s taken me places from a small town where I wouldn’t have gone anywhere.” Getting his start as an umpire for Little League when he was only a freshman in high school, he has now officiated multiple generations of athletes.
“I am just a different breed of an official. It’s been 20-plus years since I’ve ever ejected anybody out of a wrestling match or a softball game. It’s hard for officials to get respect, but once you get respect, you can go anywhere.”
The unified respect for Flores did not waver even when he officiated wrestling matches that his nephews competed in and when his brother Eloy coached at Montague. “When you step on the mat, step in that corner, I don’t favor anybody. You could be a two-time undefeated state champion and you got your butt kicked, then you got your butt kicked. I had nothing to do with you losing. If you thought you gave it 100 percent and you didn’t win, then today wasn’t your day. But next week when you wrestle that kid, you might turn it around and beat him.”
The ref has touched many lives, estimating that he has been exposed to 10,000 different kids throughout the course of his officiating career. He said athletes, particularly the younger children, will approach him at the beginning of the meet to find out which mat he’s officiating on in the hopes that he will be their referee. “I will ask, well what mat are you on? And they will say, ‘I’m on mat 3.’ Then, I will say, ‘I am on mat 1.’ Then they will say, ‘Can you get it changed?’”
Flores will be among five 2025 inductees into the MWA Hall of Fame, which also includes Coach Craig Zeerip from Hesperia and Fremont high schools. The ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 8 at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids.
“Win or lose, greet them with a smile,” is his motto for sports parents. “You want them to love the sport — not hate the sport.”
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