by Christian Angel, Managing Editor

Mr. Omar Delgado has served the St. John Bosco High School community the past 29 years with the goal of helping every Bosco Brave attend a four-year university through academics and athletics, shining a bright light on the dreams of students. 

Mr. Delgado was born in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles and grew up in a family of three brothers and three sisters in El Monte. Although he may not have attended St. John Bosco, he was always involved in wrestling, football and track and field. He admits that he may not have been a really good student throughout his first three years of high school, but starting his senior year, he improved and evolved in his effort and intellect. 

He attended Rio Hondo Community College, later transferring to California State University, Fullerton to receive his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. Years later, he went to study and receive his Masters in Education, with an emphasis in Guidance and Counseling, along with a Pupil Personnel Services credential from Point Loma Nazarene University.

Mr. Delgado’s story of joining the Bosco family stems all the way back to the Fall of 1995,

“It was like a phone call from God,” Mr. Delgado said.

Originally, he was working with the California Highway Patrol and ultimately decided that he wanted to resign because he wanted to go back to school. 

The “phone call from God” was from former Athletic Director, Mr. Jack Hastert. Mr. Hastert asked Mr. Delgado if he wanted to be a teacher, along with being the Wrestling Coach for the Bosco Braves. Mr. Delgado said that once he stepped foot on campus, the rest was history. 

During his reign as Wrestling Coach, the Braves won back-to-back CIF Championships in 1999 and 2000 as well as in 2012 and 2013. In 2017 under his leadership, Bosco also won the Masters Championship. With so much success in the wrestling program throughout his over 20 year tenure, he credits Coach Anderson, the current St. John Bosco Head Wrestling Coach, who won a CIF title wrestling for Mr. Delgado.

“Coach Anderson has continued the winning tradition of the St. John Bosco High School wrestling program to the better,” said Mr. Delgado.

Mr. Delgado set a high standard for every wrestler to set a goal for themselves to achieve something they would have never thought of before. His motto for his wrestlers was: “A Dream, A Goal, and A Promise.” This continues to be his motto as a counselor. 

In his time at Bosco, Mr. Delgado has served in various capacities as a dean, coach, teacher and counselor. In his current role as a counselor, when a student comes into his office with a dream of attending a certain university, he works with them by creating a goal in order to achieve these results. 

“When I became counselor, it was like a natural transition, and I think that makes me a really good counselor – to understand the young men and what they’ve been through, what they are going through in their teenage years to advise them well,” said Delgado. 

Many of his former students, come and thank him for all the work he has put in throughout their four years at Bosco advising them and guiding them.

“If you walk into my counseling office, you see my ‘Hall of Fame’ where students have attended or currently attend universities, such as Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, West Point, Air Force Academy, and my ultimate payment is seeing them succeed and contribute to society,” said Delgado. 

Mr. Delgado is the father of two former Bosco Braves, Class of 2019 and 2022, who are now at UCLA and Stanford, and he advises the Class of 2023 to not give up on their dreams – to create a goal and to make their dreams a reality.