Famed Wrestling Coach Ramos Teaches at Sage School for Dyslexics

Legendary Gwinnett County wrestling coach Cliff Ramos is now teaching Physical Education at Sage School, a school for dyslexic children, in Suwanee. After winning numerous state wrestling championships in Gwinnett County public high schools, he retired and then became the director of wrestling at Greater Atlanta Christian, and now also teaches at Sage.

“Being semi - retired what better way to do the semi part than working in a Christian environment with kids, and doing one of the things I enjoy most ... physical exercise,” said Ramos.

Cliff Ramos grew up in St. Louis. He wrestled at and graduated from Southwest Missouri State, He taught science and coached in Butler, Mo. from 1976 to 1981. Since 1981, he has taught and coached at East Hall, Meadowcreek and Collins Hill. Over 37 years, his teams have won 22 Region Championships. He led Collins Hill, where Maynard wrestled, to five individual team state championships and for dual state championships. His teams at Collins Hill finished in the top three in the state in Georgia’s largest classification from 1999 to 2010. He retired from head coaching after the 2010 season. He has been Greater Atlanta Christian Schools’ director of wrestling for five years. He and his wife Kathy have been married for 39years and have three children. Kathy Ramos is a dyslexia tutor at Sage.

He was also Kyle Maynard’s coach and mentor. Maynard is the championship wrestler from Suwanee who has no arms or legs and now speaks around the world to inspire and encourage people.

“We couldn’t be more blessed than to have Cliff; he leads, he inspires and he nurtures,” according Angela Patton, Sage founder and head of school. “Cliff will help our students see that whatever their challenges, they can persevere and be winners.”

Ten to fifteen percent of the population has dyslexia, according to the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). Dyslexia is a neurologic learning disability characterized by difficulties in learning to read and spell. While dyslexics can have a constellation of language problems, most have difficulty decoding words, spelling, reading comprehension and expressing themselves.

The Sage School is a private, nonprofit, Christian school that serves students in grades K-8 with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. The Sage School provides students daily Orton-Gillingham tutoring for dyslexia remediation as well as a full menu of academic and enrichment courses including, PE, drama, art and technology.