Michael Dean, junior criminal justice major and professional wrestler, died on Jan. 14 of natural causes.

Michael came to Chico State in the spring of 2015 to complete his bachelor’s degree. He exercised and spent time with friends at the Wildcat Recreation Center, and was in the process of being hired as a correctional officer. He was active in Jiu Jitsu and received a number of medals.

But Michael’s life beyond his time at Chico State was a wholly different story from typical college-going life.

“My son’s heart may have given out on him, but he lived with heart,” Michael’s mother, Jennifer Dean Kennington, said.

“A true entertainer”

Michael’s love for exercise and fitness, and the camaraderie that accompanied it, thoroughly shaped his life.

Before coming to Chico, Michael attended River Valley High School in Yuba City where he played offense and defense for the football team and competed on the wrestling team.

Then shortly after high school, he became involved in Ultimate Challenge Wrestling. It started out as a volunteer effort to entertain kids at his church and evolved into a way to bring smiles to everyone.

“It seemed like an unlikely path for him because he was a shy kid who was too bashful, and too nervous and too scared to ever get up and do something like that,” said Steve Dean, Michael’s uncle. “But (wrestling) was his way to jump out of that.”

Michael traveled all throughout the Midwest and the United Kingdom as a professional wrestler putting on shows for kids and adults.

“He knew how cheesy wrestling could be, but loved flying around making the crowds smile,” Dean Kennington said. “He was a true entertainer.”

Dean wrestled under the name “Daren Dean” and always managed to elicit laughs and cheers from his audience. At a recent wrestling event, a 10-bell salute and moment of silence were held in his honor.

“Do it scared, do it anyway”

Michael used wrestling to help those in his community and his church as well.

There was a young man with a disability at his church that loved wrestling, Dean Kennington said. Michael would pick him up and bring him to the gym to let him know he had a friend.

“He wanted people to feel important. He could bench over 425 pounds, but really lifted the spirits of his friends,” she said.

Though Michael struggled with anxiety and shyness throughout his career as a professional wrestler, he overcame it with the support of his family.

“He had this saying, it was his mom’s really, because he had this issue with being too afraid to do things,” Dean said. “But his mom got him past that by telling him to ‘do it scared, do it anyway.’”

Michael is survived by his parents, Jennifer and Terry Kennington, his two siblings, Sierra and Gunner Kennington, and his aunt and uncle Corinne and Steve Dean. The family has established an online fundraiser to create a scholarship in Michael’s name.

“He was so proud of being a Wildcat. He was following his dream,” Dean Kennington said.

Services for Michael will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30, at Hope Point Nazarene Church in Yuba City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcqUbgXm0zU

Video courtesy of the Dean family.

Molly Sullivan can be reached at [email protected] or @SullivanMollyM on Twitter.