Anthony Braxton Dunbar

Anthony Braxton Dunbar passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on December 24th 2019. He is survived by his loving Mother, Dianne Davis and her husband Randy Davis of Cary; his Father, Anthony Dunbar and his wife Sandra of Charleston; his sister, Traci Dunbar Mollere and her husband Michael Mollere along with Anthony’s little pal and nephew Finnegan Braxton Mollere of Cary.

Born on October 8th 1979, Anthony grew up with a love for fishing and hunting, but wrestling was his true passion. He started his wrestling career in middle school and finished it in college at N.C. State. His years at Cary High School were his proudest where he met his mentor Jerry Winterton and some of Anthony’s best friends. At Cary High School he was part of the storied tradition of Cary Wrestling winning several state titles. Anthony’s dream always was to return to Cary and continue that legacy and in 2006 he returned as an Assistant Coach which led him to his dream of becoming the full-time head coach in 2017. These were some of the happiest years of his life, continuing the legacy and being the coach, mentor and friend that he experienced in his years as a Cary wrestler. Anthony had just begun his career as a coach and was already showing that he truly had found his place, as in his first two years, he coached the team to two Conference championships, was twice Conference Coach of the year, won the NC 4A Dual Team State Championship and was named NC 4A State Coach of the year, leading Cary to it’s 21st State Wrestling title. In 2019 he coached the NC All Star team against the SC All Star team achieving victory by a large margin.

While proud of his accomplishments, He was most proud of the young wrestlers he coached and their growth, caring for them, seeing the potential in all of them. His youngest pupil was his favorite. His nephew Finnegan was his best little buddy. The two were inseparable and Anthony couldn’t wait until he was able to get Finn on the mats.

Outside of wrestling, Anthony found peace in listening to Pearl Jam’s music and was a lifelong fan of Chicago Cubs baseball. Anthony was ecstatic when they won the World Series in 2016 and he was happy to experience them finally being a winning team.

Anthony was surrounded by love until the very end and that includes his love, Amanda Gilbert of Youngsville. Anthony found happiness, love and companionship with Amanda and cared deeply for her.

He was proud of every wrestler he had the privilege of coaching, felt honored to be a part of the Cary High School wrestling story and loved life and his family.

Memorial services will be held 2:00 PM on Thursday, January 2, 2019 at Hope Community Church, 821 Buck Jones Road, Raleigh, NC 27606.

In lieu of flowers, the family has suggested contributions to The Cary Imp Club – Wrestling at: Mike Dunphy

638 Walnut Street

Cary, NC 27511

Checks to: Cary Imp Club-Wrestling.