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Whatever Happened to
High-School Wrestling?
By Brian Knavish
It’s thriving, but if a pin happens in an empty gymnasium, does anyone see it?
There was a time when Pennsylvania was among the top high-school wrestling states
in the country. Our fair Commonwealth
produced elite grapplers who were not only
finely-tuned athletes, but mat tacticians.
With the strength of oxen and the skill
of surgeons, these young men could go
toe-to-toe and headgear-to-headgear with
the best any other state had to offer. They
would then move on to the college ranks
and become All-Americans. That time
was 1967 … and 1987 … and 2007.
And it will almost certainly happen again
in 2008.
Surprised? You’re not
alone. While Western Pennsylvania
continues to be a hotbed for high-school
wrestling talent, fewer and fewer people
are aware of it, and just a handful show
up to watch.
Canonsburg native Paul Amic has
been following Pennsylvania high-school
wrestling since 1949, and in 2006 he
authored The History of Western
Pennsylvania Wrestling. Amic says that
current local wrestlers are the best the state’s
ever seen. “There are some very, very great
wrestlers today,” he says. “If anybody tells
you the best kids back in the ’50s, ’60s, and
’70s could beat the best kids today, forget it.
He’s not telling you the truth. We all think
we are greater than we were. The kids today
are splendid.”
The athletes may be better, but the biggest
difference in the sport today compared to
yesteryear, says Amic, is the attention it
receives. Or, more accurately, the attention it
doesn’t receive. “I can remember years ago,
when you had one of the traditional wrestling
schools on your schedule – Waynesburg,
Trinity, Canonsburg [now Canon-McMillan],
Washington High – when your school
wrestled one of those teams, you had to
stand in line to get a ticket. Sometimes, if
you didn’t get your ticket in advance, you
couldn’t get in. People would buy a season ticket just to get those tickets."
Now, estimates Amic, the average
attendance at an area match is a couple of
hundred on a good night.
A Proud History
Those familiar with high-school wrestling in Pennsylvania – especially Western
Pennsylvania – are aware of the region’s lofty
place in the sport’s national hierarchy. But for
those unfamiliar with the sport, it’s hard to
grasp the tradition, history and staggering
degree of talent produced in this region.
Perhaps the best illustration of this is the
annual Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic.
Regarded as one of the premier scholastic
wrestling showcases in the country, the event –
usually held at the University of Pittsburgh –
features two dual meets. A team of
Pennsylvania’s top high school wrestlers takes
on a team of high school stars from the entire
rest of the country, then a team of WPIAL
all-stars wrestles a team of all-stars from
another entire state (this year it’s
Wisconsin). You read that correctly …
Pennsylvania’s best take on the rest of the
nation and Western Pennsylvania’s best
battle an entire state. More often than
not, the Pennsylvania and WPIAL teams
emerge victorious.
But where did the tradition come
from? Why did Pennsylvania emerge as a
wrestling powerhouse?
Rande Stottlemyer grew up in Mercer
County, wrestled for the University of
Pittsburgh where he became a three-time
All American and has been Pitt’s head
coach for the last 28 years. He points to
the region’s blue-collar roots as the
impetus for the wrestling boom. “I think it’s
because, from way back when, Western
Pennsylvania has always been a blue-collar
community, and wrestling is a blue collar
sport, like football,” says Stottlemyer. As a
result, a lot of tough kids were vying to get on
wrestling and football teams. “It just followed
that natural path. Most kids who wrestle
[today], their dads wrestled.”
The results are evident at the collegiate
level. There are 18 NCAA Division I
wrestling teams in Pennsylvania; even small
schools like Lock Haven and Clarion, which
compete at lower levels of completion in all
other sports, are Division I wrestling schools.
These programs thrive by recruiting Pennsylvania
wrestlers, but they’re not alone. Colleges from
across the country salivate at the chance to land
wrestlers from the Keystone State.
At the annual NCAA National Championship Tournament, the top eight place
winners in each of the 10 weight classes at the
tournament earn All-American honors; virtually
every year, says Stottlemyer, more wrestlers from
Pennsylvania become All-Americans than from
any other state.
Without question, says Stottlemyer, the
talent here is better than ever. “The kids wrestle
year-round and know so much by the time they
get to high school, and there are more and more
better coaches out there, so the kids have better
technique.”
A Numbers Game
Those who follow high school wrestling agree
that the sport suffers from an injured perception:
the idea that kids
today don’t want to
wrestle. But that isn’t
the case, say all the
coaches interviewed
for this article.
Certainly there
are fewer athletes
going out for
wrestling teams than
30 years ago. Amic
points to the fact that
many WPIAL teams
give up on more
forfeits every match
simply because they cannot field a full team.
“The larger schools used to have three or four
kids [competing for the starting spot] at every
weight class,” he observes. But the numbers are
still healthy and at many schools are increasing,
coaches insist. The evidence at local schools
backs this up.
Of the three school districts in the McKee
Magazine coverage area that currently field
wrestling programs – Chartiers Valley (which
includes South Fayette wrestlers on its teams),
Peters Township, and Canon-McMillan – all
have the same or a greater number of wrestlers
out for the high school team this year than in
recent years.
Mike Macy, who is in his first year as the
head coach at Chartiers Valley, says there are 26
wrestlers on the team, compared to just nine
when he graduated from the school in 1993.
The growth is most dramatic at South
Fayette. The district eliminated wrestling entirely
in the late 1990s and since then has operated
under a co-op with Chartiers Valley. However, a
groundswell of interest has brought the South
Fayette team back; in December 2007, the South
Fayette school board voted to reinstate wrestling,
starting with the 2008-09 season.
Canon-McMillan coach Chris Macy says the
school’s team has been consistent with
approximately 20 wrestlers per year for the past
decade. The Peters Township program is
growing as well, says head coach Dale Murdoch.
The Indians have 20 kids on this year’s high
school team (not to mention 30 wrestlers in the
junior high program), which is six more than last
year. In fact, this is the first time Murdoch has
had to cut wrestlers from the team.
Empty Gyms
The talent is there. The participants are there.
Where are the fans?
Amic remembers ravenous crowds, huge
lines well into the thousands for wrestling
matches as recently as the late 1970s. “When you
went to a Waynesburg-Canonsburg match, it
was something to behold. The fans were rabid.”
Bleachers were filled, with some people
buying standing room only tickets. Students,
parents and community members at large flocked
to the gym to
witness a major
community
event.
“Canonsburg had
a little band, six
or eight pieces,
in the gym for
the wrestling
matches. You
know how
loud the brass
sounds in
a situation
like that? When
the team came out of the locker room, wow.”
These days, there are still a handful of
passionate fans at every match, but their numbers
have dwindled. Amic sees several reasons for the
diminished interest. “There’s so much more for
people to do today.”
Macy, the CV coach, agrees. “It’s a tough
sport to promote. There’s not a lot of exposure in
the press. You don’t see it on TV. That hurts.”
Pitt coach Stottlemyer blames part of the
decline in attendance on the newer fad of
coaches shuffling their lineups – bumping top
grapplers up or down a weight class to avoid the
other team’s top wrestler. The result is fewer
marquee matches.
“It used to be that, at a dual meet,
my guy went at your guy and may the
best man win,” says Stottlemyer. “You
don’t see those matchups any more at the
dual meets.”
Coming to a gymnasium on a winter
Wednesday night to watch a wrestling match
may never have the same mainstream appeal as
the Friday Night Lights of football. But talk to
anyone involved in high school wrestling, and
the passion is obvious. The pride is contagious.
“Will wrestling ever die out completely? No
way,” says Amic. “It’s a cult sport.”
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