It is hard to believe the wrestling season is over. The 2004-05 season
was a good year. Our wrestling fans were treated to an outstanding
PIAA championship especially the 3A finals, which may have been the
best I have witnessed in quite a few years.
The state team championship added new wrinkles by adding more teams
and wrestlebacks. Also, few individuals would have picked against
Easton and Reynolds as the team champions, but Connellsville and
Northern Lehigh accomplished the improbable by knock off the biggest
name in each of their classification.
**NCAA Dream Team
- As part of the 75th anniversary a 15 wrestler Dream Team was announced
by the NCAA and NWCA. Three Pennsylvanians were named to the team –
UPJ’s Carlton Haselrig, Clarion’s Wade Schallas and Kurt Angle. I have
been fortunate to be around two of the three. Carlton would travel
with his uncle Bruce when he officiated at Bedford. It was tradition
for the official who had to travel any distance to come to our house
to be fed by my mom before they would travel back home. On several
occasions, Carlton sat on our back steps in the kitchen, as Bruce and
many other local wrestling experts would fill our house to rehash the
night’s match.
Wade Schallas made many
stops in Bedford for various reasons. One of his college roommates was
from Bedford when he wrestled at Clarion. Another connection was
Bedford’s former wrestling coach Glenn Burkett, who coached with
Schallas at Clemson. Also with his hometown being Hollidaysburg,
Schallas would come back to Bedford/Blair county areas to perform
wrestling clinics.
While wrestling at
Bedford, we were told many stories about Schallas and his ability to
pin. However, with great pride our coaches always reminded us that
Wade pinned every wrestler his senior year except for Wayne Shatzer,
the Bedford wrestler he met in the annual Bedford-Hollidaysburg match.
The wrestling coaches from Bedford always remind him of that fact.
The
current generation of Pennsylvania wrestlers may not have knowledge of
his legendary status since he resides in Florida. If you have not
experienced Wade in a clinic setting or in general wrestling
conversation you have missed something special!
Congratulation Carlton, Wade and Kurt.
**Winning the Most Matches
– I don’t view the victory mark
set by Wyalusing’s Matt Fisk as a big deal, and my outlook is not
meant to be critical of Fisk as wrestler. His accomplishments as a
four-time medalist and 2x champion speak for itself. (He is an
outstanding wrestler and good luck at Lehigh!) However, in our sport
I feel it’s not about the number of wins, but the number of losses you
obtained that describes a wrestler’s greatness. How many people think
Lock Haven’s Mike Johnson or Jefferson Morgan’s Cary Kolat would have
won 175 or more if they had the opportunity.
**Too Many Matches –
What is the line for too many matches in a year? Wrestlers creped back
up to the 50 win mark for the first time in some years. I do have to
question the motive for wrestling that many matches. Carlton Haselrig
won his state championship by winning 10 matches. Schallas won 22
bouts his senior year to be the champion in 1968. The majority of the
NCAA champions had about 30 wins. Obviously, some schools are
stretching the competition points to their limits and maybe a little
beyond. Modification of the number of competitions and bouts will be
a certainty in the near future.
**Accountability for Behavior–
At a district tournament, a head coach chose to walk away from his
wrestler’s opponent and not shake his hand because of the opponent’s
prior action and behavior toward his team. However, at the same time,
other coaching staff members did shake the opponent’s hand and
congratulating him on his victory. The school chose to suspend the
head coach for the week and prohibited him from coaching at the
upcoming regional tournament.
If the head coach’s action
was worthy of discipline, the question that needs to be answered is
what will be disciplinary action for conduct that is penalized by the
rules of the sport. And will all coaches in all sports be held to
similar standards of sportsmanship and ethics.
My
thought about the incident is a week’s leave was little too steep a
price to pay for the action. Having coached and now sitting on the
other side to the desk, I know many better ways to address the
behavior then a week’s suspension. It makes me think -- what would a
technical foul assessed against a basketball coach be worth? How about
a football coach flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing or a
softball or baseball coach ejected for disputing a questionable call;
what price should each pay for their verbal or physical action.
My
perspective for this piece is not to condemn the student athlete for
his prior action and not understate the coach for his lack of
sportsmanship for all coaches have the responsibility to model
the type of behavior you want from your wrestlers and fans. Coaches
must remember their actions during competition should not vary much
from how they would handle things in the classroom. Coaches need to
ask themselves -- Is the type of behavior I want from my wrestlers?
My final
thought is the school’s administration needs to carefully examine how
they handle this hand-shaking ordeal and in the future administer a
just reprimand for this kind of action and not succumb to the
pressures of others.
