IllinoisWrestling.Com

Products once in our store at WrestlingGear.Com will be featured in the CSI New York television show to air on Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern (should be 9:00 p.m. Chicago time).

Expect to see adistrikes, Cliff Keen Tornados, flip a score, our ankle bands, uniforms (they’ll be stock with screening on them - they needed them in a day), and more.

We’ll see I helped them pick out some of the stuff so we’ll see how realistic the wrestling wound up.

 1. Sorry to report another death in the Wrestling family. Florence Genovesi, Mother of Hall of Famer Augie passed away at the age of 80. Her wake is tomorrow, The 20th at Cumberland Chappel 8300 Lawrence Avenue. It will be held from 3 to 9. Augie receives his mail at Niles Notre Dame High School - 7655 Dempster Ave. - Niles, Il 60l9l. Prayers go out for Augie.

2. Hall of Famer Jim Gardner is in bad shape with a major staph infection. He has been in the hospital since Christmas. Our prayers go with him.

3. Some good news: Joe Cliffe, Wrestling’s Mr. everything will be the The National High School Athletic Association Wrestling Chairman. There is a person for about 18 different activities. Joe will represent Illinois well as he will be the man in charge.

4. I didn’t think Joe Cliffe was old enough, but he has some great news to relay. He will be at the christening of his new grandchile next Sunday. It was just yesterday that I watched him wrestle at 95 pounds for Dekalb High School. Congratulations to all concerned.

5. The IWCOA Officials are going to try to develop at least 9 Wednesday Rules Interpretation meetings around the State next year. Currently the IHSA is doing this electronically. The Officials board feels that a hands on meeting will do a better job.

6. Coaches absolutely have to do a better job getting dual and tournament results in various newspapers, etc. Many papers have cut their staff drastically, ie the Herald has cut 8 plus no stringers, hence very little is put in the papers. From where I live, it appears the Herald is doing more than any of the others, but even then we miss out on most of the news. I know it is difficult to understand that why you can see box scores of girls basketball games when their combined win record is 5 and I can always find out how Slippery Rock University does in football or basketball,even though they are in Pennsylvania. Talk to your parents, tell them you are faxing in the information, maybe they can convince the papers to print more. None of them printed much of anything, or nothing at all on the Midlands, even though there were 30 native Illini in the tournament.

7. The Wrestling Social will again be held downstate at the Hawthorne Suites on Thursday, February 19th. The sponsors this year are Kevin Cotter; Crown Mats and Rick Belle. Thank you to all three.

8. Ed Luety is doing much better, has given up the cane and plans on being down state in February. He told me that there will be three generations working. Himself, daughter will score and granddaughter will be a runner. That’s loyalty.

9. The Midwest Nationals will be held on July llth at the Illinois Wesleyan Shirk Center. This event is sponsored by the Bloomington-Normal Area Sports Commission; The IWCOA; Wrestling Aids; Illinois Coaches Association; and Wildwood Industries. The United States Army Recruiting is a major funding contributor. Age groups will be grades l and 2; 3and 4; 5 and 6; 7 and 8; 9 and l0; ll and l2; College and above. Women and girls are welcome, but there will not be any division for them. Entry fee is 30.00 before June 19 and 35.00 thereafter. Northwestern University will present a Clinic on Friday evening the l0th. All American and Olympic Silver Medalist Dan Hodge of Oklahoma U. will be the main Speaker on both days. Information: 309-665-0033 or 800-433-8226. This is a great tournament for wrestlers who are not going to the National Duals in Oklahoma or the Individual Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.

10. Mike Bukovsky - Head Coach at Montini has been nominated for Coach of the Year at the National Level. Good luck Mike.

11. The Illinois-Indiana Dual is scheduled for Sunday March l5th. Seniors and their coaches should be thinking about this great event. This year it will be in Indiana. We will now have 3 classes to pick from.

12. The IESA finals will be held in Dekalb on March 13-14; The IKWF finals will be held March 13-14 and the Frosh-Soph State Championships will be held March 14-15.

13. The Annual Ken Gerdes Memorial will be held in June - date not finalized. Also the Jeff Pape Smile Train Memorial will be held in July - actual date not finalized. We will keep you up to date when we can.

14, Illinois defeated Pittsburgh handily, Will wrestle at Purdue on the 23rd and at Iowa on the 25th, and will meet Northwestern at home on the 6th. Northern Illinois is at Kent State on the 24th and at Northern Iowa on the 30th and then will be home to Eastern Michigan on the 6th.

15. Central Michigan defeated Lehigh in the finals of the Virginia Duals. Ohio State beat Minnesota for 5th place at the National duals and Iowa defeated Oklahoma State Sunday.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth. Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot. Dreams that come true can be as unsettling as those that don’t. Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointing love. You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

Ed

1. Some bad news to report to begin with. Hall of Famer Randy Bowman of LeRoy has passed away. There was no services and he was cremated according to his wish. The LeRoy Invitational on January 24th is to be named the Randall Bowman Invitational. Randy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994. He accumulated 407 wins by the time he retired. His address is: 608 Meadow Lane, LeRoy, Il 61752.

2. Hall of Famer James Gardner has been hospitalized since Christmas. He has had to have all bones and joints washed to get rid of an infection. His home address is: 2 N. Villa Grove, Springfield, Il 62703. Phone for Marilyn is 217-529-2151.

3. The 46th Midlands went off without a hitch. About 380 Wrestlers competed including 40 teams. The team title was won by Iowa for the second year in a row. A real featured match was between Daniel Dennis of Iowa and Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois at 133 which was won in a tight one by Dennis. Both Wrestlers are from Grant High School and were on the team together. In the finals Dennis beat Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State who is from Naperville North in another close one. I believe Dennis became a 20 bout winner in the Midlands. Brandon Precin of Carl Sandburg and Northwestern won the 125 title over Tyler Clark of Iowa State, who was an all stater 3 years for Orion High School before moving to Bettendorf, Iowa for his senior yiear. Jake Herbert l84 winner was named the Dan Gable OW. It was his 3rd title, along with a runnerup spot. Jake is the Northwestern Captain and defending NCAA Champion.

4. Iowa University Won the National Duals on the 12th over Cornell. Third was Iowa State and 4th was Nebraska. Division 2 was won by Nebraska-Omaha over Newbury; 3rd was UM-Mankato and 4thi was Nebraska-Kearney. Division 3 was won by Augsburg over Wartburg. 3rd went to Delaware Valley and 4th to Coe. Iowa Cental won the Junior College over North Iowa Area College. There were 8236 at the finals despite cold and snow. That is the largest crowd ever at the duals.

5. Former Speaker of the House and Hall of Famer - Dennis Hastert is speaking at Wheaton College on Thursday, January 29th. His topic is “The Environment: What can Public Policy Do?”. It will be held in the Phelps Room on the lower level of the Todd M> Beamer Student Center, 418 Chase St. in Wheaton, Illinois from 1:15 to 3:00.

6. The IWCOA is pleased to announce its 2009 Class of the Hall of Fame. The inductions are to be held on April l8th, 2009 at Park Place. More on this to follow. Inductees are: David Eberhard of Glenbard East; Ronald Gibson of Naperville; Ray Guzak of Blue Island; Emiliano Hernandez of Maine Easy; Matt Lackey of Moline; David Markwell of Fithian-Oakwood;; Lino Martinez of Stevenson; Robert Mena of Sterling Newman; Donald Ledin of Chicago; Russ Schneider of Warren Twp. and Bernie Ruettiger of Minooka. Also to be honored this same evening will be the Illinois Life Time Achievement Awardees. Those receiving this award are: Art Adams of Illinois State; Bob Fulk of Glenbard North; Larry Gassen of Downer’s Grove South; Augie Genovesi of Niles Notre Dame; Morrie Geselter of Maine; Billy Marquardt of Bloomington; Dale Pierre of Wheaton North and Joseph Vavrus of Moline.

7. The Red Bird Wrestling Club will be having a Wrestling tournament on April 4th at the Shirk Center which is at Illinois Wesleyan. The age groups are 3-4; 5-6; 7-8; 9-10; 11-12; and college and above. The entry fee will be 20.00 if paid before March 20th and 25.00 later. Information from Redbird Wrestling, Dean of Students, ISU Campus Box 2700, Normal, Il 61761. Email: http://www.com/redbirdopen

8. The 19th Annual Art Kraft Memorial Tournament at Triton had 14 schools. No team scores, but it was dominated by Muskegon community college of Michigan. MV to Tico Baez of Waubonsee at 125.

9. The 10 largest Universities by enrollment are: 1. Ohio State - 52,568; 2. Arizona State: 51481; 3. Minnesota: 51140; 4. Michigan State: 45520; 6. Illinois U: 42326; 7. Wisconsin: 42041; 8. Penn State: 41050; 9. Purdue: 39102; 10. Indiana U: 38990 and Michigan U: 38820. This is is of course Wrestling Schools. In the middle of the pack are: Oklahoma State: 31800; Iowa U.: 30409; Oklahoma U.: 29931; Iowa State: 26160; Northern Illinois: 25254. Near the bottom group is Northwestern U: with 8000. The 10 lowest are: l. Virginia Military Institute: 1400; 2. Davidson: 1700; 3. Franklin and Marshall: 2028; Wagner: 2229; 5. The Citadel: 3200; Bucknell: 3550; 7. Delaware State: 3800; 8. Navy: 4200; 9. Air Force: 4400 and Army: 4400. All compete in Division I.

10. There was a great article about Jim Heffernan and his family in the December issue of Amateur Wrestling News.

11. Naperville North High School recently had their Hall of Fame Inductions: Wrestlers included were: Coach Stan Gruszka and Contributor Eugene Drendel.

12. Wheaton North has named their Hall of Fame: The Dale Pierre Wall of Fame: On the Wall are Dale, Rick Vogel; Howard Bradford; Steve Kaltofen; Bradley Faris, David Fank and Randall Ellison. I believe there are a few more, but I do not know who.Age doesn’t always bring wisdom. Sometimes it comes alone.If you can smile whenever anything goes wrong, you’re either an optimist or a repairman.It’s wise to remember that the bridge you burn now may be the very one you have to cross later.A man is never in worse company than when he flies into a rage and is beside himself. Finally: I like this one: Wanted: A good woman who can clean and cook fish. dig worms, sew, and who owns a good fishing boat and motor. If you are interested - please enclose photo of the boat.

Ed