Ed’s Word #14
Ed’s Word: Number: 14 April 21, 2009
1. I attended both Wrestling Banquets this past weekend and enjoyed both of them. It was the 39th Annual affair and I have at tened all 39. Is there any differences between them - not really - just different people. There were about 175 at each of them. Although the Hall of Fame Banquet invitations are mailed to present Hall of Famers; New inductees and their guests - the Banquet is open to all who care to recognize the people that are responsible or were responsible for Wrestling progressing as far as it has come. The All State Awards was not attended as well as it should have been, considering the inclusion of a third class. One could blame the economy, but those of us on pensions, or who are employed by a school system, really cannot use that excuse; the weather; the distance - or just plain not caring. The All staters present numbered about 4l out of 212 eligibles. 11 out of 64 in Class A; 16 out of 64 in AA and 14 out of 84 in AAA were there - hardly any coaches. Even an award winner could not make it. There are 441 now in the Hall of Fame - 35 Hall of famers attended - 100 are deceased and a good number live out of state, but there are at least 100 close by. 8 Hall of Famers attended the Sunday banquet also. There are now 61 in the Illinois Lifetime Achievement category - 12 are deceased - 17 attended. There are now 25 Persons of the Year - l is deceased - 7 attended. You do the math. The banquets are done very nicely - now have a video presentation, discussing the history of the IWCOA’ and displaying pictures of all Hall of Famers. The program is completed in a decent time and is highlighted by asides that are appropriate. Joe Pedersen emceed both banquets and did an excellent job. I feel that if you have any complaints about the banquets in any way - you should direct them to either Joe Pedersen or Joe Cliffe, who will bring them to the Executive Committee. However, I have always felt that if you have a complaint, then you should have a decent solution. Anyway - As far as I am concerned if you missed them, it is your loss.
2. Jeff Pape was selected as the Man of the Year for all the work he has done to promote Wrestling within the state of Illinois the past few years. A good selection - and he will continue to keep involved. So many after receiving recognition (definitely earned) seem to drop out of sight.
3. The National Hall of Fame, Illinois Chapter has made their selections - the awardees will be notified, once the National Hall of Fame has approved them and when that happens the Illinois Chair will notify the public. The Hall of Fame Induction will be at the Double tree in Bloomington on Sunday, October 25, 2009.. So keep this date in mind - plenty of time to make arrangements. As usual there will be a funding drive, so if you can, please respond to this request.
4. Debbie Nason presented another 5 people with 1000.00 checks as she has done for the past 12 years. The Gerdes Memorial Golf outing is scheduled for Monday, June 22nd at the Green Garden Country Club in Frankfort (same place as last year) 125.00 to play, includes golf and cart, Dinner and prizes For more information contact Debbie at 708-349-0304.
5. No information on the Illinois job - no names of any kind. Prior to Sanderson leaving Iowa State and going to Penn State - Troy Sunderland had been told to resign. Immediate applicants were Tim Flynn of Edinboro State; Rob Koll of Cornell U.;l Kerry McCoy of Maryland; Pat Santoro of Lehigh; John Hughes of Lehigh; Former aa at Penn State Ken Chertow and Assistant at Iowa Terry Brands. Sanderson got the job. Says that $ had nothing to do with it, although some papers have placed the deal at 2.5 million in 4 years. That beats the 137,000 he got at Iowa State and that is a lot more than Tom Brands gets at Iowa, or Brad Penrith gets at Northern Iowa. I think one has to realize that for the most part, Wrestling is never going to be in the same ball park as basketball and football. Iowa’s football coach is way over 2 million per year - even their girls basketball is 450,000 - so live with it. The only rumors flying around in Iowa over the Iowa State job would be the names of Chris Bono of Tenn-Chatanooga; Terry Brands of Iowa; Rob Koll of Cornell U. and Jim Miller who has created a dynasty at Wartburg college in division 3. Arizona state is open and there has been no information on that spot at all - Maybe dropping wrestling is in the air there again.
6.Illinois hasn’t got a lot of press either - I think that job would be just as good as any of those I’ve listed and the recruiting scene is going to be ok. Llike most schools that are going big time - you need to recruit all over, not just in your state. Iowa State has all 10 starters back, Iowa has all but 1. There were only 2 native Iowans that made all american this year - 0 from Oklahoma; 5 from Illinois and 12 from Pennsylvania. Ohio is a good recruiting ground, as is California and now even New Jersey. Athletic directors need to increase the recruiting budget - that would help most schools, and of course if you could increase the amount of aid you could give - say from 9/.9 rides to around l5 - just like basketball for girls or even 13 like it is for boys. Football has 85 and they are all full rides.
7. Learned where a few Wrestlers are going next year: Carl Foreside of Montini will go to Iowa Central Community college; Isaih Gonzalez of Montini will go to McKendree College; Andrew Brewer of Mahomet-Seymour will go to Eastern Illinois for football; Ryan Warczynski of Minooka to Dubuque; Kevin Bialka of Lockport to Northwestern; Mark Stenberg of Lockport to Central Michigan; Jake Murphy of Wilmington to McKendree; Matt Boggess of Mt. Prospect to Harper; Seth Milks our 11th 4 time State Champ from Dakota to UW-Platteville; Joe Roth of Dixon to Central Michigan; Tony Ramos of Glenbard North to Iowa U.; Jimmy Chase of Glenbard North to Binghamton; Jon Morrison of Carl Sandburg to Oklahoma State; David Tuomi of Walther Lutheran to Concordia; Grant Goebel of Montini to Cal Poly for football ; Wade Self of Lake Zurich to Case Western; Pat Clegg of Hinsdale Central to Wabash; Jake Pribble of Harvard to the U. of Illinois and Andre Dunn of Kewanee to Lincoln community college.
Good luck to all.
The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people half way.In politics, there’s a fine line between too much conviction and too little.High station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with graceFear and hope are alike underneath.The attempt to silence a man is the greatest honor you can bestow on him, it means that you recognize his superiority to yourself.We are all pilgrims on the same journey - but some pilgrims have better road maps.
Ed
