Circa winter 1971, I was attending the Shenango Campus, and even though there was no wrestling program at that branch campus, wrestling was popular. The area was rich in local scholastic programs, I had been part of one of the powerhouse high-school teams, Reynolds, and there were locals at the campus representing other area strong programs.
In one of the Penn State newsletters there was an announcement for an intercampus tournament to be held at the Dubois Campus. So a group of us decided it would be fun to participate. One of the first things we had to do was enlist an advisor/coach. We approached the campus basketball coach, Mr. Irv Dotson, for help on how to get setup. Coach Dotson not only offered to help find an advisor, he agreed to serve that function. I don’t think at the time we fully thanked him for all the time he freely gave us. Especially, the weekend he was away from his family accompanying us at the tournament. So anyone out there who reads this and who has the good fortune of knowing Coach Dotson, please pass on my thanks.
The other part of this memorable experience for me was Benny Bertram. Benny was a local student who came from a high school that did not have a wrestling program, but who had always wanted to try the sport. When Benny found out that we were going to put a team together for the tournament, he asked if he could participate. Of course, we felt the more the merrier so we readily agreed. Well, we set up practices prior to the tournament, and I have to say between Benny’s desire to learn the sport and the enthusiasm of the other team members to teach him, he picked it up quite well. For me the highlight of the tournament was watching Benny win the first one he ever participated in.
