As a youngster involved in the Manheim Central Youth Wrestling program of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame Coach, Clyde “Red” Witman, I developed a great interest in the fortunes of the Manheim Central High School wrestling team and made annual pilgrimages to Penn State’s hallowed Rec Hall to watch the state high-school wrestling championships. I recall the years 1957 and 1958 when MCHS sent a total of nine wrestlers to Rec Hall and produced four state runners-up and one state champion.
I followed the fortunes of fellow Manheimian Marty Strayer, PSU ’64, and his teammates, George Edwards, Steve Erber, and Mark Piven. Marty took a classmate and me to the Penn State summer wrestling camp when I was a high-school rising senior, and I met the coaching staff. I was hooked. I applied and was fortunate enough to be accepted into the 1964-65 PSU freshman class. During my first wrestling practices I remember what a splendid feeling it was to jog around the indoor track of Rec Hall where the best wrestlers Pennsylvania had to offer dazzled thousands of fans with their wrestling prowess! It was more glorious still when I first walked out into the ten-foot wide starting circle to begin my first varsity match. Although I never attained the glorious heights of some of my teammates, Wally Clark, Dave Spinda, Vince Fitz, Matt Kline, and Rich Lorenzo, I’ll always cherish the moments when I wore the blue-and-white uniform in Rec Hall and other great eastern universities, when I was coached by the late great Bill Koll and attended to by super trainers, particularly Eddie Sulkowski. They represented the best there is to be obtained in such an honorable sport: a proud tradition, dedication to excellence, and an uncompromising principle for their wrestlers to achieve on the mat and in the classroom. For the Glory.
