Pa. Dominance: Wrestling invented long before 2011...Clarion 1973..
- Thread starter Psugo823
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I’ll never forget Matter’s PIAA finals match in 1968. He went against a guy from Bedford who had pinned almost every guy he wrestled that year including his semis opponent. Matter went out and destroyed him in the finals. I think the score was 14-1 when he got the fall. Right then and there I knew he was going to be an NCAA champion in college.
BTW, Matter told us a pretty funny story at the 2011 NCAA tournament. He said that after one of his Penn State matches, he was talking to some people when a giant guy came up to him and shook his hand and said “Hi, remember me?” Matter said he was a little shocked because he realized it was the guy from Bedford who he had pinned in the state finals. He said his grip felt like he could have crushed his hand if he had wanted to. Matter said the first thought that went through his mind was “I beat this guy???”
I kind of pride myself at being a geography nerd... That said, I was not aware of the exact demarcations of Delco. Thanks for the map!
My brother lost to Matter by a point in a HS dual. He started at Upper Darby the year after I graduated. UD was our big rival thru the years as our two teams were the best in Delco and often the best in District 1 during the '60s. One year UD had 6 of 12 Section champs and 3 District 1 champs but we beat them in a dual. The next year, we had 6 of 12 Section champs and 3 District 1 champs but they beat us in a dual. That was a great rivalry. Back then our Section was actually tough. We had two eventual state champs (one not from Delco) and 3 more state semi-finalists from our section my senior year.
I do not have time to read through the whole thread, so, my apologies if someone else already mentioned this. As I recall, Coach Koll was PISSED at the administration for not letting him give Schalles a chance. He wanted a waiver for Schalles, whose Hollidaysburg grades were not the best, and he expected that PSU would take his (Koll's) word that Schalles would turn out a fine enough college student. But the admin was strict.
I'll always be proud of Penn State's athletic tradition, which I rate up there with anyone (Especially considering how many possible national titles were stolen from Paterno by bad luck or voters), and it speaks volumes how picky we historically have been about our student-athletes. But, yeah, the admin should have taken Coach Koll's word.
In about 1969 or '68, Mike Reid - yes, THE Mike Reid - pinned Lehigh's heavyweight to win the dual meet for Penn State. Rec Hall went extra ballistic, because beating Lehigh in those days was like us beating those animals from Columbus in football today.
I was at Clarion 75 -79. Great wrestling. California teams would visit, Penn State and Pitt. All bigger schools. Clarion won them all. Program went down hill when Coach Bob Bubb retired.
It was the first time he ever made that request.
Similar scenario, Lock Haven not granting Schalles admission had more to do with Gray Simons leaving as LHU's coach than anything else.
Who was the Bloomsburg coach back then? If I recall correctly, he was the one who pressed for Schalles losing a year of eligibility and he did it out of spite because Schalles turned down Bloomsburgs offer.
Russ Houck was Bloomsburg's coach when Schalles was coming out. I have no idea if Houck was the push behind that or not. I do know what they did to Schalles was petty and simply mean spirited. It served no purpose, other than to prick over a kid.
My son took singing lessons in Rose Valley. Yes, it's a step or two up from Ridley. Ridley's blue collar and Rose Valley's where the money lives.
Rose Valley is very quirky - not surprising given its history as an artist’s colony. Some very rich people, lots of hippies and artsy people. So, nice, but very different politically and socially than, say, Gladwyne and such on the Main Line. Great place to grow up - lots of trees, Ridley Creek to mess around in, higgeldy-piggeldy roads and lanes.
Old guy who lived a street next to us and a few houses down had this home made greenhouse he was very fastidious about. Turns out the dude was cultivating bud for decades in there. That was Rose Valley
Andy Matter should have been a 3-timer (the most you could be back then). His sophomore year in the quarterfinals, he was leading a kid from Oklahoma St something like 10-0 when he got pinned from the top position. I think he would have won it that year. Andy was a bit like Bo Nickal. Did not look at all strong (if you thought Bo had spindly arms, Andy really did), but he wrestled powerfully, got a lot of pins!
NOTE: I hadn't read all of the other posts about Andy above when I posted this. Great stories about a great wrestler, and nice guy too!
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Roger Sanders took over Bloomsburg program in 1972. I knew a few wrestlers that wrestled for him in late 1970s, early 80s. The team looked at Clarion as their toughest PSAC opponent and it would be a match that guys would drop weight for better match ups. The weight cutting techniques were unbelievable. A few of the guys were members of DOK. They would drink like fishes after Friday/Saturday night match and be 15-18 pounds over on weigh in on Monday.
I watched Roger Sanders wrestle for Pennsbury while I was an elementary student. He was D1 champ a couple of times. He and his brother were studs. He was D2 National Champ for West Chester, and his brother was a starter for Navy back when they were a power in the East.
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