BamaGrappler

Bradley Central won. (No surprise.) They had 266.5 points and Hoover was the 2nd place team with 176.5. The only thing that could have made it more interesting was if Hoover had their upper weights. They were missing the upper weights because their football team was playing in the Class 6A State Championship game this afternoon (FYI, they won 39-29 over Jeff Davis). Doubt they would've beaten BC, but they could have at least gotten closer than 90 points to them. Results are posted on http://www.alabamawrestling.com Go there and follow the link.

Looks like BC is mopping up as usual at this one. http://www.al.com/hswrestling/huntsvilleti...56275244930.xml

Bump. Thanks, luchador, for the backup! Hadn't noticed stovepipe's ranting on Grissom. (Although, I have to agree with him on the Hogan doll thing. That's not inspirational --- it's just creepy....) No, I don't like Grissom either --- and yes, I won (competing & coaching) more matches against them than I lost. However, I give full support to any Alabama team vs. any other state. Same as any Southeast team vs. any other region. They are said to be young again this year, so I'm anxious to see how they do at the Black Horse. http://www.al.com/hswrestling/huntsvilleti...28164315482.xml

This oughta be good as usual. Grissom (AL) & Brother Martin (LA) are both pretty solid.....and stay that way. I know Grissom finished 2nd last year at the Blackhorse and they brought a 2nd team that finished 10th. Bad thing is, they could have made a tighter race with BM because several of their starters (that helped them win the Alabama 6A State Championship by season's end) were on the 2nd team at the start of the season. Oh well... I also got to see Centennial (TN) during the season last year and they weren't too bad either. The other teams I'm not too familiar with, but basing on the ones I do know --- this is a pretty tough tournament.

MTSU has had a club.....unfortunately, that's all it is for right now. Hopefully, it will change. http://www.mtsu.edu/~wrestle Anyone know what happened to the club at Vanderbilt? They had one a few years ago. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/wrestle/VandyHome.htm Tennessee Temple University (Baptist school in Chattanooga) also offers it as an organized student club. http://www.tntemple.edu

We (we = another wrestling discussion group I'm in) have been assembling a list. Here's what we have so far. U.S. PRESIDENTS Chester Arthur, Calvin Coolidge, Dwight Eisenhower, Ulysses S Grant, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, George Washington U.S. SENATE The late John Chafee (former senator from Rhode Island), Lincoln Chafee (current senator from RI), Chuck Hagel (Nebraska), John McCain (Arizona), Paul Wellstone (Minnesota) U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The late Carl Albert (former Speaker of the House, from Oklahoma), current Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (Illinois), Brad Glass, Greg Ganske (Iowa), Jim Leach (Iowa), Jim Nussle (Iowa) SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Frank Carlucci, Donald Rumsfeld WHITE HOUSE STAFF George Stephanopolis, Ari Fleischer OTHER POLITICIANS Arne Carlson (former governor of Minnesota) ACTORS/COMEDIANS William Baldwin, the late John Belushi, Tom Cruise, Tony Danza, Kirk Douglas, the late Chris Farley, Al Franken, the late Victor French (TV show Highway to Heaven), PeeWee Herman (Paul Ruebens in HS in Florida), Harvey Keitel, Ashton Kutcher (That 70s Show), Jay Leno, Mario Lopez, Bill Maher, Howie Mandel, Jay Mohr, the late Nat Pendleton (1920s Olympic wrestler, 1930s movie actor), Tom Sullivan, Mr. T. (Laurence Turead), Tab Thacker, Vince Vaughn, Tim Van Patten, Robin Williams AMERICAN HEROES Jeremy Glick (aboard United flight 93 on 9/11/2001), Tommy Norris (Medal of Honor winner for actions in Vietnam) ASTRONAUTS Joe Allen, Michael Collins AUTHORS Terry Davis (Vision Quest), John Irving (The World According to Garp), the late Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Ron Kovic (Born of the Fourth of July) BUSINESS LEADERS Rocky Aoki (Benihana Restaurants), Scott Beck (Boston Market), James Bigger (Nestle), Ben Bishop (Bethlehem Steel), Dan Cathy (Chick-fil-a), John Filer (Aetna), Stephen Friedman (Goldman Sachs), Robert Hannan (Thrift Drug), Henry Kravis (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.), James Macalear (SMS Corp.), Ron McGruder (Olive Garden), Art Martori (Production Farm Management), David Pottruck (Charles Schwab), Edward Rust (State Farm), Arthur Rutzen (Wells Fargo), John Vaughan (Alco Standard) MILITARY LEADERS Denny Benchoff (3-star general), the late Greg "Pappy" Boyington, Gen. Charles C. Krulak, Rear Admiral William J. McDaniel, George Patton, Al Rushotz, retired Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf MUSICIANS The late Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), the late Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon), Maynard James Keenan (Tool), the late Layne Staley (Alice in Chains), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE Art Baker, Walter Barnes, Harris Barton, Brad Benson, Bob Bruenig, Tom Cousineau, Tom Covert, Roger Craig, Curley Culp, Larry Czonka, Dan Dierdorff, Jim Everett, Bill Fralic, Doug "Bubba" France, Bill George, Charlie Getty, LeRoi Glover, Bob Golic, Darrien Gordon, Scottie Graham, Tim Green, Archie Griffin, Nick Greisen, John Hannah, Carlton Haselrig, Ron Heller, Chad Hennings, Jay Hilgenberg, Bo Jackson, Henry Jordan, Dave Joyner, John Jurkovich, Alex Karras, Tim Krumrie, Ernie Ladd, Jess Lewis, Ray Lewis, Ronnie Lott, Kirk Loudermilk, Joel Mackovica, Mickey Marvin, Napoleon McCallum, Mark McDonald, Chris McIntosh, Greg Meisner, Jim Nance, Lorenzo Neal, Stephen Neal, Jeremy Newberry, Chuck Noll, Leo Nomellini, Chuke Nwokoric, Jonathan Ogden, Irv Pankey, David Patten, Bob Pickens, Jim Plunkett, Mike Pyle, Eric Rhett, Cory Schlesinger, Tony Siragusa, Fred Smerlas, Dave Szott, Kyle Turley, Tommy Vardell, John Ward, Fred Weary, Charles White, Ricky Williams, Greg Wojochowski OLYMPIC ATHLETES IN OTHER SPORTS WHO ONCE WRESTLED Mark Lenzi (diving), Sugar Ray Leonard (boxing), Jason Morris (judo), Jimmy Pedro (judo), Brian Shimer (bobsled), Jim Thorpe (early 20th century decathlete) PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES (other than NFL) Brett Butler (baseball), Pat Day (horse racing), Kevin Harvick (NASCAR), Larry Holmes (boxing), Glenn Hubbard (baseball), Jeremy Rose (horse racing), Bill Shoemaker (horse racing), Spud Webb (basketball); No Holds Barred (UFC/Octagon) competitors Mark Coleman, Randy Couture, Kevin Jackson, Kevin Randleman, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock SCIENCE Dr. Norman Borlaug (Nobel prize winner), William Kerslake (NASA scientist) SPORTS BROADCASTERS Roone Arledge, Jim Lampley, Bill Macatee SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT (pro rasslers who were amateur wrestlers) Kurt Angle, Bob Backlund, Shelton Benjamin, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk (Dorrance Funk at Indiana State), Verne Gagne, Dan Hodge, Dick Hutton, Brock Lesnar, Earl McCready, Nat Pendleton, Brad Rheingans, Bob Roop, Joe Scarpello, Ruffy Silverstein (Ralph Silverstein at Illinois), the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Rechsteiner at Michigan), the late Chris Taylor, Mr. Wrestling/Tim Woods (Tim Woodin at Michigan State), TV NEWSCASTERS/PERSONALITIES Geraldo Rivera, Andy Rooney

This is an amazing opportunity for those of you who are looking for ways to improve and don't already have a commitment for that date. Saturday, November 9, 2002 Homewood Middle School ~ Birmingham, AL Instruction by Nate Carr (3 x NCAA Champ at Iowa State, World Cup Champ, U.S. Nationals Champ, Goodwill Games Champ, Pan-Am Games Champ, Olympic Bronze Medalist). 6 hour clinic / cost $30 if you register before Oct. 25 $35 if you register after $40 if you register at the door For more info, go to http://www.alabamawrestling.com and follow the link on the home page.

Don't know that 'surprised' was a good word for me to use on a public forum. It may denote some connotation that he isn't 'deserving' of the position. So before I answer, let me emphasize --- that is not how I intended it, nor do I mean to diminish his accomplishments or alarm anyone with the comment. I simply meant (from a personal perspective) that I am somewhat shocked for various reasons. First, I wasn't even aware that he had applied although I knew they were looking. Second, since I've been associated with wrestling here in Alabama, Bradley Central of Tennessee has been considered 'upper echelon' in my mind. They've always been pretty tough --- no worse than moderately so, even in some of their reloading years. Third, it's a shock for me to see someone from a small school in Alabama, with no college wrestling experience, gain that position. Even here, the smaller school champions aren't given much credit due to the (perceived lack of) competition versus that of the larger schools. Don't know if this helped answer or only clouded things even more. Again, maybe I should have used another word --- but that was the first one that hit me. I am anxious to see how things go for both Chad and the Bradley Central program. Good luck to all!

Thanks, Sly. Wasn't aware of this. To update though... http://class.timesfreepress.com/ShowStoryT...&Section=Sports As reported in the Chattanooga-Times Free Press: Around the Region Two UTC wrestlers released from hospital Staff Reports The two University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestlers who were hospitalized for two days because of dehydration were released Wednesday. Ryan Mays was released from Erlanger and Shawn Weltzin from Parkridge. "They were both feeling much better and should return to class (Thursday)," trainer Jeff Allen said. Allen said they would not return to practice until cleared by team doctor Bill Moore Smith, who will meet with Mays and Weltzin Tuesday. This story was published Thursday, September 05, 2002.

Coach Gonyea, Sorry to hear about the mix-up/miscommunication you had last year. Coach Corder (Hartselle) has put together a pretty competitive duals tournament for the last few years. If you, or any other coaches in Tennessee, are looking for tournaments in Alabama to travel to or would like Alabama teams to compete in your tournaments, go to the 'Events' page on www.alabamawrestling.com. They have contact info listed for some coaches or you can e-mail someone at the website and they can probably help you. Good luck this season!

Sly is right. As posted on www.alabamawrestlng.com and www.ahsaa.com: 4x State Champions = Class 1A-4A (small schools division) - Chad Laxton, Deshler, 1991-94; 103, 119, 130, 135 This is what I know. Chad was a 4xer at Deshler High School in Tuscumbia, Alabama (NW corner of the state). His twin brother, Brad, was a 3xer. Their father, Bobby Laxton, was the Head Coach at Deshler for several years. They had a strong program in the late 70s ~ early 80s. Bobby left Deshler a few years ago for a position at (then 6A, but now 5A) Huntsville High School as an Assistant Football Coach. Chad & Brad followed and served as (voluntary?) Assistant Wrestling Coaches. Chad then took a position as Head Wrestling Coach at Buckhorn High School. Huntsville has always produced top competitors but never a team title. Buckhorn is relatively new to wrestling with a program that's only a couple of years old. I was surprised when I heard Chad was hired at Bradley. I am, however, glad for him and wish him the best of luck! [Edited by BamaGrappler on 9-5-02 5:02P]