BuckLateral

Good call on Ernie Rose. I saw him wrestle back during that time period and he was as dominating as you say-----just scoring on him was a victory. Bill Emendorfer was a good heavyweight----won the state in 1968. But during his time, the better heavyweight may have Pezavan Whatley (a/k/a Pistol Pez on the pro wrestling circuit) of Notre Dame high school. Pez won the state title in 1967, lost it to Emendorfer in 1968, then came back and beat Emendorfer for the title in 1969. I saw Harlow, Rose, Whatley and Emendorfer wrestle when I was younger. I saw Scott Wells wrestle his senior year here in the Nashville area. Wells was absolutely awesome----never seen a heavyweight do it that quick to everybody. As to who was better, Harlow, Wells or Rose, I'm not sure one can say because of the weight differences between eras. Harlow and Rose wrestled in an era without the 215/275 split you have now. Both of them probably would wrestle 215 today----neither would have had to lose much weight, if any, to do it. They were not anywhere close to being as big as Wells. So if they wrestled Wells at 275, Wells might prevail just because of the size/strength differential . On the other hand, if Wells had to cut weight and wrestle down to 215, I think you would have to go with Harlow---maybe Rose, but that match would be closer-----Wells was a better technical wrestler than Rose, who was more quickness, strength and sheer aggression-----Harlow combined it all----technical knowledge, quickness, strength, and a killer instinct. I'll say this, if you told me that somehow you could produce Harlow, Rose, Wells, Emendorfer, and Whatley all in their high school prime and were going to let them wrestle to see who was the best, I'd pay good money to see it. And you couldn't go wrong if you had anyone of them on your team.

Will's dad, Rob Healy, was a star tailback at Ga. Tech back in the early 70's. As I recall, he led them to a Liberty Bowl victory his senior year. His grandfather, Bill Healy, was an All- American guard at Ga. Tech and considered to be one of the school's all time best at that position. Will's uncle Chip, despite heavy pressure from Tech at the time, did not follow his father and played at Vanderbilt where he was an All-American linebacker his senior season. So there is a connection there that might cause Tech to overlook his size and take a chance on Will based on what are obviously some good genes. Rob was maybe one of the two or three best high school athletes to come out of the Chattanooga area in the late 60's and a truly nice guy in his own right.

This morning's Tennessean has the scores of the match in the general information on the last page of the sports section. MBA won the match 45-24. A few surprising forfeits by MBA in the lower weights.

Karelin may be right on this one. Bill Harlow, who wrestled at St. Andrews in the old Mid South Prep School Association, which included Baylor and McCallie among other members, was an NCAA champion in 1966 for Oklahoma State at 191. Had a brother named Butch who also wrestled at St. Andrews who was pretty good himself. I can't confirm that Bill was a 5 time champ in the Mid South, but as I recall he was a 4 timer. He wrestled back in the days when the Mid South allowed "post graduates" so it is possible that he competed 5 years. I don't think St. Andrews had a middle school at that time so I don't think he would have wrestled up as an 8th grader. Bill also finished 2nd in the NCAA in 1964 and again in 1965 at 177. He was a three time NCAA Division I All-American and a two-time USA Senior Freestyle Champion (1970 and 1974, at 198 ) . Harlow has been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame-----he might be the only former Tennessee high school wrestler in it. Chalk up one for the old guys------but Phillip Simpson certainly looks like he has a chance to put his name right up there with Harlow's and this is one old guy who hopes he does.

I encourage everyone in the Nashville area to read the article in this morning's Nashville City Paper on this match if you want to read really good coverage of a wrestling match. I really like the way that the City Paper and the Bonvissuto guy cover matches. The coverage in this morning's paper was similar to what they did for last week's FRA-Ryan match. In addition to the individual scores, there is a picture from the match and the reporter highlights one match in detail-----last week in was Wipperman/Greenwood, today it was Simpson/Holliman------even down to discussing moves that were made during the match. I suspect Bonvissuto must have some wrestling background. I hope the City Paper keeps up this manner of coverage. It makes for a really good read if you are a wrestling fan or a kid who is wrestling. Needless to say I could find nothing in the Tennessean about the match, not even the line score. Kudos to the City Paper for a job well done. The featured match in the article was William Simpson's 5-4 victory at 125 over freshman Kellen Holliman. I watched Holliman wrestle in the HVAC middle school league last year and in the off season FCI program. He dominated his weight in the HVAC. This is a kid everyone should keep their eye on------a real potential star in Coach Blair's stable.

The article on the match in this morning's Nashville City Paper by Dominic Bonvissuto is posted on the CoachT.com home site. I was at the match. Ryan looked really good-----upper weights were big and strong, lower weights were quick and strong. A really talented bunch. Millshalf-----Joe Oddo, 9th grader, did wrestle and picked up an impressive win at 112. Both Dunnings and Hiller looked like they are headed for big seasons. The MBA-Ryan match will be worth the price of admission folks-----go see it. Though the score was lopsided in this opening match, I think FRA will have better results as the season goes forward. While they do have a good number of returning startersfrom last season ( Sanders looked good in getting his pin as did Scruggs), they fielded a relatively young team last night, with 5 ninth graders in the line-up. Two of them had to wrestle Whitt Dunning and Jimmy Hiller-----talk about baptism by fire! Jesse Murphy, a state qualifier last year as an 8th grader for FRA, is recovering from an injury, and last year's HWT, Jason Layman, did not wrestle last night. Also, Cody Taylor and Brandon Gass, two starters who were injured last season are not able to wrestle this season because of those injuries. This is not to take anything away from Ryan's impressive show last night. That train was leaving the station-----having these guys might have just slowed it down a bit.

Here is the lineup for Father Ryan based on last night's match against FRA. Not sure of classes. 103---Whitt Dunning 112---Joe Oddo 119---Jimmy Hiller 125---Frank Mondelli 130---Charlie Oddo 135---Raymond Dunning 140---Nicholas Myers 145---Jared Medlin 152---Matt Clark 160---Tyler Mayo 171---Kyle Adams 189---Jes Greenwood 215---Chris Lomas HWT---Tom Hoover

Ryan Rowdy I agree. I don't see any of the current starters (or those expecting to be a starter next season) transferring to JPII. They've got a good thing going where they are. But I wonder about say a freshman or sophomore who might be looking at having to wrestle Whitt Dunning, for example, this year and then maybe the next two years. They might want to move over and be the top dog at a new school rather than behind Dunning for three years. More interesting to me is whether or not there is any sense that some of the wrestlers in the NCW middle school league might be thinking JPII instead of just Ryan now that they have that option. JPII has new facilities, a young coach who was a state champ at MBA and wrestled at a pretty good program (UNC) in college, and an ambitious schedule. With the user name you have, I suspect you may have your ear to the ground in the Catholic community. Is there any rumbling out there that JPII is going to delete the wrestling gene pool at Ryan? Could be interesting since Ryan has basically been the only game in town for Catholic athletes wanting to go to a Catholic school for about 100 years. And by the way, I was born, baptized and raised a mackerel snapper and attended parochial school (in another part of the state), so this is not an anti-Ryan post. I just think JPII raises some interesting choices for Catholic kids in particular that could add another quality wrestling program to the local scene ( which I am all for).

Purplelion----regarding your comment about Coach Flatt and his 10 rings: If your BA boys win the state this year it will just mean that Coach Flatt has a ring on his finger that should belong to Tom Moore

Purplelion----if you will check, I think you will find that CPA did win one a couple of years ago

JP II may need some divine presence. They have not yet posted their wrestling schedule on the school website but FRA shows JPII and Clarksville on its schedule in a match at JPII on 12/3 and MBA has JPII on its schedule for Jan.28. Also heard that they may be wrestling Hillsboro and maybe Hillwood. Team will be frosh and sophomores so it looks like Coach Rich has decided to give his youngsters a baptism by fire. But since they are in DII where everyone will get a shot at the state in Chattanooga in February it is a good way to get them ready and they might pull a few surprises. All I know is that it looks like another DII school seriously interested in wrestling that might pick off some unsuspecting Baylor or McCallie grapplers who haven't seen them before giving our area wrestlers a better shot at the dual and individual titles.

Has anyone heard anything about the wrestling program being started up at the new John Paul II high school in Hendersonville? Are they on anyone's schedule? Any well-known wrestlers going there from any of the middle schools, the NCW league, or maybe the Hendersonville FCI club? Their head coach is former MBA state champ ( 1996 or 1997, 191 lbs., I think) and University of North Carolina wrestler, Johnny Rich. I also heard ( but have not actually seen) that they have constructed an 'auxiliary' gym for wrestling matches. Sounds like they mean business and want to be a factor on the local wrestling scene in general and DII in particular. Wonder if they will siphon off any of the local Catholic talent from Ryan? Whatever, I think the addition of another school that is going to aggressively support a wrestling program will only make the Nashville area wrestling better so we can smack down the Baylor/McCallie and Bradley/Soddy regimes. Maybe Coach Rich can call in some markers and get some of those ACC wrestling coaches to come to Nashville for camps/clinics similar to what Matt Gorham at Harding Middle School did back in September with the weekend clinic put on by Army Coach Barbee (with Phillip Simpson along)or what Coach Blair has done the last few summers at Brentwood with the Ohio State Commuter camp. Its time-----Let the games begin.

I believe that MTSU is starting up a club team this year to wrestle in the National Club Wrestling organization. There are some posts about the team, including a roster, on the Tennessee Wrestling Federation website under college news. Don't know if it will be a permanent club team or whether this is a start back to a varsity team that will compete in NCAA.

Your comment about the Free Press and the effect of the merger between the Times and the Free Press on coverage of local sports is interesting because I think the same thing has happened in Nashville with the Tennessean. Back when the Chattanooga Times and the Free Press were in serious competition with each other, I think that both papers did a pretty good job of covering local sports, particularly high school and youth sports, and had a strong interest in the local scene. Both were run by local families with ties to the community . Sales and circulation made them cover the local scene better because this sold newspapers-----every story on a kid meant that his parents and grandparents were going to buy multiple copies. And competition kept the reporters agressive for stories. Without it, they get lazy. In Nashville, the Tennessean is no longer locally owned and controlled, and the demise of the Banner and the influx of pro sports hit at about the same time. With no competition and no local ownership concerned about sales and circulation, the Tennessean rapidly became nothing more than a regional USA Today. Coverage of local sports, particularly sports other than football and basketball,has been pretty weak--------for some sports, its almost non existent. Local kids have seen recognition of their sports efforts give way to increased coverage of overpaid and overhyped professional ( and, unfortunately, even some college) athletes. For good coverage of local sports I now make sure I pick up a copy of the Nashville City Paper every morning. Unfortunately, it is only a weekday paper so it misses out on the Saturday coverage of Friday night's football games. However, it devotes a lot of space for the size paper that it is to coverage of local sports and is willing to give space to the 'other' sports------its coverage of local wrestling last season was far superior to the Tennessean----and that is not just my opinion, I've heard that from coaches as well. Its reporters seem genuinely interested in the local scene and providing local kids with the publicity they deserve for their athletic efforts. Because they are going up against the big monster on Broadway, they are aggressively going after stories on the local scene. The articles are generally well written with some thought given to what the story is trying to focus on-----they either have good writers or a managing editor who is on his toes. Interestingly, I think that the City Paper has caught the attention of the Tennessean which has added some reporters to its high school coverage this fall, the Saturday football scores section seems bigger, and it has added the high school sports website mentioned in another post. It also seems to be reacting to some of the coverage style of the City Paper--------case in point, yesterday the City Paper had a nice article on the undefeated CPA middle school football team. I'm not sure when the last time I saw the Tennessean devote any significant space to sports atthe middle school level, but, lo and behold, guess what appeared in the Tennessean this morning----an article on the same CPA middle school team. This is not the first time this "follow the leader" has occurred. So all you Nashvillians who want to see more coverage of the local sports scene, make sure you pick up the City Paper. Right now it is free in the blue newspaper stands. And as long as it keeps doing what it is doing and makes the Tennessean takes notice, that will only benefit coverage of local sports. And better recognition of local sports will only encourage more kids to play and give them the recognition they deserve for their efforts. And no, I don't have an interest in and I am not employed by the City Paper. Just like to give credit where credit is due and this post presented the opportunity to do so. I agree about Stump on Sports. For anybody in and around Chattanooga it comes on Channel 46 on Comcast Cable on Friday and Saturday night at Midnight. (I think) The Chattanooga Times-Free Press has some of the worst coverage of High School sports for one of the larger papers in the state. I think since the merger of the paper, the sports section has gone down hill. I dont agree with a lot of the things that they are doing now. THe Friday "Blitz" section of the paper is okay. Saturday's paper usually stinks cause half the time they dont have all the the scores in it and very rarely to they have all the box scores.

......if Boyd Buc played "anyone" outside of 1A "they'd get crushed"..... Boyd Buc 39-----Rhea County (4A) 20 Boyd Buc 15-----East Ridge (4A) 12 Careful what you ask for. You did not say it had to be the best or even a good team-----you said "anyone". So BBbaseball15 might have you on this one. Next time stay away from "unqualified" statements about who can't beat "anyone" when it comes to high school sports----too many variables go into the mix each weekend------been down that road before and come away with egg on my face.

HVAC ( Harpeth Valley Athletic (Conference) has a pretty strong program that feeds several area high schools. Teams include MBA, FRA, Grassland Middle, Brentwood Middle, CPA, BGA, Freedom Middle, Ensworth, Harding Academy, Page Middle, and Woodland Middle. Some kids to watch in the future who wrestled (or are wrestling) in this league -----this is by no means all , just some that I remember off the top of my head (and I am guessing at the spelling of some names): Jesse Murphy---FRA, wrestled "up" with the FRA varsity last season after the HVAC was over and was a state qualifier in Region 6 as an 8th grader John Michael Simpson---- MBA, that's right, another Simpson, who dominated the 75 lb.lb weight class last year as a 7th grader Kelly Felix-----Grassland, older brother was a state qualifier at Franklin last year---- also wrestled for Team Tennessee in a national meet for offseason programs held in Chattanooga this past spring (wrestling for the Future Champions Club in Franklin) Kellen Holman----Brentwood Middle, when he was on the mat other kids stopped to watch Joseph Pair, Page------Justin Hall, MBA-----Joseph Oddo, Grassland, are others that come to mind Also, Nashville Catholic Wrestling has produced another Bateman----Aaron----who was terrific in the middle school last year at around 145, I think. He also wrestled for the 7th/8th grade Team Tennessee in the national meet in Chattanooga this past spring ( Aaron wrestled out of the Copperheads Wrestling Club run by former Overton/UTC star Chuck Bean). I saw the Team Tennessee match against the 7th/8th grade team from Michigan and Bateman dominated his Michigan counterpart----final was something like 10-2, I think.

Or lure former ND Coach Yogi Anderson away from Baylor