Jackson

Although I was not at the Tournament, I have gone to the TSSAA website and watched the match. Throughout the match the Father Ryan wrestler did shoot, but as soon as he shot his head went straight into the mat and he did not attempt to go any further. Furthermore he did not change his strategy, but kept going back to a stalemate. The only thing I would have faulted the official for, would have been for not calling stalling earlier. It was probably one of the most boring matches I have watched.

On more than one occassion this official has told me to keep my seat when I disagreed with him, but I hold him in the highest regard for his knowledge and fairness. As a matter of fact the first dual meet he ever called was for me 25 years ago. I find it hard to believe that anyone could think of him doing anything but calling a match by the rules without showing favoritism to either side.

I went to the Florida State individual tournament today.They ran three 16 man tournaments on 12 mats without a match board only a PA. It would be the same as running a 48 man bracket. The tournament ran flawlessly. Round one took three hours, round two, which included one championship round and two consolation rounds, took approimately 4 and 1/2 hours.

96 was the snowed out state duals, Redbank beat out Bradley and then were not allowed to go because of the snow storm.

Kevin Kosier (Karns) 52-4 '95-'96; Josh Allmon (Karns) 50-9 '95-'96

Frank will be laid to rest May 20 in Arlington Cemetery with full militery honors.

Dan,

My heart goes out to Frank Bryant's family and friends. What a great kid you got to coach. Our country is a much better place for having men like Frank serve this country with honor, dignity and character. What a blessing it must have been to have been a part of his life as a coach. Thank you for your service as a coach, for you touched the lives of many young men in a positive way. We as wrestling coaches are surrounded by some of the best student athletes this country has to offer. God bless Frank and his family.

Frank Simpson

Montgomery Bell Academy

Thank you Frank. Frank Bryant was truly one of a kind. You are right it was a blessing and honor to have had the opportunity to coach him.

I am a fellow Air Force pilot who works with "Bruiser" as I know him here in Kabul. I could have easily died with him in that conference room. I've only known him the three months I've been deployed here, but he has had a very positive impact on me in that time. It does not surprise me that Bruiser was a state champion as he is still a hard charger who gets things done. He was one of the most effective officers I've met and is a great person. My heart breaks for his wife and young son. I know it doesn't help them much in this time of great grief, but they can be proud of the honorable way he served. With tear filled eyes, I can tell you Bruiser exemplified a true American Hero. It was a priveledge to serve with you Bruiser. RIP

Flyguy, thank you so much for this insight to Frank. I watched him progress from a 90 lb freshman, who would walk down the middle of a crowded high school hallway, to win a state championship and be a fighter pilot. His freshman year he made it to through districts to regionals. He worked hard and his sophmore year he came within one match of making it to the state tournament. Between his sophmore year and his junior year he went to Ben Peterson's Camp Of Champions and his junior year he finished fifth in the state. He returned to Ben's Camp in the summer of 1990. While he was in camp, his Dad known affectionately as "Bear" went into the Canadian backcountry with a canoe, a Bible, and a week's supply of food, by himself. (Gives you an idea where he got his tenacity from.) He came back from the Camp of Champions with his goal being to win the 1991 119 lb Championship. Somewhere along the way his Dad bought two canoes and since they lived on Melton Hill lake they had a ready made place to use them. He and his Dad would paddle upstream for a mile, take the canoes out of the water and run back home carrying the canoes.

At the beginning of his senior year he ws in perfect wrestling condition. His day began with a workout at St. Mary's Fitness Center, then to school to run with the team, shower and eat breakfast, go to class, wrestling practice, and end with another work out at St. Mary's. At the beginning of the season he was undefeated until our first big tournament. He was pinned in 51 sec in the first period of the championship match. He did not get upset, he just went back to work. Frank did not loose another match during the regular season.

As we went into the tournament season he continued his work out regimine. His Dad's swim coach at UT was Ray Bussard. Ray was friends with the Air Force Academy wrestling coach. The Air Force Coach told Coach Bussard that if Frank won a state championship he would assure him an appointment to the Academy.

Frank breezed through the district, regional, and State tournament up to the Championship final. His opponent was the kid who pinned him in 51 sec at the beginning of the season. This kid had rarely gone beyond the first period the whole season in any match. During the state tournament we noticed that against better competition who took him to the second period he begin to wear down. I told Frank if we could get him into second period we could beat him. The match started with the kid taking Frank to his back in the first 30 seconds and holding him there for 90 seconds. I can still hear big Frank yelling. The period ended with Frank down 5-0. At the beginning of the second period the kid chose top, Frank got a reversal and back points. The score was 5-4 and the kid was sucking major air. We chose nuetral to begin the third and Frank took him to his back and pinned him and won the state championship. He stood up, took off his headgear and folded it in his left hand, as he did after every match, shook hands with the kid, turned and walked over to me to shake hands, I told a hand shake wouldn't work this time, I hugged him, he calmly picked up his warmups and waited for the awards ceremony. He ended the season 57-1.

I had a lot of good wrestlers, both before him and after him, but never another like him.

Frank Bryant,the 1991 119 lb State Champion from Karns High School was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan today. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1995 where he wrestled and was the team captain his senior year. Frank was a coach's dream. He was the wrestler a coach is always looking for. He had the same demeanor whether he won or did not win. In 1991 he was 57-1 and when he won his final match, a state championship, He reacted the same way he always had. He took off his headgear folded it in his left hand, shook hand with his opponent, came over and shook hands with me, for the first time that year allowed me to hug him, picked up his warm up and waited for the medal ceremony. He had done what he had worked so hard for, a state championship and an appointment to the Air Force Academy. I was truly blessed by having the opportunity to have coached Frank Bryant.

Dan Dugger

There are a number of additional coaches who, I feel are class acts. Five I have coached against. I have watched Coach Foreman both as a wrestler and a coach, and Coach Jones I have watched as he has worked to build a program which had never really gotten established and worked to save another program which appeared to be dying.

Greg Foreman-Pigeon Forge

Jeff Price-Science Hill

Ben Jones-Knox Central

John Mullin-Notre Dame

Pat Simpson-Father Ryan

Frank Simpson-MBA

Buzzy Mann-Dobyns-Bennett

Great story, I remember several years ago when I was coaching, Coach Hambrick invited Karns to come to Franklin during Christmas Holidays to wrestle in a two day dual meet. The parents of the wrestling team invited the Karns team to stay in their homes. A great group of folks.

The 145 that wrestled in the regionals for us, Alex McKinney, is a great young man and a solid wrestler who had a bad day; he has been a solid and key performer for us all season long, and an exemplary team member for the past five years. He is one of those people who was in a backup role for four years; this was his first year as an every day guy, and he won 30 matches for us, which I think is excellent. He always tried to do what we asked of him, and I am proud of his effort this season. I am also disappointed that he will not be making the trip to state. I might also add that I never considered him a backup this year. We had three guys who rotated between 140 and 145, depending on the needs of the team.

 

Alex was a solid wrestler, and will be a good man. He sat in my classroom as well, and was an exemplary student. I will miss him, because he was always dependable and accepted and played his role on the team. That is more important to me than how many people we qualified for state.

 

I appreciate tnmatfan's interest in Science Hill wrestling, but he does not speak for our program. We have a tendency to focus on accomplishments sometimes instead of the real work of the sport, which is instilling in our people the lessons of wrestling so that they might apply them to all aspects of their lives and use them to be excellent human beings who make the world a better place. I am satisfied that Alex has learned those lessons.

 

I know this is off topic on this thread, but I did not want a less than fully informed poster to trivialize the importance to my team of a kid I have spent five years of my life with and respect a great deal.

Coach, Great Post. Good folks don't loose,sometimes they just don't win.

One of the best things I did as a coach was to ask Tater to officiate. The only problem I ever had with him is that he always made me stay in my seat. Congratulations Tater! Keep up the good work.

Karns Results for November 23rd

Karns 54 Union County 18

103- Mcnulty (K) lost fall Bobby (U) 1:22

112- Noyes (K) win fall Devin (U) 2:54

119- FF (K) lost Isaac (U)

125- Schafer (K)win FF (U)

130- Jones (K) win FF (U)

135- Reed (K) win fall Danny (U) 1:45

140- FF (K) lost Turner (U)

145- Every (K) win FF

152- Aliy (K) win fall Emerson (U) 3:38

160- FF / FF

171- Hopkins (K) win FF

189- FF/ FF

215- Calhoun (K) win FF

285- Worsham (K) win FF

Karns 36 Knoxville Webb 36

* Match decided on the 9th criteria*

103- McNulty (K) lost fall Conley (W) 3:00

112-Noyes (K) win fall De Ponte (W) 1:57

119- FF/FF

125-Schafer (K) lost fall Jones (W) 1:34

130- Jones (K) win fall Grandes (W) 5:01

135- Reed (K) win fall Carter (W) :22

140- FF/FF

145- Every (K) lost fall Slutzker (W) 2:29

152- Aliy (K) lost fall Little (W) :58

160- FF (K) lost Mitchell (W)

171- Hopkins (K) win fall Farr (W) 1:57

189- FF (K) lost Mackinze (W)

215- Calhoun (K) win FF

285-Worsham (K) win FF

I have had the opportunity to work with and coach against Coach Hambrick, he truly is a gentleman and a great example. I know he will be successful in his rehabilitation.

I am sure that the ANIMAL and I could handle the situation and if it would increase attendance it might not be a bad idea. Unfortunately warm weather beacons me this winter and I think the ANIMAL is enjoying what he is doing. I do hope that whatever the impediment is, it can be removed and Karns returns back to its former heights. It appears that some folks need to learn how to get along and that the coach is in charge, support the coach and stay out of his way.

I started what is now called the Beaver Bash in 1982. Initially it was a scrimage between 4 or 5 schools. After a couple of years I realized there were several things that could be accomplished by this tournament, wrestling time for the wrestlers, training for officials, tournament experience for coaches, and income for the wrestling team. At one point there were over 300 wrestlers participating in it.

It has been diappointing to me that the Karns Program has fallen on hard times. In 1996 it was ranked in the Coaches Poll as one of the top ten teams in the state.

I had an opportunity to meet with Coach Jones last Friday. He is making every attempt to keep the Karns program alive and he is not trying to take the Beaver Bash away from Karns. Instead of making snide remarks some folks who are not helping should be offering their assistance. I am not sure that I would be spending as much time on someone else's program. Not only is he putting together the Beaver Bash, but he has been working on trying to come up with a reccomendation for a coach.

Coach Jones is trying to keep a program alive and needs everyone's help and support.

Dan Dugger

Anything new about who the coach will be?

Coach Morgan has always been ready and willing to help both wrestlers and his fellow coaches be successful. I will forever be in his debt as a wrestling coach.

Dan Dugger

One of the best camps I know, is the Camp of Champs run by Ben and John Peterson. Their website is www,campofchamps.org. The camp is intense. They are both Olympic gold medalists and they bring a number of nationally known wrestlers and coaches to work in the camp.

I was thinking that Clint was actually Abe's Coach.

Any team scores and championship and consolation scores. CONGRATULATIONS TO cOACH fOREMAN AND PIGEON FORGE!!!!!

It would be great if someone in region II would let folks know what is going on. Surely someone is in the know.

I never wrestled until I became a coach. I had one year with Gary Walker, the next year I started a program from scratch. Over 15 years I had a record of 211-2-106, beat Turner Jackson, finished ahead of Jim Morgan in a couple of tournamnets, broke David Holiowell's at home win streak at 90 wins, beat Steve Henry and won his tournament, defeated Jeff Price, and broke even with Chris Vandergriff I am not bragging with these exploits, the reason that my teams did well were because of Turner Jackson, Jim Morgan, David Hollowell, Steve Henry, Jeff Price, and Chris Vandergriff who helped me and shared their knowledge with me. I owe a lot to those coaches who allowed me to bring my teams to their tournaments, even though at the time we were probably not up to their level of competition. I owe a lot to Coach Elea and Carson Newman and their summer camps. The first thing I learned, as a coach, was that the wrestling coaching fraternity was there to help you, all you need to do is ask. I know I am not in the same class as those coaches I have mentioned and many others who have coached and are now coaching, but they helped me be successful.

Congratulations Greg, Good luck in the state tournament.

Dan Dugger

I agree. I have almost quit coming to coacht because of her.