Why is it..............

[takedown3]

I'm not sure what the "broad sociological foundations" might be, but there are certainly a lot of areas up North and in the Midwest, Great Plains and all the way out to California that don't have the Scots Irish influence.

 

Read the book! There are large populations of Scots Irish in those areas. This a prolific bunch! Who do you think those Oakies were who settled in CA - Scotts Irish with a bad case of ADD.

[takedown3]

This is a very interesting topic to me. I'm in college, so I have some broad sociological possibilities that they've fed me, but I think the Scotch-Irish influence is pretty evident. But there are some really good wrestling areas in Florida and California too. I have done a little bit of research on the history of wrestling in Chattanooga/North Georgia, and I've thought of trying to write a send-in article to a newspaper down there, but there just aren't many resources out there. I think it would be really fascinating to sit down with a Gordon Connell or a Jim Morgan and pick his brain about it.

 

It actually started before Worsham, Col Spencer and Farr.

[best_of_the_west]

It actually started before Worsham, Col Spencer and Farr.

 

Well yea, but I figured that would be the best place to start. When did high school programs start competing, the 40s or so?

[RMC]

What type of buildings are The Wrestling Center and Th.e Wrestling Academy? Were they built expressly for wrestling or converted existing buildings?

 

reftn

 

The Wrestling Center is in Smyrna near Marietta and is in a converted warehouse. The Wrestling Academy is in a building that was already a multisport facility.

 

Here are links to both places:

 

http://www.thewrestlingcenter.com/

 

http://www.thesportsacademyofsnellville.com/Title%20Page.htm

[Sommers]

Well yea, but I figured that would be the best place to start. When did high school programs start competing, the 40s or so?

Early 60's in Chattanooga. Jim Morgan actually coached Jr. High at Red Bank back in those days before he hit the big time. He began a tradition for the Lions that may still be there to some extent.

 

Tradition helpd so much as it drives desire.

[best_of_the_west]

Early 60's in Chattanooga. Jim Morgan actually coached Jr. High at Red Bank back in those days before he hit the big time. He began a tradition for the Lions that may still be there to some extent.

 

Tradition helpd so much as it drives desire.

 

Doesn't the McCallie program date back to like the early 50s or so?

[reftn]

I thought Luther Killian won a national or southern prep championship in the 50's for McCallie.

 

Someone correct me.

 

reftn

[reftn]

Best if you want the real poop on this history...

 

Back in the day, some guy came down from Illinois and challenged Clint Abbott in east tennessee. Clint whupped him. Must have whupped him pretty bad.

 

This guy went back to Illinois, got peeved about it, got elected president and started a stinkin war over it.

 

They thought it was a slavery issue or some such thing.

 

And thats.....the rest of the story.

 

reftn

[best_of_the_west]

Best if you want the real poop on this history...

 

Back in the day, some guy came down from Illinois and challenged Clint Abbott in east tennessee. Clint whupped him. Must have whupped him pretty bad.

 

This guy went back to Illinois, got peeved about it, got elected president and started a stinkin war over it.

 

They thought it was a slavery issue or some such thing.

 

And thats.....the rest of the story.

 

reftn

 

 

Haha, I knew that was Mr. Abbott's fault in some way. I actually found out that Abe Lincoln was one of the first "freestyle" wrestlers. Before his generation, everyone wrestled British-style, which was very formal. Sometime around Lincoln's generation, they decided to loosen up the rules...just a little tid bit of information for y'all.

[bgrgp]

I'm not sure what the "broad sociological foundations" might be, but there are certainly a lot of areas up North and in the Midwest, Great Plains and all the way out to California that don't have the Scots Irish influence.

 

But there is one common factor that always seems to be at the heart of an area getting started and then staying tough - that's the development of a great (not good, but Great) feeder program that gets a school or two up and going, then helps them stay up for a while and then just keeps on pouring in new experienced freshman kids each year. As the success builds, then the younger kids look up at the high school success and want to be a part of that.

 

Somebody needs to ask Alan Morris what it was that got him to keep going with the feeder program he ran in Cleveland for 18 years. He certainly pumped a lot of future state champs into the Bradley program.

 

I remember taking a USA Wrestling coaching certification class from Al Miller at Cleveland about 8 years ago. The first question he asked was "What's the most important factor that contributes to a successful high school wrestling program?"

 

The answer was "A successful youth wrestling feeder program".

 

So, if anyone wants to know how to build an area, it's simple - just go out and recruit several former wrestlers who are willing to put in years to build the feeder program, give those kids to a qualified, passionate high school coach and see what happens.

 

 

Not only does it take feeder programs, but also tough competition. The Cleveland area is involved in USA and FCI wrestling, so is Nashville, but Knoxville is stuck on AAU. Why is Knoxville/Upper East Tenn. not involved in these? Knoxville used to wrestle FCI what happened? Knoxville also used to have USA wrestling events, what happened to those as well?

[delaWarr]

Aside from the obvious later start and the struggle to catch up on knowledge, savvy, and just a simple understanding of what the sport was about on the part of the Mid-State, the Mid-State wrestling minds of the early '70s determined that the greatest advantage that Chattanooga had over the rest of us was the presence of the UTC program. The program gave the Chattanooga community a central rallying point, to which the community responded with enthusiasm. Their organizational efforts went beyond the high-profile success at UTC and brought in world class international competition. The Southern Open brought in some of the best college wrestlers and best wrestling minds in he country. Through their own efforts, Chattanooga became a very proud wrestling community, and justly so.

 

To recognize that the Chattanooga community gave scholastic wrestling its jump start, to be grateful for their organizational commitment that carried the visability of the sport to a level that the rest of the state has never come close to equaling historically, to respect and honor them for their impressive scholastic successes...all in order and well deserved.

 

But, to accept some assignment of inferiority on the mat for the rest of us? Not hardly. Not again in this lifetime. Not since the late '60s when an expanding Mid-State was beginning to measure up, followed by the rest of the state.

[texas23]

Aside from the obvious later start and the struggle to catch up on knowledge, savvy, and just a simple understanding of what the sport was about on the part of the Mid-State, the Mid-State wrestling minds of the early '70s determined that the greatest advantage that Chattanooga had over the rest of us was the presence of the UTC program. The program gave the Chattanooga community a central rallying point, to which the community responded with enthusiasm. Their organizational efforts went beyond the high-profile success at UTC and brought in world class international competition. The Southern Open brought in some of the best college wrestlers and best wrestling minds in he country. Through their own efforts, Chattanooga became a very proud wrestling community, and justly so.

 

To recognize that the Chattanooga community gave scholastic wrestling its jump start, to be grateful for their organizational commitment that carried the visability of the sport to a level that the rest of the state has never come close to equaling historically, to respect and honor them for their impressive scholastic successes...all in order and well deserved.

 

But, to accept some assignment of inferiority on the mat for the rest of us? Not hardly. Not again in this lifetime. Not since the late '60s when an expanding Mid-State was beginning to measure up, followed by the rest of the state.

 

 

Great post delaWarr.

 

I do remember making the trip to the UTC campus to watch the Mocs wrestle at a high level. At that time, the team I was on was looking up at every other team in the Chattanooga area. The Mocs did not make our team any better, but we really enjoyed watching Turner Jakson, Randy Batten and those like them get it on with some really big name schools and take it to them.

 

On the inferiority on the mat comment. If takedown's numbers are correct (he/she began this thread), then the numbers seem to lean very south and east. While it may not be acceptable to acknowledge this in middle Tennessee, the numbers are the numbers. Even when you look at the most recent past, and take a good sample of years, it still seems to lean to the south and east. IMHO>.