Old School TN Wrestling Rivalries & Stories

[EMICH]

I have been a coach in TN for the last 5 seasons but never wrestled in TN. When i wreslted in Ohio there was a team penalty point taken if you shook the opponents coaches hand after your individual match. It could be done in a tourny but not in a dual match. There is too much emotion directly after a match and I liked it that way. I think the teams should shake hands at the end of the match not after each individual match.

[gablefan]

I have been a coach in TN for the last 5 seasons but never wrestled in TN.  When i wreslted in Ohio there was a team penalty point taken if you shook the opponents coaches hand after your individual match.  It could be done in a tourny but not in a dual match.  There is too much emotion directly after a match and I liked it that way.  I think the teams should shake hands at the end of the match not after each individual match.

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I agree. What does a coach say "thanks for beating my kid" or "thanks for getting beat by my guy" ? If they shake hands after the dual, I see no point in doing it directly after the individual match. There is still respect in that right?

[mjgIII]

I like it becuase it shows respect for your opponents and their coach. Does anybody know who started it?

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I know it was around back in 73 in middle school wrestling. All the HVAC teams in Nashville did it. Don't know who started it. When I got to high school it was frowned upon but apparently eventually caught on. I remember after my first match in HS, just out of habbit, I went and shook the other coaches hand. I came back to the bench and my coach said "what do you think you're doing?" I explained and he said, "when you wrestle like that and get your a**

kicked, I don't expect you to thank the guy. Don't do it again." Personnally, I am not in favor of it during a dual in high school, but I am in favor of it in middle school. I think, at that level, that what the opposing coach says to the kid, especially if he lost, can mean a lot.

[SilentJohn]

I agree. What does a coach say "thanks for beating my kid" or "thanks for getting beat by my guy" ? If they shake hands after the dual, I see no point in doing it directly after the individual match. There is still respect in that right?

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"Good Match" or "Good Job"

[gablefan]

"Good Match"  or "Good Job"

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Is it better to say something and not mean it or to not say anything at all? Aagin if they shake at the end of the dual theres no need otherwise.

[SilentJohn]

Is it better to say something and not mean it or to not say anything at all? Again if they shake at the end of the dual theres no need otherwise.

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I see your point, but our coach tought us to win with humility and lose with class, so imo those words weren't just words. It's what was instilled in us from day one, just as it was instilled in him from his coaches before.

 

But honestly, this is one area where there is room for differing opinions amoung reasonable people, imo.

[coachmasters]

I believe that tradition will end after this season.

 

Now for the answer...GP West started it. He had an exchange student from another country who wrestled in his native land. When he came to GP's team he did it and explained that it was tradition where he came from. So GP started having his kids do it and there you go.

[CHS91]

Doug Newman from Hunters Lane.

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I have to say the memory of this just busted me up. I think that most people seriously worried that Coach Newman's head would explode, or that he would spontaneously combust -- such was the fervor of his instruction.

 

I enjoyed the original purpose of this thread, and wanted to bring it back on topic a bit with a few questions some of you might have an opinion on. Please excuse the rather long post!

 

1) Did the "great" wrestlers of TN high school in the 80s ever make any hay on the next level? I did not have the knowledge, and still don't really, to differentiate among the very best, but I remember a few people whose results were consistently impressive, e.g., Adrian Norfleet of Whites Creek. I realize that since I was in middle TN I rarely got a chance to see many of the best people. Another in my era who I certainly heard about (not just for wrestling reasons -- seem to recall he got in some kind of trouble one year) was David Vance of McCallie.

 

2) Not that these schools were by any means the cream of the crop, but from what I can tell, several of the Nashville public schools aren't nearly as competitive as they used to be: e.g., Hunters Lane, Whites Creek, McGavock, and Overton. Any systemic reason for this decline in Nashville, or just different at each school? I do realize that Coach West left Whites Creek after '89 or so; don't remember when Coach Newman retired from Hunters Lane.

 

2b) For those of you in northern middle TN, whatever happened to the programs across the border at Hopkinsville and Christian County? They were both very tough in late 80s/early 90s; having wrestled him, I recall in particular Willie "Pop" Ennels from Hoptown.

 

Thanks for any replies to these queries.

[CoachDelgado]

I have to say the memory of this just busted me up.  I think that most people seriously worried that Coach Newman's head would explode, or that he would spontaneously combust -- such was the fervor of his instruction.

 

I enjoyed the original purpose of this thread, and wanted to bring it back on topic a bit with a few questions some of you might have an opinion on.  Please excuse the rather long post!

 

1) Did the "great" wrestlers of TN high school in the 80s ever make any hay on the next level?  I did not have the knowledge, and still don't really, to differentiate among the very best, but I remember a few people whose results were consistently impressive, e.g., Adrian Norfleet of Whites Creek. 

Norfleet had an interesting career after high school wrestling. He was a backup dancer for MC Hammer.

[Hamm]

I do realize that Coach West left Whites Creek after '89 or so; don't remember when Coach Newman retired from Hunters Lane. 

 

 

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Coach Newman was actually my coach in high school and I owe him an awful lot!!! He actually stepped down from the head coaching job after my sophmore year in high school, which was around 1994-95...somewhere in there.

 

What a great guy! You don't see many guys as firey as he was!

Edited February 10, 2005 by Hamm

[legman]

As far as the "next level" question, Howard Langford who was an '85 State Champion at Cleveland HS was also an NCAA Division I All-American at UTC.

[bhs78]

Coach Newman was actually my coach in high school and I owe him an awful lot!!!  He actually stepped down from the head coaching job after my sophmore year in high school, which was around 1994-95...somewhere in there.

 

What a great guy!  You don't see many guys as firey as he was!

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I am 99% sure that Mike Newman asst coach at Mccallies evil blue empire is coach Newmans son. Mike is a great coach too.