Kansas Wrestling
Fun post as the season gets started. Who was the first coach at the different Kansas high schools. Started the program. I am sure there are some legends/pioneers in this category.
 Originally Posted By: wrestler1986
Fun post as the season gets started. Who was the first coach at the different Kansas high schools. Started the program. I am sure there are some legends/pioneers in this category.

Depends on your definition of "legends/pioneers". My guess is that most if not all of the programs were started by coaches who had nothing better to do or who were strong-armed into it. They likely had no wrestling experience and were closet ******ball fans. The good or great wrestling coaches probably came somewhere down the line once the programs were established and the fans demanded qualified coaches.
Arkansas City - Bunt Speer (Quality and First)
Sport0,

Given your age I would think you would be the leading authority on this topic. \:\)
Junction City- legendary Ben Bennett
Jim Beltch Lawrence high... but back then there was no freestate
DARRELL SCHMEIDLER--Lincoln High School
(1976-2005)
*34 State Placers
*8 State Finalists
*4 State Champions
Coach Gary Ulmer - Olathe (North) HS (1970-2003)
41 State placers:
10 State Champions
5 Runner-up State Champions
9 Third Placers
10 Fourth Placers
2 Fifth Placers
5 Sixth Placers
1 Girl's Third Placer
And 33 beyond placing:
2 at National Tournament
4 National All-Americans
2 KS 6A Wrestler of the Year
6 All-Metro All Star Selections
4 East-West Classic All-Stars
15 KS All Academic Team
John Dickerson, Garden City
Archie Vernon, Oakley
Concordia-Larry Hartshorn (1966-1974) Some people may not know this so I will put it on this post. He passed away this fall.
In addition to what Brock entered, Larry was the first coach and also playing a part was Herschel Betts, the legendary football and track coach at Concordia. Herschel was originally from Oberlin and wanted to start the sport here. He later went back to Oberlin to become an administrator. In the 80's we attended the Oberlin tournament and won it several times. Herschel came up to me and said, "If I knew you guys were going to come out here and kick our butts, I would have never helped start the program." Of course, he was chuckling as he said it. With Larry's passing we lost a great man.

Doug Moore
Bob Williams who wrestled for OSU on Ed Gallagher's last team in 1939 took 3rd at 174+/- pounds behind Henry Wittenburg, and a 2xx champ from Indiana whose name I don't remember. Started the wrestling program at Campus High when it opened in the fall of 1960, which was my sophomore year.

He had coached at Hoxie for 20 years, and despite having teams finish as high as 3rd, never could beat St. Francis in a dual meet. He told us that St. Francis would run two varsity teams during the regular season, one team might be wrestling in Colorado, while the other would be wrestling in Kansas. They wrestled off to see who got to be in the Northwest Kansas League Tournament, and Northwest District Tournament. St. Francis won state 5 years in a row in the 1950s,when there was only one class.

Douglass won the first state tournament in 1930, and 30 years later under Darrell Hill won it again, with everybody, but the heavyweight qualfying for state.

I think Ken Spicer started the program at Wichita South. Dee Gard started Wichita Heights.

What you don't see today that you saw then, was the head coaches of schools officiating dual meets and tournaments. We'd usually have Ken Spicer to referee our dual meets at Campus. Bob Williams would regularly go to Oklahoma to referee tournaments. With very few exceptions they were also very good referees, because they really understood the sport.

I don't know how many schools were in the first few state tournaments. I do know at one time all of the Wichita schools which were comprised of East and North were in the Ark Valley League along with Hutchinson, Newton, El Dorado, Winfield, and Wellington. Ark City started wrestling in 1960 as did Campus. Campus got into the Ark Valley League my senior year, but we usually wrestled everybody but Hutchinson in the dual meet season.

I'm amazed at how strong the northeast part of the state has gotten. When I was in high school if you could get out of the southeast district, which was held at Douglass, it included West, South, and North, and Heights, plus all of the Ark Valley schools, except Hutch,you figured you would make it to state. The next weekend Campus would generally hold the east regional. East, Southeast, Emporia, and Topeka Highland would come it with 9-11 kids per team qualifying out of the northeast district. Each school would be lucky to get 2-3 qualifiers for state.

I remember that if you lost in the district, the opponent you lost to had to make the finals. I lost in the quarters to Mike Davis from Wichita South, who then lost to Garwin McDaniel (sp) from Douglass in the semifinals. The Southeast district at 165 had the 1,3, and 4th placers at the state tournament.

I've lived in Arizona since 1978, but will be back to visit next in two weeks,prior to going to the Oklahoma Open, and the OU/OSU game. Even though I've been gone a long time, I'm very pround of how my home state of Kansas is doing in producing quality high school wrestlers.
Posted By: MES Re: Who started/1st coach the wrestling program. - 11/19/07 12:23 AM
Sabetha's wrestling started in 69-70 with Steve Schroeder coaching.
Other Coaches along the way
Gary Brownlee
Mike Butler
Scot Hill
Randy McFall
Keith Hall
Mike Streit
Bill Ross
Kevin Huck
and our present Coaching Guru JASON BROWN

Sorry Mike and Keith just over looked you. Not sure how I could overlook Mike Butler as I used to come back and visit while at Peru State. Sometimes for practice and sometimes for evening outings!
Don't forget Mike Butler and Keith Hall
Some of the guys listed here didnt start the programs they are listed for but that doesnt matter they were all great at it. One guy that shouldnt be forgotten is Delbert Erickson at Newton. I wrestled against his kids and coached against him later on and had the pleasure of calling him my friend. I never saw anyone in my career that got more out of more kids than he could. He won several state championships at Newton and did it by placing kids that I never thought could place but they did. Delbert had a lot of great ones but he had a lot of average kids that he got a lot more out of than they thought they had in themselves. He was a quiet guy that sort of quietly faded away but boy I sure remember him for the great coach that he was.
Marvin Bell started the programs at Santa Fe Trail and Baldwin. He was SFTs old shop teacher, he was then followed by Gary Blosser, Merrick Wiles and Reagan Erickson.
I was not even aware that wrestling existed in Concordia before the arrival of the DOUG MOORE, but thank you for the history lesson and sorry for your program's loss.
Posted By: MES Re: Who started/1st coach the wrestling program. - 11/23/07 02:43 AM
Thanks for the reminder. Sorry Keith and Mike I updated my post
Mike
Liberal sits just barely in Kansas but has a storied sports history sending a handful of athletes to the NFL and NBA. They have won state in football, basketball, and track (including a remarkable string of 14 consectutive, I believe). Unfortunately they have never placed higher than 3rd in a state wrestling tournament. Here is a brief synopsis of their wrestling program.

Wrestling started in 1955 under coach Gerald Sadowsky (Ed Scott was on this first team.) Sadowsky was at the helm for three seasons before Coach Hoxie Freeman took over for two years. (Fred Scott was on these teams.) Wrestler Charles Zimmerman placed 4th in 1957 becoming Liberal's first medalist. (At this time there was only ONE state tournament.) The legendary Rocky Welton then took over and ran the program until 1964. In '64 Don Scott placed 4th at the state tournament. In 1965 Coach Ted Snyder took over (he was Stan Abel's high school coach) and Don Scott placed 2nd at the state tournament. Snyder's connection help Scott obtain a scholarship to wrestle for the University of Oklahoma. Snyder left after the '65 season and Fred Scott (former Redskin wrestler and teammate of Jim Beltch's at Ft. Hays) returned to his home town to run the program. In 1966 Tom Scott won Liberal's first state championship for his brother Fred. JD Armstrong took home a gold at this tournament as well. (this was the first year the small and big schools were split into seperate tournaments.) Coach Fred Scott left the program in the early 70's when John Kendall took over (Coach Kendall led Liberal to back-to-back state championship football games in 79 and 80, winning it all in '80.) Kendall coached until after the 77 season when Rob Fairchild took over for one season. In '79, Don Scott took the head coaching position. He coached through the '85 season when he left to attend law school. (He is now the Seward County Attorney.) In '81 David Tawater finished 2nd in the 5A state tournament and he is currently a Bishop Carroll assistant coach. Coach Rob Ross was named head coach and held this position until Tom Scott returned and took the head coaching position which he held until departing for Texas opening the head coaching position to Mike Pewthers who is still there today.
Rocky told me a hilarious story years ago about his first match at Liberal. New uniforms had been ordered; they were to be red leggings with black "swim trunks." The trunks came in but not the leggings. Rocky bought a bunch of long underwear and his wife dyed them red--they came out mostly pink--and that is what his team wore for that first dual meet!
I think Mrs. Scott should be in the Kansas wrestling hall of fame for producing four boys that were true pioneers and ambassadors of Kansas wrestling. All four wrestled, two placed at state, three wrestled in college and three returned to coach high school.
Would like to hear more about some of the coaches who got programs started around the state.
Mike actually resigned at Liberal last spring and has been replaced by an assistant. I'm not sure who they hired.
Jim Williams started wrestling @ Anthony High School in 1966. In 1970 the school became Chaparral. He was also my wrestling coach.
Jim explains that he had a study hall with all boys in it around 1965. Most of them were "country boys", one day one of the kids asked why we didn't have a wrestling team? So, Jim told all the boys to go to the library or where ever they could to find out more about wrestling and they would make it a class project. Most were not out for a sport after school as they did chores. So, during class time after they came up with the general idea of how to, they "practiced" in the gym during classtime using the old cottony type of wall mats behind the basketball goals. Well all the boys took to it and kinda liked the rough play, so he later went to the school board and told of the experiance and they went for it, as the Superintendant at the time "knew of no other activity that teaches a student so much about life".
He talked his brother Bill into coaching the Harper kids a year later, as we were the same school district back then also.
Jim Coached through 1980 season when he became the Principal @ Harper grade school.
During his tenure he produced 1 State Champion and 10 state medalists.
Long time Andale Coach and Official: Bill Scheffler told me stories of when he coached in the old Anthony Municipal Hall were some of the wildest experiances of his career.
Charles Gowdy started the Emporia High Wrestling program in 1955 with Assistant Coach Pat Sands. Their first official year of wrestling was in 1957. Coach Sands took over in 1968 until he retired in 1990 after winning 6 state championships. Coach Paul Dorathy took over after Coach Sands. Coach Dorathy is now the Superintendent of Schools in Baldwin City. Hall of Famer Curtis Simons took the helm after the 1993 school year and coached until the end of the 2004 season, winning 3 team titles. Greg Buckbee led the Spartans from 2005 to 2009 and won a team title in 2009. I would guess that he is on a very short list of coaches to win state titles at 2 different schools? I think that is very impressive. Dennis Charbonneau took over after Coach Buckbee in time for the 2010 season is currently the head coach. Charb is also on the list of coaches to win state titles at two different schools. I am REALLY biased but, I think Emporia has a pretty impressive history with several legends and a couple more that will be legends. All told, 11 team titles, 48 individual champions and more Centennial League titles than I have fingers and toes. Ryan Karjala, a long time assistant maintains a very impressive website that has much of this information on it. http://www.usd253.org/ehswrest/wrestle.htm
Also, there is an incredible Facebook page dedicated to the history of Emporia Wrestling. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Emporia-Kansas-Wrestling/131967940195701
Doug Moore continues to be an integral part of Concordia wrestling 30 + years later. However, in between Larry Hartshorn and Doug Moore was another great coach in Keith Sherwood. Coach Sherwood was an amazing motivator and one of toughest people I've ever been around. He served as Coach Moore's assistant for many years before becoming an administrator.

Kevin Brown
Originally Posted By: J. Sauder
Charles Gowdy started the Emporia High Wrestling program in 1955 with Assistant Coach Pat Sands. Their first official year of wrestling was in 1957. Coach Sands took over in 1968 until he retired in 1990 after winning 6 state championships. Coach Paul Dorathy took over after Coach Sands. Coach Dorathy is now the Superintendent of Schools in Baldwin City. Hall of Famer Curtis Simons took the helm after the 1993 school year and coached until the end of the 2004 season, winning 3 team titles. Greg Buckbee led the Spartans from 2005 to 2009 and won a team title in 2009. I would guess that he is on a very short list of coaches to win state titles at 2 different schools? I think that is very impressive. Dennis Charbonneau took over after Coach Buckbee in time for the 2010 season is currently the head coach. Charb is also on the list of coaches to win state titles at two different schools. I am REALLY biased but, I think Emporia has a pretty impressive history with several legends and a couple more that will be legends. All told, 11 team titles, 48 individual champions and more Centennial League titles than I have fingers and toes. Ryan Karjala, a long time assistant maintains a very impressive website that has much of this information on it. http://www.usd253.org/ehswrest/wrestle.htm
Also, there is an incredible Facebook page dedicated to the history of Emporia Wrestling. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Emporia-Kansas-Wrestling/131967940195701


I am not sure I would be promoting the Pat Sands era. smile Just saying...
Originally Posted By: Cokeley

I am not sure I would be promoting the Pat Sands era. smile Just saying...

Ouch!
Does starting a program in a new school qualify for this discussion? If so, Wichita Heights opened in school year 1961-62, suffered through a "Death Penalty" from the KSHSAA in 1964 and won the first of their State Championships in 1968. The Falcons won 10 GWAL titles from 1964-1974 and their second State Championship in 1968 while finishing in the top 5 at the state tournament each of those years.
Originally Posted By: Ex Heights Coach
Does starting a program in a new school qualify for this discussion? If so, Wichita Heights opened in school year 1961-62, suffered through a "Death Penalty" from the KSHSAA in 1964 and won the first of their State Championships in 1968. The Falcons won 10 GWAL titles from 1964-1974 and their second State Championship in 1968 while finishing in the top 5 at the state tournament each of those years.


WOW! The KSHSAA Death Penalty?? What happened there? That sounds like a great story. Must be better than the KMC ordeal in the mid 80's.
1965: Turner started its program under Coach Gerald Haney...in just three years he produced a state champ and three state placers.

Sierant
Turner
Coach Travis Keal 1st and only head coach at Mill Valley Est. 2000
Fred Scott has personally confirmed the "Long John" story to me Mr. Mann.

Troy Reitcheck
For all of those interested, the following link has the history of coaches and team results for Seaman High School...

http://www.usd345.com/education/page/dow...ondetailid=4558
Troy, Rock had no reason to tell a whopper like that! smile
Barry, I am pretty sure the Seaman wrestling team of 2005-2006 finished 11th at the State tournament, not 20th.
Troy, it appears you are correct. According to KSHSAA, it was 11th place team finish in '06.
It was Emporia's way to combat the advantage of the private schools... wink
I believe if you get down to who started wrestling in Kansas, Tom Faust's name needs to be brought up in most of the comments! That man started up and drove wrestling to where its at today in the state of Kansas. We all owe a lot to that man!
I'm curious about Scott City, any info out there?
Originally Posted By: Salt
I'm curious about Scott City, any info out there?


Grant Glad?
Marvin Bell was the first coach at Baldwin High School, 1970.

Also, legendary Columbus coach Ken Jones coached at Baldwin HS as an asst with Bell, then a head coach for a couple yrs, before he moved on to Columbus. Jones was a Baker University graduate so remained in Baldwin City for his initial professional years as teacher/coach.
Peter J. Mehringer, the Olympic Gold Medalist, and Hall of Famer started Kinsley's program (1926) and was it's first head coach while he was a sophomore in High School. There are some who say, and no one can really prove it, that he started the first high school wrestling program in the state of Kansas that year. He got interested in it because, while in junior high, he read “Frank Gotch and Farmer Burns School of Wrestling and Physical Culture". There was no program at that time in Kinsley so he, with the blessings of the school, started one. Later, while wrestling for KU, he won the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics at 191 lbs. Too bad these two schools, with that foundational history behind them, dropped their respective programs. I am disappointed with that, but he deserves a place in this conversation because of his historic legacy to wrestling in this nation.

While a young wrestler, wrestling for Kinsley at the time. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Mehringer. I was young and didn't understand his importance. Looking back, I wish I had taken the time to ask him about his life. He led a full one and a fascinating one.
That is a great story, awesome history right there.
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