Happy Pappy

That was a fine article Josh and cudos to you for taking the time to write it. I have not posted on this board in a long, long time but I couldn't let this one go without throwing in my two cents worth, so bear with me: I have known Gary and his family for a long time and consider him and them the dearest of friends. This friendship developed after having two sons wrestle for him and becoming deeply involved as a parent (and supporter) of the program. As a "former" parent, I have had a lot of time to reflect on what all took place during and after my kid's careers were over and I have graciously concluded that, while at the time, wrestling was a huge priority in our lives, it just really doesn't seem all that important now. Yeah, I occasionally think back on past triumphs and champioships and so forth but mostly I think about all the fun we had that wasn't necessarily directly related to "wrestling matches". Some of my fondest non-wrestling memories are: Slink's cussing and resulting push-ups, rafting the New River, Cedar Point x2, Rafting the South Fork, Red River Gorge, Catskill Mountains, The Arch and Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Allegheny Mountains, Niagra Falls (in March no less....BRRR!!!!!), Spider Man act in Georgia, Disney World in Florida (I hate that place), Valdosta GA and meeting Hal Mummy's former secretary (her talking 'bout what a great guy he was, give me a break!), Yount making us laugh so hard on road trips, charter buses, THE HAUNTED BARN, The Oaks and Derby...Whohooooo!!!, Perez and g.f. slipping away from Mater Dei (Gosh, I've never seen Canter that mad), banquets, the S.P. laugh, 99, 01 and your's truly 07, actually getting to know Frankie Edgar pre UFC, everything Brience ever said or did, Albany, Cleveland, Buffalo, Clarion, Boone, Atlanta, Orlando,Nashville, St. Louis, Detroit or most cities I would never have visited without a reason to go, which Gary provided. I do have some "wrestling" memories as well: State Tournament (God we should have had that thing in the bag in "07), State Duals the first in 99 and especially back to back in '06 & '07, Brience puking on the Woodford kid's back at State, our kid's singing the school fight song after winning in Georgia and watching all of those people stare at them, Shipp turning from an uncoordinated goofball into a somewhat average athelete, the rivalry with Woodford...man that was awesome while it lasted....The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, what sport is and it's how you handle both that proves your character (mine not so good). So Gary, thanks for bringing wrestling to LCHS and developing the program into a power and also for allowing us to be a small part of it, we're going to miss you in that regard. I know you well enough to say that it is time to step aside and enjoy your life, climb a rock, hike a trail, raft a river and anything else you want to do. For me personally, just want to say thanks for...taking me places I never would have gone, showing me things I never would have seen (especially at Oaks and Derby), and letting me hear things I didn't need to hear, like your corny jokes that you just can't seem to forget...and Slink's profanity which has scarred me for life.

Thanks Teresa, That was some of my idea early on, but David Dawson (A.D.) and Canter took it over and pulled it off very nicely. My thinking was since the paper was there as well as HCEC TV, why not try to give this sport a little publicity by taking the finals up "another notch"!. The crowd was good and they provided a good noise level I thought. I can't wait to see how it turns out on television. Special thanks to Steve Webb for announcing, another great job by him, unfortuanately, he won't be able to make the state tournament this year. I hope all of the wrestlers enjoyed the tournament and especially those involved in the finals. Maybe our job of hosting the tournament will set a standard for the next host(s) to spice things up a bit. I have been president of the best booster club in the state for the last several years and I have to commend my boosters for always being there for the kids and putting in the toime and energy to make things happen. Good luck to everyone at Frankfort this week and I pray everyone stays healthy during the tournament.

We'll be fine with just two mats. I think the finals are scheduled to be wrestled at 6:00 and we should make that with ease. Besides, this should be for the fans to enjoy wrestling and two mats will give them a much better chance to really watch the matches.

The music and announcements at the state tournament are provided by David Dawson (AD and teacher) and Steve Webb (teacher) at Larue County High School. They do a fantastic job (I'll put them up against any announcers anywhere) at both and I'll see if I can get a list of the songs played last year if available. Give those two some props this year if you get a chance, since they do that job voluntarily.

Biggest suprise this year, without a doubt was LaRue County. They did not have their starting 145, the 171 was a replacement from the original starter and had only a few matches at that weight, the 119 had only been back a week and a half, the 189 weighs about 165, Darwin Perez stepping up big in big matches. Heck, even the all knowing and all seeing wizardry of Ranger 123 could give them no better than fifth and I personally think that was generous. I could go on and on, but for us to beat the full lineup for Woodford, Dunbar, Seneca (minus their 160), Wayne and Harrison was just crazy. I give all respect to Dunbar, Seneca, Trinity, North Hardin and Woodford because, on paper, they (as were most of the teams on Saturday) just better than LaRue, of course paper's just good for two things....writing on and wiping your you know what with! :-D

Perhaps the way to do the state duals is just to take the top team from each region and comprise a blind draw eight team bracket. I haven't put this together on paper, but you could perhaps even make it double elimination. If the five match rule came into play then just start on Friday night and finish up on Saturday. When you have a situation like they did in Region 5 this year, then set up a criteria method for determining who the actual number 1 team is (number of pins, number of takedowns...etc.. versus common opponents...etc...). It seems to me the problem this year stems mostly from Woodfords spot in the tournament and the lack of Fern Creek being there. Woodford was not the #1 team out of their region (Dunbar was and made it to the finals) and Fern Creek may not have been the number 1 out of their region, but everything I've gathered on them is based on the loss to North Oldham only. The negative side of this of course is you reduce your crowd size by maybe half. Using this method for this year then the teams should have been: Union - Region 1 Larue - Region 2 PRP - Region 3 (had Bullitt Central still opted out) Seneca - Region 4 (this is my guess only, I get confused about the standings in Louisville) South Oldham, Fern Creek, North Oldham - Region 5 (the above mentioned tie breaker criteria) Campbell, Ryle or Simon Kention - Region 6 (I'm still not sure who won NKAC which I think determined their number 1 team) Paul Dunbar - Region 7 (no question here) Wayne - Region 8 (my assumption only) Now if we did do this for this year, and assuming my picks are right, then your third and fifth place finishers are not even in the tournament.

I just wanted to congratulate Larue for winning the duals Saturday. This team has overcome so much this year i.e. injuries, sickness, wrestlers quitting etc.. and to step it up on Saturday was something to behold. I'll admit that I did not give us any chance at all of pulling this one off, but the kids stepped up big time and did what they had to do to win. Coach Canter's utilization of weight bumping strategy paid off in some of the matches as well. For a little old country school with around 800 students, we seem to be able to compete year in and year out with the bigger schools. A direct result of coaching and dedication by our kids. Props go out to Eric Hupp (senior but just now getting in the varsity line up due to Smith being out) fighting off the pin attempts by Courtney while scoring a couple of big pins. Matt Miller bumping up in the finals and fending off the pin attempt by Quigley. Drew Newberry (middle school)for even taking the mat against Starks. Justin Underwood (165# 189 wrestler) getting big pins when needed. Patrick Banks for just taking care of business as usual (4 pins and one forfeit). Scott Wheeler for almost the same as Banks. Embree and Shipp for doing their jobs (especially in the finals). Darwin Perez for securing two big team victories on the day...Viva Mexico! (actually Darwin was born in the states). And to all of the guys who participated especially all of the middle schoolers who weighed in to give us a full line up. Back to back duals titles is a first here and its just really amazing considering the circumstances!

Woodford was in the same pool with LaRue, Wayne and Harriosn, if you lost in your poll (which they did to LaRue) then I think the best you can place is maybe fifth. Although all of the pools were tough, that was perhaps the toughest pool of all. Woodford went on to beat South Oldham and then lost to Trinity in the fifth place match.

I've just ran the numbers on each weight class for the State Duals and while these obviously do not reflect actual matchups that may occur on Saturday, they do reflect what may be the tougher weight classes to watch for certain matchups in. I am basing these on Ranger's 1-24-07 rankings and no, I have not listed names, schools, etc...'cause I just don't have the time. You can take a look at those on your own or some ambitious soul can put them on here. 103: 1,2,3,5,6,8,9,11,14,19,24 112: 1,2,5,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,20 119: 1,2,3,4,5,9,11,12,15,19,20,21,24 125: 1,2,3,4,7,8,10,12,15,16,17,23 130: 1,2,4,9,13,16,21,24 135: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,13,17,19,21,22 140: 1,2,3,5,7,9,10,11,14,15,18,22 145: 1,3,5,7,9,11,12,20,23,24 152: 2,3,4,6,7,10,12,13,14,19 160: 1,2,3,4,5,9,13,17,18,22,23 171: 1,3,4,7,8,9,14,19,23,24 189: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,15,16,24 215: 2,3,5,6,7,9,10,11,13,16 285: 1,3,4,6,7,11,12,18,23 Looks like all of the weight classes will present some posible good matchups Saturday with 103-125 presenting some of the better possible bouts, look for those. Also keep your eyes on coaches shifting wrestlers around to present better matchups for team scores. Should be a lot of fun!

This stuff is really bad guys and from everything I hear, it's breaking out in wrestling this year! If you suspicion anything at all, see a doctor and for God's sake, don't spread it around. Your teamates and opponents do not deserve to be victims of your neglect, because the health risks are just too great. This stuff can lead to death. Check out this link and get informed quickly: http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Health+Department/Top+News/MRSA.htm

Thanks #1 (I don't know how I could have left Seneca off since they are usually there, Pappy's gettin' a little addled in his senior years!). Thanks grap for clearing us up on Region 6 as well, never sure about their standings or how they arrive at them.

The four pools will not be selected until Saturday morning prior to the actual start. Theoretically, the top two teams out of each region comprise the four pools; however, you usually have some no-shows due to travel expenses...etc...The coaches meet and decide seedings, pools, etc....(might be a very interesting meeting, usually is!). If you assume standings for example: Region 1 - (will probably only have Union, if they decide to come), someone enlighten us. Region 2 - Larue #1, North Hardin #2 (both of these teams should place well here, but North should have the tougher pool) Region 3 - Sorry guys, I don't know whose represeting if anyone, perhaps Bullitt Central (just a guess) Region 4 - Help Region 5 - Help Region 6 - Help (In the past, sometimes more than two schools represent because of noshows by Region 1 and Region 3) Region 7 - Dunbar #1, Woodford #2 (and usually the host school Henry Clay) Region 8 - Wayne and either Johnson Central or Sheldon Clark or maybe McQ. Sorry to be so uninformed, but honestly I haven't kept up with the team standings in each region this year, but I figured if I posted this, we may get good information. My best estimate for a sixteen team duals would be: Union Larue North Hardin Trinity Fern Creek St. X South Oldham Simon Kenton Campbell Co. Ryle Dunbar Woodford Hanry Clay Wayne Johnson Central Sheldon Clark Not official, just a guess based on the past.

Where's the S.O. heavyweight from anyway. Usually last names that end with "vich" means "not native Kentuckian".

C'mon Ranger, let us boys have a little fun! OBTW, I need to PM you with some recent happenings, but I'll probably wait til tomorrow, need to get some shut-eye.

As I said, I'm not disrespecting anybody here, just trying to defend these other kids in the state who work just as hard and wrestle just as tough competition as the NK kids do. I haven't seen Cooper this year either (since I didn't go to the super duals). I know Wheeler choked him til he passed out and he came back and pinned Wheeler who was bad out of shape. As far as the NK kids this year, Golsby has never really beaten any "quality" opponents, has he? I'm real impressed by Thueneman this year but apparently he's either not good enough or lacks the savvy to beat Courtney (0-2 this year). I don't know for sure if Cooper left 145 to go to 152 because of Austin or not, I do believe the three in Region 6 at 145 last year klind of took turns beating each other and I figured he was not wanting to risk losing a #1 seed at state, that's all.