Article from January 08, 2007
By Ward Gossett
Assistant Sports Editor
Chattanooga Times Free Press
This past Saturday was a good day for wrestling, specifically the Central Invitational.
The area’s oldest continuing invitational tournament — 38 years and counting — enjoyed a rejuvenation, and its 18-team field was the toughest it had enjoyed in years.
It was long — the last match wound up with an 11 p.m. start time — and admission prices were high ($12 for adults and $8 for students), but the gym was packed from start to finish, probably because state powers Baylor and Soddy-Daisy were in the field after long absences along with Notre Dame, up-and-coming Sonoraville and traditional Georgia powers Brookwood and Ringgold.
Despite the pleasure of seeing numerous rough-and-tumble matches, I left with a sour taste in my mouth because of a couple of distasteful incidents.
A wrestler from out of town was disqualified for punching a competitor — embarrassing himself, his coach and teammates and the sport in general. It obviously isn’t the picture supporters of and competitors in the sport want to see. That youngster, believe me, faced a stiff follow-up practice and some sort of punishment that may carry through the week.
That wasn’t the worst, however.
A wrestler for one of this town’s most respected programs and his father verbally abused a tournament worker, using foul language to make their point. They continued the abuse with another tournament official, griping because of a rule that limits wrestlers to five matches in a single day.
They were angered because the wrestler had reached his limit and couldn’t wrestle for third place.
The kid made a couple of disparaging remarks about the individual running the tournament, and he and his dad were told again what the rules were before they finally left the head table.
But the youngster wasn’t through. He accepted his fourth-place medal but then came back to the table at tournament’s end and told workers that he didn’t want the medal and they could keep it.
It was an offensive display by a kid who obviously has always had his way, and I hope the youngster learns that lesson in the practice room this week.
His coaches were both appalled and angered because that type of behavior has never been part of their program. They teach that whether one wins or loses, he must conduct himself as a gentleman with the all the sportsmanship trappings.
It is a philosophy that was instilled long ago, not just at this particular school but throughout the sport. There’s no room for a lack of respect in any sport, but it has been hammered home in wrestling as long as I have covered the sport and dating back to the days of the intense rivalries that existed among Baylor, McCallie, Central, East Ridge, Notre Dame and Red Bank.
Wrestling is a physical and sometimes brutal sport because of its physical demands, but it is also a tool that teaches both character and discipline. I hope we never lose sight of those designs, and I hope those who can’t learn them find themselves on the sidelines, in the bleachers or out cutting somebody’s grass. There is no place for athletes like that in wrestling.
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