William & Mary had their first and only ever All-Star participant in 1975, when Mark Belknap a two-time All-American at 134 pounds defeated Jim Miller of Northern Iowa. Twenty years later in 1995 the William & Mary program was dropped. Another athlete who saw his share of hardship was Rob Larmore who started his career off at Tennessee, who dropped the program his freshman year when he then transferred to William & Mary and in 1990 he also earned All-American status.
This year they are pledging their support to help other Universities like California State Fullerton keep the dream alive and allow young athletes to keep competing well into the future.
"Wrestling at William & Mary was a very big part of our lives during some of our most important formative years as young men. Wrestling taught us lessons and values that have served us very well throughout our adult lives. "The words that would come to one's mind if one was to read the resumes of our group can be described as a basket of superlatives," said Kirk Hankla. "We think that the dropping of university wrestling programs across the country is wrong and short sighted. Of all the sports, we believe that none provides the sense of pride and work ethic that derives from participation in the sport of wrestling."
This particular group of wrestling alumni is working to preserve the sport that was near and dear to them in college. They have created The Society for the Preservation of Traditional Sport (SPOTS), a 501c3 non-profit organization that will focus specifically on wrestling and other "Olympic" style sports that are in the same situation. The NWCA All-Star Classic is a way to help launch awareness of SPOTS to the public and allow others to join forces in preserving the sports that have helped to change the lives of many. To learn more about this organization go to www.thespots.org.
From past experiences Hankla knows the feeling of seeing his college program dropped, "It is much harder to start or re-start a wrestling program than to save one that is still in existence. When wrestling was dropped at William & Mary, a knife of sorts was driven in to the cores of our souls; it twists each time another wrestling program is dropped. Given what wrestling has meant to us, we have resolved that we will do what we can to see that the mistake which was perpetrated by the College of William & Mary is not repeated again and again. We hope that you will join us, a group of former collegiate wrestlers that attended a university on the other side of the country, to save wrestling at Cal State Fullerton."
The 44th Annual NWCA All-Star Classic will take place on Sunday, November 22, 2009, at 2 p.m. on the campus of California State Fullerton in Titan Gym. Tickets can be purchased through TicketLeap: http://savefullertonwrestling.ticketleap.com.
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