Paul FeiteFeite, a senior at Northern York High School in Dillsburg, Pa., created a sensation of his own at the 2018 PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) state wrestling championships at Giant Center in Hershey in March, placing fourth in the 138-pound weight class despite having been born without a left hand as the result of amniotic band syndrome, a congenital birth defect that occurs in one in every 1,200 births.
Among those in the stands for the semifinals at the state tournament was Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson and other members of his coaching staff ... a fact that was noticed by Feite and his coach Josh Murray, who kidded each other that the Nittany Lions coaches must have been there to see him.
Feite received a standing ovation from the capacity crowd at Giant Center ... and not because of his ability to wrestle with just one hand, but because of his tough, physical wrestling style, and, to use a phrase from the Centre Daily Times, "relentless offense."
"I don't think there's anyone who can hold my pace," Feite told PennLive.com. "Once I can control my stuff in my wrestling, I think I'm going to excel. I want to slow things down a little bit in a good way and stay relentless on the attack."
It appears the Nittany Lions coaching staff at the state championships was just as impressed with Feite as the crowd was. Cody Sanderson contacted Paul Fiete's father, who alerted his son that he would be hearing directly from the assistant coach.
The younger Feite expressed his disbelief at the notion that a coach from Penn State would have asked his dad for his contact information.
"I was like, ‘Funny. That's funny,'" Paul Feite disclosed to PennLive.com. "I thought he was messing with me."
Cody Sanderson did reach Paul Feite directly and, according to PennLive.com, told him how much he liked his style, his relentlessness and the fact he was always the first wrestler back to the circle.
Penn State wasn't the only school to have seen Paul Feite in action ... and expressed an interest in recruiting him. In fact, the 2018 PIAA championships was, in the words of PennLive.com, "just the start of a fast-paced, hectic recruiting push where Feite heard from a number of high-profile wrestling programs."
"The whole process was just as stressful as actually wrestling," according to Feite.
Feite visited Penn State the weekend of April 20-21, and, according to PennLive.com, "knew right away that's where he wanted to be." However, he had also arranged a campus visit with West Virginia University, and, true to his word, visited the Morgantown campus this past weekend ... then made the call to Cody Sanderson Sunday night.
Penn State anticipates that Feite will wrestle at 141 or 149 pounds.
Feite won't have a scholarship right away, but that's a possibility in the future.
"It's pretty unreal," Feite said. "I didn't think I'd get most of these opportunities or any of these phone calls or emails. I only took fourth at states. I didn't really think that was good enough to get where I wanted to be, but sometimes things have a way of working out."
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now