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May 6th, 2001
Steves Earns National Wrestling Honors
Legendary Fort LeBoeuf coach Art Steves and seven
other area standouts received national recognition Saturday, April
28, with induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania
Chapter.
Steves, Tom Canavan, Ed Onorato, Tom Carr, Neil
Lineman, Jack Sinnott and the late David Clelland were awarded
Lifetime Achievement Awards. State Sen. Bob Robbins was recognized
as the Outstanding American from Pennsylvania. All eight individuals
will have permanent displays at the National Wrestling Hall of
Fame and Museum in Stillwater, OK.
"Hard work brought all the success for the kids and myself,
and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity," Steves said.
"It was fantastic because I was blessed with a bunch of young
people who didn't like to lose, number one, and, number two were
willing to take steps to prevent it. Whether they did it or not,
the effort is what counted and I was pleased to be associated
with it."
Steves guided the Bisons to 325 wins
from 1963-1989.
"Rich Deluca is the man who set the groundwork before me,"
Steves said. "Tradition has a lot to do with (success), There's
a lot of little kids running around in elementary school that
think they'd like to put on the Bison blue.
"So the thought has already been implanted. Now we know they
are nowhere near ready yet, but they aspire to do this. And that's
why these young high school kids that are the student athletes
have a job to be kind of a hero, an image, to set an example."
Steves, who coached 23 District 10 champions and three PIAA champions,
said there's a fine line between winning and losing.
"Some matches you'll win because you're lucky.
Once in a while there will be a call that will cause you to lose
and that's less than fortunate. Just take all of that and balance
it together,"Steves said. "Some of my most complimentary
remarks have been aimed at gentlemen who lost, but who did it
with dignity".
Sinnott pioneered the Iroquois program in 1964
and led the Braves to 150 wins during his 13 year tenure, Iroquois
won ECL titles in 1970 and 1972, and finished second in 1968 and
1973.
Onorato left Penn State Behrend for Cathedral Prep in 1978 before
retiring following the 2000 season. Under his watch, the Ramblers
sported 29 District 10 champions and three PIAA titlists.
Carr, who won PIAA titles in 1948 (103 lbs.) and 1951 (138 lbs.)
headed the Tech program from 1963-1990.
His teams won 169 matches with 29 individual District 10 champions
and five state titlists.
Lineman led Reynolds to 201 wins from 1961-1977. He coached 27
District champions and five state champions. Reynolds lost just
one match during his final 10 seasons.
Canavan has been Pennsylvania State Chairman for USA Wrestling
since 1972.
Clelland, who passed away in 1994, led Greenville to 171 wins
in 14 seasons. One of his top wrestlers
was Robbins, a PIAA champion in 1962 at 127 lbs.
"When people set goals and direct you in the right way, and
you set goals, then good things happen," Robbins said. "My
first coach (Clelland) felt strongly that you should go to college
and use wrestling as a vehicle to get you there. I believed him,
and that really started the whole thing."
Robbins wrestled at the United States Military Academy at West
Point before serving in Vietnam.
By Matt Wieczorek
Sports Editor-BTN
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Coach Graham Named
Coach of the Year!
Coach Luke Graham was recently named the
ECL Jr. High Coach of the
Year for the 2000-2001wrestling
season. His Jr. High team finished this season with a
15-2 dual meet record.
Congratulations to Coach Graham and his excellent assistants,
Tommy Kirdahy and Dan Harrison.
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Three McLane wrestlers compete
in AAU tournament
A trio of General McLane wrestlers trekked
to Pontiac, Michigan, near Detroit recently to compete
in the AAU Folkstyle National Championships held at the
Silverdome (home of the Detroit Lions).
John Heynoski, Travis Goss and Branden
Stearns all competed in the tournament, along with nearly
3000 other wrestlers.
While this was their first trip to the event, all three
vowed to return next year.
Heynoski soundly defeated opponents from Iowa and and
Michigan to reach the quarterfinals before losing. He
then dropped a very controversial 17-13 decision to Zungia
from Michigan. At one point, Heynoski appeared to have
definitely pinned his opponent, but was not awarded the
call.
Stearns went 1-2 in a tough 152 lbs. Cadet division. After
an opening round win, Stearns lost to the eventual champion
from New York. Stearns then dropped a tough decision in
the consolation round on a controversial pin call to end
his quest.
Goss battled strong in his first match, but his Iowan
foe proved to be the superior wrestler.
In his second match Goss appeared to have taken the lead
on a double leg takedown at the edge of the mat, but was
ruled out of bounds and ended up losing a heart breaker
to his Ohio opponent 3-1.
Kody Hiner, Jason Alexander and Kory Hiner, all from Ft.LeBoeuf
also competed in the event. Alexander finished 4th in
the 80 lbs. Schoolboy class.
Kody Hiner was crowned the National Champion in the Cadet
88 lbs. class. He was named the outstanding wrestler in
his division, giving up only 2 points in the entire tournament.
Hiner pinned Ohio and North Carolina state champs along
the way and won by tech fall in the finals.
All six wrestlers agreed that the Tournament was a great
experience and look forward to returning to the Silverdome
next year.
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Lancer Wrestling
2001-2002 ECL Schedule
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Dec 6
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Fairview
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Home
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Dec 13
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Iroquois
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Away
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Dec 19
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Corry
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Home
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Jan 3
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Seneca
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Away
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Jan 9
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Harborcreek
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Away
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Jan 16
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Fort LeBoeuf
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Home
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Jan 23
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North East
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Home
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Jan 30
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Northwestern
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Away
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Feb 1
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Girard
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Home
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Independent matches to
be added at a later date.
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