Fundraising campaign to save Harding wrestling has begun
By GERRY deSIMAS, JR.
Connecticut Wrestling Online
BRIDGEPORT, Aug. 18 – A Go Fund Me campaign has been established to help raise money to save the wrestling program at Bridgeport’s Warren Harding High School.
Organizers are trying to raise $18,000 in the next eight weeks to save the program. The Bridgeport Board of Education recently eliminated funding for wrestling at Harding, according to a recent story in the Connecticut Post.
Harding wrestling isn’t the only sport on the block. The city Board of Education will be eliminating funding for indoor track, cross country and golf at Harding, Bassick and Bridgeport Central. Boys and girls tennis and boys lacrosse at Bridgeport Central and girls tennis at Harding will be eliminated, according to the Post.
The Go Fund Me campaign has raised more than $4,000 from 78 donors in six days.
Bridgeport Police Detective Jeremy Kelly is helping the fundraising effort and to build awareness of the need to save the program along with Harding head coach Eddie Santiago and others.
Kelly was a wrestler in Fairfield and was an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University before going the Bridgeport Police Department. He was an assistant coach for USA Connecticut Wrestling’s Team Connecticut, a group of athletes from across the state that competed in the recent USA Wrestling national championship tournaments in Fargo, North Dakota.
Kelly was an officer in the neighborhoods that surround Warren Harding High. He is very aware of the challenges that many Bridgeport students face every day.
“The kids at Harding live a life that most people can't comprehend,” Kelly said. “Gang violence, shooting and open air drug markets are unfortunately the norm in their community. Saving the team if not for any other reason will keep kids off the street and in fact might save a young man's life.”
There is interest in wrestling at Harding. The school had 11 wrestlers in last February’s CIAC Class L tournament and senior Xavier Bass (195 pounds) won his second state championship. Bass was third at the State Open and was one victory shy of finishing among the top six in New England.
Eight of those 11 wrestlers at the Class L meet were underclassmen. Bass, junior Markus Simmons (285) and junior Jamar Mighty (170) were each conference champions in the Constitution State Conference.
To help raise awareness of the sport and the fundraising effort, a free, three-day clinic was held at the Harding gym earlier this week with the help of the Bridgeport Police Department.
Andy Seras, a former U.S. Olympian (1988) and a coach on the 2004 U.S. Olympic wrestling team, was a teacher at the clinic along with current Sacred Heart head coach Andy Lausier, current Wesleyan University head coach Drew Black, Fairfield Warde head coach Jason Shaughnessy, and Paul Musso, head coach of New Fairfield, the defending State Open champions.
Kelly, who wrestled in college at Southern Connecticut State and coached at the Atlas Wrestling Club in Fairfield, was also a teacher along with Bridgeport Police Sgt. William Simpson, a two-time conference champion in college and Bridgeport Police officer John Topolski, an All-State wrestler at Fairfield High School and an assistant coach at Fairfield Warde.
Nearly 100 athletes (boys and girls) participated during the three-day clinic.
You can make a donation to the Go Fund Me effort online at https://www.gofundme.com/2jgy4juy
Shook to be inducted into CHSCA Hall of Fame
DANBURY, Sept. 7 -- Danbury High wrestling coach Ricky Shook will be among 10 men and women inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) Hall of Fame at their 40th annual ceremony on November 17 at the Aqua Turf in Southington.
Shook will be among seven coaches, one athletic director, a legendary military member and a media member who will be honored.
Former Lyman Hall athletic director Elaine Biercevicz, Cheshire cross country and track coach Barbara Hedden, former Stratford football coach Robert Mastroni, Maloney boys basketball and baseball coach Howie Hewett, former Avon High boys soccer and baseball coach Marty deLivron, former Haddam-Killingworth volleyball coach Richard Langer and WTIC-TV sportscaster Rich Coppola will be recognized.
The late Stephen Reich, an outstanding baseball player and athlete at Shepaug Valley in Washington, Conn., and West Point, will also be recognized. Reich, a major in the U.S. Army, was killed in Afghanistan while leading a rescue mission in June 2005.
Shook has been the head coach at Danbury High since 2000 and the Hatters are 324-19 in the last 17 seasons. In that time, Danbury has captured 13 Class LL championships and 12 State Open titles. At the New England tournament, Danbury has finished in the top 10 twelve times including a second place in 2014.
Shook was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame by the Connecticut chapter of the Hall of Fame in 2013. He was recently inducted into the Danbury High Hall of Fame and was the FCIAC Winter Coach of the Year – not just wrestling – in 2005 and 2014. The National Wrestling Coaches Association named Shook as Connecticut coach of the year in 2008.
Shook won the Doc McInerney male coach of the year from the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance in 2008.
Shook was a two-time FCIAC champion as a wrestling at Danbury High and he won the Class LL championship. He wrestled at the Division I level for Central Connecticut State University and was an assistant coach with the Blue Devils.
Shook is the first wrestling coach to be inducted in the CHSCA Hall of Fame that coaches just wrestling.
Hall of Fame coaches Brian Crudden of Windham (2014), George Beaudry of Conard (2015), Bob McKee of Conard (1982), Frank Robinson of Hall (1984) and Dennis Siegmann of Bristol Central (2003) coached wrestling and other sports. Crudden, McKee and Robinson also coached football while Beaudry coached track and field. Siegmann also coached boys soccer at Nonnewaug.
Crudden, Beaudry and Robinson are members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, also having been inducted by the Connecticut chapter of the HOF.
Tickets for the dinner are $46 and available in advance by contacting the CHSCA office at P.O. Box 632, Southington, CT 06487, by calling 860-628-4122 or e-mailing John Fontana at jfontana01@snet.net. Doors open at 6 p.m.
