PS Fayette adds wrestling

Penn State University-Fayette has added men's wrestling to its athletic programs. The program will begin this fall. The school had been studying the feasibility of starting a wrestling program for the past year.
The school's first dual meet will be Saturday, Nov. 16, when the Roaring Lions host Penn State-New Kensington at 7 p.m.
Former Uniontown High School head wrestling coach Jerry Simon will lead the fledgling program at Penn State Fayette. Simon graduated from California University in 1967 with a teaching degree. He was a three-year member of that school's wrestling team, serving as captain in his senior season. At Uniontown, Simon spent 25 years as the head wrestling coach, where he also taught French and Spanish for 38 years. He retired from both positions in 2005.
Simon also noted that it is not too late for high school graduates to enroll at Penn State Fayette and participate in the wrestling program this fall.
The addition of wrestling brings the total number of intercollegiate varsity sports offered at the Fayette campus to nine.

Macri fourth in Greco-Roman

Dalton Macri of Canon-McMillan finished fourth in the 105-pound weight class in the Cadet Greco-Roman national championships in Fargo, N.D.
Macri fell to Zac Hall of Michigan, 6-1, 1-0 in the third-place battle. Darian Cruz of Bethlehem Catholic won the weight class with a 4-0, 7-0 victory over Michael Cook of Idaho.

Here is the link to a results page:

http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=4&page=results

Rich Froats dies

Richard Lee “Richie” Froats Jr., 24, of Burgettstown, died unexpectedly Tuesday, July 19, 2011, in his home.
He was born August 1, 1986, in St. Clair Hospital, Mt. Lebanon, a son of Richard Lee Froats Sr. and Bernadette Fuller Froats of Burgettstown.
A 2005 graduate of Burgettstown High School, he was a four-year member and letter winner of the wrestling team. He competed in the WPIAL championships his junior year and won the championship his senior year, won the Southwest Regional championships his senior year, and finished sixth as a junior and fourth as a senior in the PIAA state championships. He also holds the record for all-time career wins for the Burgettstown High School wrestling program.
Friends will be received from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. Friday in Lee & Martin Funeral Home, 73 Highland Avenue, Burgettstown. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 23, in Burgettstown Community Presbyterian Church, 1325 Main Street, Burgettstown, with the Rev. Dan Ekas, pastor, officiating. Everyone is kindly asked to meet at the church. Interment will follow in Grandview Cemetery, Florence.
If desired, memorial donations may be made in his name to Washington City Mission, 84 West Wheeling Street, Washington, PA 15301, or any charity benefiting the underprivileged.

Chaussard to South Fayette

Rick Chaussard, who has been in the Fort Cherry wrestling program for 16 years, has taken over as head wrestling coach at South Fayette. Chaussard coached South Fayette two decades ago and moved to Fort Cherry after the SF program was discontinued.

Chaussard replaced Mike Ladick, who had his position opened in May. Ladick was in the corner when Nick Carr became South Fayette's first individual state champion. He won the 145-pound title in Class AA.

One reason for Chaussard's return to South Fayette was to coach his son, Kevin, who is a sophomore with the Lions.

First PIAA champion dies

From Rodfrisco.com:



Sam Harry, 89, passed away on Saturday, June 4, at his home in Harrisburg. He led a full and productive life, but he will always be known for his semi-accidental fame: He was the first of 1,382 PIAA wrestling champions.

In 1938, PIAA decided to conduct its first formal statewide wrestling championship. The WPIAL, District 1 and District 3 had begun championships a few years earlier and other PIAA districts had added enough schools with wrestling to make a state tournament feasible.

As it happened, Harry was a sophomore at Clearfield in 1938, just four years after the late Arthur J. Weiss Sr., who passed away less than a month ago at the age of 102, had established a wrestling program at Clearfield. Harry also happened to be at the lightest weight, 85 pounds.

Harry was one of 78 wrestlers representing 27 schools at the first state tournament, according to “The History of the PIAA Wrestling Championships,” co-authored by Norm Palovcsik of Lock Haven and Mike Smith of Newport.

Harry pinned his first two opponents. His opponent in the finals, Jerry Spence of Grove City, did not wrestle a match in order to reach the finals; Spence receive a first-round bye, then won by forfeit in the semifinals. Despite that, Harry won the seven-minute match with Spence, matches that, if not decided by a pin, were decided solely on riding time; there was no uniform point-scoring system in place until 1941.

Bucky Maughan retires

Arthur "Bucky" Maughan, a PIAA champion at Canonsburg High School, has retired following an illustrious coaching career at North Dakota State University.
The 70-year-old Maughan is the winningest coach in North Dakota State history. He finished his career with a 467-157-13 record and led the Bison to three undefeated seasons:1984-85, 1991-92 and 2003-04.
Maughan led the Bison to four NCAA Division II national championships (1988, 1998, 2000, 2001) and six national runner-up finishes.
Maughan was one of the youngest head coaches in the country when he took over the North Dakota State program after graduating from Moorhead State, where he won NAIA titles in 1962 and 1963 and an NCAA title in 1963.
Maughan won his state title in 1959 at 112 pounds and was a three-time WPIAL champion (1957-59).