SAVE THE MUSEUM!

“Wrestling teaches you how to get off your back. Old Man River put us on our back, but we’re on our feet and fighting to survive.”
- Mike Chapman

The massive water damage in the Midwest has affected countless homes and businesses in Iowa. Unfortunately the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute & Museum was included.

$250 annual gift for 5 years, $1,250 total.
Donors will receive:
Free lifetime admission to the museum
Save The Museum t-shirt
Dan Gable Asics Gold Poster
Abraham Lincoln or Lou Thesz print

$250 annual gift for 10 years, $2,500 total.
Donors will receive:
Free lifetime admission to the museum
Save The Museum t-shirt Waterloo was one of the many victims of the flooding. We are asking for donations to help restore our fantastic facility. Your assistance is appreciated.

$250 annual gift for 3 years, $750 total.
Donors will receive:
Free lifetime admission to the museum
Save The Museum t-shirt
Dan Gable Asics Gold Poster
Abraham Lincoln or Lou Thesz print
“Match of the Century” print – Gotch/Hackenschmidt

The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute & Museum is a not-for-profit organization, 501 3(c). Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. All monies will go to the restoration and preservation of the wrestling museum.

Arizona State University Sports Information

TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State University Vice President for Athletics Lisa Love announced Friday that the athletic department is fully reinstating the sport of varsity wrestling, effective immediately, due to financial support from local civic leadership. The reinstatement of wrestling gives ASU 21 sports in its varsity athletic program.

“It is with great pleasure that I announce the reinstatement of the varsity sport of wrestling at ASU,” says Love. “The wrestling community, both locally and nationally, accepted this as a challenge to do something wonderful for the sport. ASU is forever grateful for that passion and unwavering support. Something special is happening on our campus thanks to civic leadership that cares deeply about ASU wrestling.”

ASU had announced on May 13, 2008 that it was discontinuing the sport of wrestling due to the rising cost of operating a 22-sport varsity program. It was determined at that time that sponsoring a 20-sport program would better fit ASU¹s athletic financial profile. Love indicated at the time that if the wrestling community were able to raise enough financial support the sport could be reinstated. That commitment is there and the sport will continue at Arizona State.

With over 4,000 fans in attendance at Monday’s NWCA All-Star Classic, Oregon wrestling leaders are showing they are serious about saving a Ducks program that is scheduled to be eliminated at the end of this season. It won’t be easy, but with many hardworking, dedicated and passionate people involved, they just might have a chance

By Kip Carlson - For The Wrestling Mall
Comment on this article at info@thewrestlingmall.com

EUGENE, Ore. - Of all the wrestlers who gathered for Monday night’s National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic, Wade Sauer knew best just what was at stake.

Sauer, the Cal State-Fullerton heavyweight, was at Fresno State when that school cut its wresting program in 2005. So it hit home when the 2007 NWCA All-Star Classic was awarded to Oregon - whose program is on the chopping block and set to be dropped at the end of this season - to serve as a rallying point in the “Save Oregon Wrestling” effort.

By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com

The clouds hanging over the State Capital building in Harrisburg, Pa., on Wednesday morning shrouded the city skyline and blanketed it with a damp chill.

There’s also been a damp chill shrouding college wrestling, not specifically in Pennsylvania, but nationwide. But the 34 college wrestling programs in Pennsylvania have not been devoid of being cut, as witnessed by Slippery Rock cutting its historic program two years ago.

Initially, Slippery Rock was to drop eight sports as a cost-cutting move, five men’s sports and three women’s sports, but after a Title IX complaint was filed, the school was forced to keep the three women’s sports while the men’s sports were left with nothing – including wrestling.

Joined by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R) and former Iowa wrestling Coach Dan Gable, the National Wrestling Coaches Association met with the Pennsylvania General Assembly to discuss options for legislation to solidify the athletic opportunities that currently exist in the state.

Hastert, Gable, NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer and a host of representatives met in the Majority Caucus Room in a meeting headed up by Rep. Todd Eachus (D), Chairman of the House Policy Committee.

By: Paul Steinbach

It’s a homecoming that many are celebrating. On July 13, first-year athletic director Pat Kilkenny announced that Ducks baseball will return to the University of Oregon after a 26-year hiatus. But the news ruffled more than a few feathers in Eugene and beyond. That’s because Kilkenny also revealed that the upcoming wrestling season would be the school’s last. “My second-favorite sport is baseball, so I think adding baseball is a magnificent thing for the University of Oregon to do,” says former UO wrestling All-American and current head coach Chuck Kearney, who has dedicated more than two decades of his life to the program. “We’re struggling to understand why it has to come at the cost of wrestling.”

And so a bittersweet saga has unfolded, complete with the subplot surrounding women’s competitive cheer, which like baseball will assume varsity sport status in 2008-09. Kilkenny, a former business leader and high-ranking UO donor, says the shakeup makes sense for an athletic department that — despite its position among fewer than two dozen in the nation that sustain themselves financially — remains “fragile.”

By: Paul Steinbach

It’s a homecoming that many are celebrating. On July 13, first-year athletic director Pat Kilkenny announced that Ducks baseball will return to the University of Oregon after a 26-year hiatus. But the news ruffled more than a few feathers in Eugene and beyond. That’s because Kilkenny also revealed that the upcoming wrestling season would be the school’s last. “My second-favorite sport is baseball, so I think adding baseball is a magnificent thing for the University of Oregon to do,” says former UO wrestling All-American and current head coach Chuck Kearney, who has dedicated more than two decades of his life to the program. “We’re struggling to understand why it has to come at the cost of wrestling.”

And so a bittersweet saga has unfolded, complete with the subplot surrounding women’s competitive cheer, which like baseball will assume varsity sport status in 2008-09. Kilkenny, a former business leader and high-ranking UO donor, says the shakeup makes sense for an athletic department that — despite its position among fewer than two dozen in the nation that sustain themselves financially — remains “fragile.”

By David Gillaspie

This is an open letter to Dave Frohnmayer, president of University of Oregon, and Pat Kilkenny, athletic director of University of Oregon, about the recent decision to cut wrestling from the university’s roster of interscholastic sports.

Like both of you, I come from a unique place in America, small-town Oregon. Because of our shared roots, we can agree a state is more than its major cities. We also know that small towns – the sort of places we came from – make Oregon special.

In many small towns, wrestling season is the only season on the calendar. As wrestling goes, so goes the town. Burns wouldn’t be complete without a wrestling parade. Through wrestling, kids from small-town schools gain a certain inner quality they carry the rest of their lives.

With the home gym packed for a duel, friends of wrestlers see firsthand one of their own mix it up on the mat. No helmets or gloves or cleats. They see a guy in shoes and a singlet go head-to-head with someone just like them.

As most of you are probably know, the University of Oregon has announced that they will be dropping their wrestling program after the 2007-2008 season and replacing it with baseball and competitive cheerleading.

This is bad news not just for Oregon, but for wrestling in general, as athletic directors seem to be on a cutting spree these days and who knows which program will be on the chopping block next. Furthermore, if wrestling at Oregon is dissolved, it puts the whole Pac-10 conference at risk, based on having too few PAC 10 schools sponsoring wrestling.

If you have a minute this afternoon to visit the new website we just created — http://www.saveoregonwrestling.com — and sign the petition that would be great. If you have 10 minutes, please review the speaking points under ‘important facts’ on the website and write a letter to the administration demanding that wrestling be reinstated.

Please pass this along to any other members of the wrestling community that would like to get involved, or even non-wrestlers who would take the time to sign the petition. If you live in Oregon and are interested in participating in rallies and other meetings, email Kevin Roberts at keviroberts@hotmail.com, as he is the point person on the efforts to save the Oregon Program and will have the most up-to-date information.