Sportsbeat

Wrestling program reaches another milestone

As the godfather of Huron wrestling is honored next week with the tournament bearing his name, the storied program also is marking a significant milestone this month. It was 40 years ago Bill Barrett established varsity wrestling at Rogers City High School (RCHS). The first match was Dec. 10, 1969 against the Oscoda junior varsity, a 40-20 loss. However, the first-ever win went to John Minelli in only 15 seconds. It was a record that would stand for many years and was a foreshadowing of future success.

Barrett, who was inducted into the Michigan Wrestling Association Hall of Fame in 2000, told Minelli ?to go out there and tackle him like it was football, and take him to the mat,? a 1999 Advance article quoted him. WHEN BARRETT started the program, he had no experience, other than a belonging to a YMCA wrestling club while he studied at the University of Hawaii, according to a detailed written history of the wrestling program on the school?s Web site. Since Barrett had taught a judo club at RCHS, athletic director Joe Peck believed Barrett should be the man for the job.

?Coach Barrett taught the team everything he knew in about three hours,? the Web site states. As another way to develop skills and team camaraderie, he took wrestlers to different camps in the country. Those early seeds certainly have bloomed many times over the last four decades. Ten years ago, the program was one of the most respected in northern Michigan, but since then the Hurons have been in a team state championship match and have had four individual state champions crowned.

BARRETT, WHO stepped down as head coach in 1989 because of severe heart problems, told the Advance he was proud of the program when it celebrated its 30th birthday in 1999. He passed away in 2001, although his legend lives on. Barrett?s sketches are on the school?s Web site — of course in the wrestling section. The Bill Barrett Memorial Wrestling Tournament, now held during the Christmas break, continues to be a lasting legacy for the man who got it all started.

Even when he retired, I remembered seeing Barrett in a wrestler?s corner, jotting down statistics and yelling encouragement. There wasn?t much that would keep him away from the mats. If Barrett was still with us, he wouldn?t want local fans to find any excuses to stay away from RCHS for Wednesday?s t

ournament and you shouldn?t either.

LISTENING TO 97.1 The Ticket on the Interent, a sports talk station out of Detroit, Michigan State University men?s basketball coach Tom Izzo was nominated as the best coach of the decade, while Rod Marinelli was a very popular pick for worst coach with the Lions losing all their games last year.

THE MOST exciting game I saw this year was the Tigers and Twins in the extra game of Oct. 6. There were so many emotional hills and valleys in a game the Tigers desperately needed to win to avoid one of the worst late season collapses in Major League Baseball history.

My family never had seen me so into a game, hopping up and down in the living room and throwing a chair to the floor when yet another runner was stranded at third. The Tigers lost 6-5 and the Twins got their heads kicked in by the eventual World Series champs.

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