West York Wrestling

 


1/27/11 York Dispatch Article
by... Larry A. Hicks
"Website Worth A View!"
January 27, 2011
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January 27, 2011



West York wrestling website is worth a visit!
Author: COLUMN By LARRY A. HICKS of The York Dispatch 


Section:  York Dispatch Sports Front Page - 1/27/11.

I can't say for certain that it's the only high school alumni wrestling website in York County, but it's the    only one I've seen.

It's also the only one I've been receiving these last two years.

And it's a good one.

Maybe the best in the state. Or, at least, it's on the short list of those being considered the best. I've seen  a bunch of these over the years (in a variety of sports), and the West York Wrestling Alumni website is easily the best I've ever seen.

It's always up to date, and packed with all of the essentials of a website that will attract attention and keep people focused. It's also easy enough to maneuver through. That's not always the case.

I've been receiving updates, announcements, interviews with alumni wrestlers and more West York wrestling news than any wrestling junkie needs (to fuel his fire) every few weeks since the website was created in March 2009.

West York Area School District has a very long and distinguished history in the sport of wrestling -- my former history teacher, Chuck Richards, started the program back in 1934 -- and it's all covered in this website. The first individual wrestling win, for example, was a 25-second pin by Donald Gohn 77 years ago.

Hey, I'm a West York grad, class of 1966, and I'd never heard of Gohn or his pin. I know West York wrestling flourished when I was a student there. Lots of good wrestling; lots of good wrestlers, many of them in my graduating class -- Fred Lehman, Fred Callahan, Dave Carley, Tom Hoover, Jack Hershberger, for instance -- or in the classes that followed for a couple of decades.

When I was in high school my wrestling idol was Glenn Amsbaugh, the only four-time sectional wrestling champion in West York history and one of two Bulldog wrestlers at West York to never experience a loss in dual meets. He also wrestled at Lehigh University and went on to become a physician -- an ear, nose and throat doctor.

Some of that, I knew. But most of it I learned by digging around on this alumni wrestling website.

There's so much about Bulldog wrestling I didn't know or had forgotten. Thanks to this website, I now have no excuse.

▪ I have to give Don Lehman the credit for that.

Lehman, a former standout West York wrestler, class of 1973, and a three-time YCIAA sectional wrestling champion, took the initiative to kick the alumni website into gear, and he's kept it there. He's the webmaster in charge.

It's been a monumental task, I'm sure. I hate to think of the countless hours he's spent putting the website together, collecting all the information and filling in all the gaps.

There's a wrestling history section covering 77 years. There are the alumni wrestling interviews. There are the wrestling photographs going way back, and I know Lehman had to beg, borrow and steal many of those from wrestlers, fans or family members.

There are statistics. And the team and individual records. More than 480 pages of West York wrestling history. There's the old stuff; there's the new stuff from the present season. There's the junior high wrestling info. There's the rundown on all the coaches going back to 1934.

There are the all-star lists and the all-time West York wrestling greats covering every weight class. There's news about this guy and that, what they're doing now, what they did when they were wrestling at West York or at college after graduating from West York.

It's just well done from start to finish, covering all or most of the bases as far as I can tell.

But don't take my word for it. Go to www.westyorkwrestlingalumni.com  and decide for yourself. If you're a West York wrestling fan, enjoy the experience.

If you're a wrestling enthusiast, but are committed to a program in another school district, that's OK, too. Maybe it'll inspire you to start up your own alumni website. In wrestling, or in whatever sport floats your boat.

And if you're looking for a model to follow, I'd recommend Lehman's.

▪ It's good. Darn good.

 1/27/11 Sports Column by Larry A. Hicks - Larry A. Hicks Article Page 
_________________________________________________________________________________
www.westyorkwrestlingalumni.com by Don Lehman

Sports columns by Larry A. Hicks, Dispatch columnist, run on Thursdays.
▪ Larry A. Hicks e-mail:  lhicks@yorkdispatch.com

(c) 2011 The York Dispatch. All rights reserved.  Reproduced with the permission
of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
▪ Record Purchase Number: 17206840 (D. Lehman)




 ▪ 1965 West York HS Football - *Larry Hicks #32 (3rd from left front row)
 

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