East Fairmont High School Named 1936 State Championship Wrestling Team
March 12, 1936
Notes on the 1935 and 1936 State Champion Wrestling Team...
East Fairmont finished their 1936 with a 9-1 record, with a single defeat by Weston.
Harrisville had a similar record, with also a single loss to Weston.
A match at a neutral site was arranged and held at Salem College on March 12, 1936. Sistersville
Coach and former WVU wrestler Floyd Schwartzwalder served as referee. East Fairmont was
coached by George Hill. East Fairmont prevailed by a score of 21-10, winning 5 out of 7 matches.
It was noted that East Fairmont won the title in 1935 and Harrisville was the runner-up.
Excerpted from The Fairmont Times West Virginian
Feburary 18, 1976
Editors note: This article was published just prior to the West Virginia High School State Wrestling Tournament which was held in Fairmont that year.
East Fairmont Claimed Two Mat Titles
By Tom Waller
East Fairmont High School … wrestling … state championship.
The three have never been combined, despite the great success registered by the Bee mat teams in recent years.
Check your history books, sports fans. You find no less than two East Fairmont wrestling teams that have claimed the state championship.
As the Bees of Coach Bob Brookover begin their bid for a state crown of Friday at the Marion County Armory, some East Fairmont grads will be thinking back 40 years, when the Palatiners were kings of the mat for two successive seasons.
Those were the days before a state wrestling tournament such as the one that will be held here this weekend. State champions were determined in the 1930s by a dual match between the top two teams in the state.
In that 1936 season, which saw the Bees as the defending state "grunt and groan" champions as local sportswriter Claire Abbott termed it.
The Bees finished the season unbeaten in 10 matches and then polished off Harrisville for the state title in the championship match at Weston.
The referee for that match incidentally was Floyd (Ben) Schwartzwalder, the WVU grad who became the greatest football coach in the history of Syracuse University.
The captain of the East team was Mason Ashby, who wrestled in the 165 pound class.
One member of the team still is closely associated with wrestling in Fairmont. He is Griff Fowler, who won two state championships in the 135 pound class. Fowler will serve as one of the scorers for the state tournament that begins Friday afternoon.
He won his state championship in 1936 with a referee's decision over Phillips of Harrisville. There were other state winners for the Bees.
Odbert Kisner won his bout with Goff in the 105 pound class and Daniel Rowland scored a fall over Barr in 1:45. Mike Potesta won the 125 pound class with a pin of Gregg of Harrisville in 3:58.
Ashby won his match with a referee's decision over Keith of Harrisville.
The score of the dual match was 21-10 as the Bees claimed the championship.
The 1935 team had also won the state championship and included such wrestlers as team captain Dominick Pellegren, Lee Cutrone, Dale Curtis, Howard Travis, Paul Stuck, Lee Stickles, Robert Morris, Arocolina Sermo, as well as Ashby and Fowler.
The teams were both coached by George Hill.
Thanks to Brent Sams, Parkersburg WV
From The
Pakersburg News
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