Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame

12/11/2024

Jason Bryant is part of the 1-2 punch that is the soundtrack to the NCAA Championship tournament. Listen as he talks with Ryan Holmes about his preparation for the NCAA tournament and World Championships and his journey to becoming the voice of the most prevalent tournament of the year.

12/11/2024

01/05/2024

25/04/2024

Congratulations to Thomas Potter of Union High School, who was recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum as Virginia's recipient of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.

The DSHSEA celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior male wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.

“The winners of our Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award are an amazing group of young men who have set the highest standards for personal achievement, excelling in the classroom and on the wrestling mat while also providing leadership and service,” said NWHOF Executive Director Lee Roy Smith. “I want to thank our committees for their diligence and hard work to select such outstanding representatives of our sport.

“We take great pride watching our DSHSEA winners as they continue their careers and achieve success at the collegiate and international level while continuing to excel academically and be positive role models who inspire young wrestlers.”

Thomas Potter of Big Stone Gap in Wise County is our Student-Athlete of the Year for VHSL Divisions 1 and 2. He is also our Dave Schulz nominee for national Student-Athlete of the Year.

This young man, moving from 145, to 160, to 165 in his junior and senior years, made everyone’s short list with four state championships, four regional championships, and three district championships. (The Covid crisis cancelled districts his freshman year.) Coached by Emil Schenck, he captained the Union High School Wrestling Bears all four years, rolling up an overall record of 120-3.

Thomas’ next stop, Gardner-Webb University (NC) appreciates both his athletic and academic potential. He sports a 4.0 GPA at Union, earning college credit in an advanced English class and holding membership throughout high school in the National Honor Society.

He fulfills the ideal of “service above self” as a coach: in baseball, he coaches special needs youth and adults in the Angel baseball league, and helps out the wrestling program by coaching youth wrestling.

For fun, he plays a demented form of volleyball, called “Spikeball.” The idea is to slam the ball hard into a horizontal net and see what happens.

Thomas thrives with the love and support of his family: parents James and Lauren, and younger sibs Harper, Clinton, and Abe.

-----
Please join us at the 2024 Honors Banquet to celebrate Thomas and all our honorees for their accomplishments.

Date: Saturday, April 20th, 4:30pm
Location: Virginia Crossings, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
Tickets: https://va-nwhof.ticketleap.com/2024-honors-banquet/

Big Stone Gap and Wise Co.News Center 13, SWVAToday.com, Wise County Public Schools, Gardner-Webb Wrestling, Gardner-Webb Athletics

24/04/2024

Congratulations to May Cuyler of Brentsville District High School for being awarded the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award for Virginia by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum.

The award recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior female wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.

May will continue her academic and wrestling career at Presbyterian College next year.

Great job May!

Brentsville District High School Sports, Prince William County Public Schools

Female wrestlers in previous generations have traditionally been folded into formerly all-boys programs. Lately, though, their numbers for all-female competition in Virginia have been advancing steadily.

May Cuyler (“CUY” as in “EYE”), of Brentsville District High School, our choice for Student-Athlete of the Year and the Tricia Saunders Award, is an outstanding example of this progress.

She is also the first female wrestling state champion from Prince William County.

In fact, she has three state titles under her belt, at 138 lbs, 144 last year, and 152 this year. She is a veteran of many opportunities for excellence, adding two VAWA (Virginia Wrestling Association) freestyle state championships.

Seeking national challenges, she won All-American honors twice at the big Fargo, ND tournament (fifth and third places), two gold medals at the Powerade tournament, two titles at Eastern States, and two undefeated performances at the Tulsa National Duals.

Climbing possibly the highest mountain, she reached the finals of Beast of the East twice, as winner and runner-up. Folkstyle, freestyle. . . .she also has an abiding enthusiasm for judo, coaching younger wrestlers in that sport.

May is an achiever across the board, earning a 3.8 GPA with an interest in psychology that she will pursue at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. Meanwhile, she enjoys the support of a loving family: parents Michael and Chieko, older brother Kosei, and younger sister Annika.

Prince William County Public Schools, Prince William Times, Brentsville District High School Sports

23/04/2024

Thank you Virginia Challenge Wrestling for your loyal and generous support of our mission to preserve, recognize, and inspire each generation of Virginians to take on challenges and overcome obstacles through the lessons learned in wrestling.

13/04/2024

Friends of Virginia wrestling, the 2024 Honors Banquet is SOLD OUT!

It is great to see the love for these great honorees, student-athletes, coaches and officials. Please share your congratulations and thanks with them, but there are no more tickets available.

10/04/2024

Dr. Talena Williams (nee Cox) was “to the manor born” of wrestling. Growing up in the rugged wrestling territory of Grundy, VA, she wrestled with the boys, a novelty in the 80s, and enjoyed champion success—an even rarer novelty.

With her uncle Dale as a coach and a two-time state champ (Mike Cox) for a brother, she earned substantial “street cred” in youth wrestling, defeating on one occasion a future four-time state champion.

This drive and ambition led her to muscle up with some impressive educational credentials, which she then parlayed into various innovations and enterprises that helped wrestling and other sports.

From Grundy, she earned a BS at Emory and Henry College; an MS at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; a Physician Assistant degree at James Madison University; and a Doctorate in Medical Science from University of Lynchburg.

This knowledge stored up guided her through several endeavors, each more bold than the last. Starting in 1997, she was a pioneering ATC (certified athletic trainer) at William Byrd High School in Roanoke County VA, part of the first cohort in the SW region of VA.

Despite all the detours in between, she has remained a loyal presence on the mat, returning every year from a residence in Colorado Springs to supervise and serve the VHSL.org divisions 1/2/3 state tournament in Salem and Grundy’s respected Agie Skeens Memorial Tournament.

From William Byrd, she tried her hand at the private sector, starting up the successful On-Site Sports Medicine, which she later sold to a hospital.

Her Physician Assistant certification made her a natural choice as a leading participant in two important reforms: a weight management program for wrestling, and a concussion protocol adapted for all sports.

When the 2020 Olympics, with all its Covid difficulties, came along, she was again called on to extraordinary service, as one of four directors in the medical division of Team USA.

By this time, she was at Colorado Springs, working as practice manager and Vice President of the local Steadman Clinic... though still returning like a migrating bird to her Virginia mountains at tournament time.

Wrestling is still her main sport, and she keeps it in the family: husband Adam is a coach, and son Tyson has roamed the mats, just like his dad and mom.

Grundy Wrestling Club, Grundy High School - GHS, USA Wrestling

09/04/2024

“He is truly the heart and soul of Grundy wrestling!” So says Tass Robertson, President of Grundy Wrestling Club, of Raymond Webb. This Hall honors Coach Webb with a Lifetime Service Award for his remarkable contributions to Grundy’s storied program and the larger community of Buchanan (“buh-CAN-on”) County.

Young Raymond made his entrance with one of the Golden Wave’s first team (AA) state championships, claiming individual gold medals in 1987 and 1988 at 126 pounds.

Three decades later, his son Andy would burnish this legacy with his own state titles, winning three (A) at 106, 113, and 120 from 2015 to 2017—a rare father-son achievement.

Raymond has coached 143 of the 149 state champions that Grundy has produced.

After graduation, the standard four-year college alternative beckoned, along with the next level of wrestling, but Raymond had other ideas. He began a deeply satisfying career in law enforcement, offering many ways to help those who needed it.

As a Narcotics Investigator, he was there when neighbors couldn’t conquer their demons, providing counsel and correction.

There were two heroic, life-saving moments along the way. In 2011, he rescued fellow officers from an active shooter, guiding his wounded comrades out of danger while bullets slammed into the car behind which he was taking cover.

And then there was the flood of 2021. The waters swept off its moorings a lady’s house and hung it up on a bridge abutment. Officer Webb found the wrecked home, pulled out the lady, and then went back to bring out her dog.

For these acts of courage, Raymond was twice recognized with the Valor Award from the Sheriff’s Office of Buchanan County.

His busy round did not drive him away from family and wrestling. With the support of his wife Melissa, he has been a faithful assistant for 35 years now, all the while raising Brynn, Ember, Andy, Loni, and Lori.

His nomination petition is full of testaments of kindly, patient work making kids better through his sport: organizing tournaments and camps; providing wisdom when needed. . . .even teaching kids how to hunt and fish, when his charges were unfocused, confused, or miserable.

As Tass reflects with gratitude: “Nobody works harder, nobody is more resolute, nobody is as committed to doing what is best for kids, parents, and the community as Raymond Webb.”

Please join us in thanking and congratulating Raymond on his service to wrestling and Virginia's youth.

Buchanan County, Virginia Government, Grundy Wrestling Club, Grundy High School - GHS, Buchanan County Public Schools, Buchanan County Sheriff's Office, Bristol Herald Courier

06/04/2024

The restless journey of Matthew Small began upon graduation from Coach Steve Martin’s Great Bridge HS, in 1996. He moved north to Gloucester Community College (NJ) and qualified for the National Junior College Tournament.

Circling back to Old Dominion University in 1998, he earned a BA in Criminal Justice, enjoying success as a 184-pound finalist in two tournaments.

Returning to Great Bridge, he was recognized as Assistant Coach of the Year in 2006. No doubt this praise came from his enthusiasm for coaching at all levels, all year: he headed up youth programs everywhere he went, both during and after his high-school seasons.

In 2007, he successfully launched the wrestling program at the new Grassfield High School , which led him to the head job at Cox HS in 2010 and 2011. Here, he came into his own, restoring some the glory that the Falcons had known in previous decades.

Coach Small’s boys gave him his first team state championship, winning the VHSL AAA title in 2010.

Meanwhile, Great Bridge was looking for a product of the Martin years to maintain their lofty status. They found Coach Small in 2012. Patiently rebuilding and reloading, the new coach returned his school to prominence by 2017, winning the Class 4 State Championship that year, and again in 2019. To this glittering roll, he can add nine district and six regional titles.

During these high-power years, Coach Small continued to expand his expertise in education (while raising two kids, Josey Lee, 13, and Arden June, 3). An MA in Special Ed from Cambridge College (Boston) in 2014 opened up new teaching opportunities, and a Leadership Endorsement from Longwood College in 2017 set him up nicely for an administrative position.

This happened in 2022: Coach Small is now Director of Student Activities for Great Bridge. He can look back on several honors in his coaching career: Beach District Coach of the Year (2010-11), VA Hall of Fame Coach of the Year (2011), and his colleague/mentor Steve Martin’s praise: “Over the years, Matthew and I have discussed his career goals, and I have seen him chase down these goals each year on a daily basis. I have seen him succeed over the years as an athlete, a coach, and an administrator.”

Please join in congratulating and thanking Coach Small for all he has done for Virginia wrestling our youth.

Great Bridge Wrestling, Cox Wrestling, Old Dominion Wrestling, Chesapeake Public Schools, Great Bridge High School PTSA, Virginian-Pilot Sports, 13News Now - WVEC, Chesapeake, VA Local - News Break

06/04/2024

Virginia wrestling has produced many excellent wrestlers from the metro regions of NoVA, Richmond, and the Southeast, but the Commonwealth can also boast of high quality and distinction in our rural areas; the country mice are just as tough as the city mice.

Often, there’s a patriarchal figure guiding these tight-knit communities, a long-serving coach that fosters success that’s built to last. Such a coach, inducted into our Virginia Chapter, is Brian Harman, from Northampton County High School.

Born in PA, Coach Harman first came to the Eastern Shore in Maryland as a student and wrestler at Salisbury State. A member of their Div. 3 national champion team in 1984, he qualified for the AAU Junior National Team that competed against Poland.

He then pursued a loftier goal: to put the Eastern Shore on the high school wrestling map.

In this, he succeeded spectacularly. From his head coaching position at Northampton HS, he guided the Yellowjackets to unprecedented achievements, especially in the 1990s. His teams won 27 district championships (spread over three different districts), four regional titles, and the Div. 1 state championship in 1995.

Over the years, he won better than 500 dual meets, the highlight of which was a victory in the 1998 Black and Blue division of the Virginia Duals. In that contest, he bested top-quality competition like Christiansburg and Menchville.

Something of his forceful personality emerges when people recall his coaching time. Wrestlers and parents point to the two scholarship foundations he set up as memorial to the untimely deaths of two community members; the pioneering establishment of girls wrestling in his program; the youth programs that promoted Eastern Shore wrestling; the family involvement of wife Lisa and their two wrestling sons... one of his managers remembers his enthusiasm for teaching just about anything, like the time he taught her the difficult skill of whistling through her fingers at a volume that would get attention.

When he left coaching in 2012, his energy found other outlets. He is now among the finest of our officials, chosen for tournaments at the state and national levels. Retired from teaching PE, he continues helping kids with his Driver Ed. Business.

When you tell the story of today’s Eastern Shore, you can’t leave out the name of Brian Harman.

Northampton County Public Schools - VA, Eastern Shore News

05/04/2024

Jim Diehl is a native Virginian born in Norfolk on March 22, 1954. He grew up in Culpeper and started his athletic career at Culpeper County High School where he lettered in both football and wrestling. He graduated in 1972 and was a team captain in football and a state medalist in wrestling.

Jim attended West Point - The U.S. Military Academy in NY and graduated in 1976. During his initial assignment in Germany, he joined the local sports club and started his freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling career.

On his return to the states in 1980, he was selected for the All-Army wrestling team and participated in the 1981 Armed Forces Wrestling Championships earning a silver medal in Greco-Roman and a bronze medal in freestyle. Jim placed fourth at the 1981 AAU Wrestling National Greco-Roman Championships.

Jim began his officiating career in 1997 with the Peninsula Wrestling Officials Association and officiated high school wrestling over the next 20 years. At the same time, he began officiating freestyle and Greco-Roman for United States Wrestling Officials Association (USWOA) and VAWA (Virginia Wrestling Association).

In 2015, Jim began serving as the director of mat officials for VAWA. In that capacity, he has recruited and mentored dozens of new officials as well as supporting numerous local tournaments

Parallel to his active wrestling career, Jim served as an armor officer in the U.S. Army. He commanded tank platoons, tank companies, and a tank battalion over his 29 years of active duty both overseas and within the continental US.

Jim retired from the Army in 2005 as a colonel and moved with his wife Elaine and two boys (Kase and Patrick) to Poquoson. He and his wife now live in Williamsburg.

Please help us congratulate and thank Jim on all he has done for Virginia's youth and our country.

Culpeper County Football, PWA - Peninsula Wrestling Assoc, Culpeper County Public Schools, Culpeper Star-Exponent news

04/04/2024

An episode at Fairfax High School in 1988 prefigured the grit and resilience of Johnny Curtis. Ranked #1 statewide before districts, he tore his ACL, typically a season-ender.

Instead, Johnny consulted a well-known specialist, slapped on a state-of-the-art knee brace, beat some good wrestlers, and qualified for states. Before every match that month, he would consult the Old Testament advice to Joshua: “Be strong, and of a good courage.”

After a red-shirt rehab at George Mason University, he took advantage of all that hard work could grant him, finishing as a two-time NCAA All-American for the Patriots (seventh and eighth place).

After high school and college, most wrestlers step back from combat and serve the sport through coaching, officiating, or volunteering. For Johnny however, the period from 1993 to 2000 was his exploration of all possibilities.

He learned much from his mentor Dave Schultz at the pre-eminent Foxcatcher program; he made the US National Team and qualified for the Olympic trials in 1996; he toured the world with the Christian group Athletes in Action, combining charity with competition... but his boldest venture was professional fighting, begun with MMA (mixed martial arts) in his late 30s.

His local following loved it; because of his tree-maintenance business, Freedom Tree Service, his sobriquet was “Treeman,” perfect to describe his height and arm length.

All this while, he was building a life that included wife Karen, the business, and five kids (River, Beau, Callie, Addie, and Willow). As his body began to express reluctance at the constant pounding, he switched readily to informal coaching stints, first for Mason, then for the Capitol Area Wrestling League CAWL, and finally, the Marauders, a youth team in the area of his sons’ high school, Battlefield High School in Prince William County).

His boys took eagerly to their dad’s sport, winning six state titles between them. His commitment reached a memorable peak when, with admiring press coverage, he created on his property a purpose-built wrestling facility, thrown open to all comers.

Johnny’s mission, throughout all his adventures, has been to build character in young people. His strong Christianity, preached and practiced, lends him the ecumenical messages of hope, fortitude, and caring that he shares with his charges. Last year, he was inducted as an inaugural member (with VA Hall-of-Famer Mike Moyer) in the George Mason Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Fairfax High School Athletic Department, FFX Wrestling, George Mason Wrestling, Battlefield Wrestling, Fairfax City Patch, Fairfax County Times, Prince William Times

04/04/2024

It’s a story as old as the Olympics, how athletics, a triumph in a contest of skill, can bring joy to a community.

Such was a moment in 2014 for Coach Rick Boyd and his team in the ancient sport of wrestling. Hailing from Rural Retreat, a bucolic town of about 1500 in Wythe County, 80 miles south and west of Roanoke, Coach Boyd’s Indians (310 students) scored an unforgettable victory, winning the Division I VHSL state championship, the first state championship in any sport in the school’s 140-year history.

News of the victory got out fast. As the team made their way home on that midnight Saturday in winter, the town prepared a full police es**rt at their I-81 exit and treated their kids to an impromptu parade and celebration. As our President Kevin Hazard remarked: “Can you say HOOOOOOOSIERS!?”

Coach Boyd is born and bred in his region, a SW district champion at Richlands High School HS in Tazewell County. He split his college time between Carson-Newman University in TN and Bluefield State University in WV, earning a math teaching certificate that led to a teaching career, and acquiring a wife (Denie) as fanatical about wrestling as he is.

A two-year tour at Northwood High School was quickly followed by the glory years at Rural Retreat High School. His high tides were the 2014-2017 seasons: the breakthrough championship, plus three consecutive titles; 27 individuals winning 45 titles; sons Ty and Trey winning 6 titles between them.

Along with the four state titles, Boyd’s teams have finished second four times, and, by the time he retired in 2022 after 26 seasons, he could also look back at 11 regional championships.

Some idea of the respect he has gained can be seen in the extravagant praise by his Hall of Fame neighbors, and his membership in the Virginia High School League Legislative Committee. . . .and he put a lot of fans wearing red and black in the stands!

Rural Retreat High School Athletic Boosters , RRHS Athletics, Wythe County VA, Wythe County Public Schools, Wythe County News, Roanoke Times Sports

31/03/2024

Our Student-Athlete of the Year from Virginia’s independent schools is senior Brycen Arbogast from Benedictine College Preparatory of Richmond (head coach David Yost).

Between the Covid crisis of his freshman year and his injury-shortened senior year, Brycen compiled a 102-win record, with three state championships in the VISAA (Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association), once at 120 pounds, twice at 132.

He excelled at national-level competition, placing at National Preps three times and finishing 8th at the famed and feared Beast of the East tournament in 11th grade.

Brycen’s resilience can also be seen in his choice of lodgings. During his 10th and 11th grade years, he and a roommate converted the “tack room” of a horse barn near his school into an apartment, a resourceful solution to a housing shortage.

Brycen has been an Honor Roll student all eight semesters of Benedictine’s demanding curriculum, currently carrying a 3.1 GPA. With a special interest in history, he has signed a letter of intent for West Virginia University, where he will study law and wrestle for that elite squad. His family is proud of his success: father Brett (an official in the Charlotte County school system), mother Jennifer, and sisters Kirsten and Brooke.

WVU Wrestling, Richmond Times-Dispatch, ABC 8News - WRIC, Benedictine College Prep Wrestling

31/03/2024

Female wrestlers in previous generations have traditionally been folded into formerly all-boys programs. Lately, though, their numbers for all-female competition in Virginia have been advancing steadily.

May Cuyler (“CUY” as in “EYE”), of Brentsville District High School, our choice for Student-Athlete of the Year and the Tricia Saunders Award, is an outstanding example of this progress.

She is also the first female wrestling state champion from Prince William County.

In fact, she has three state titles under her belt, at 138 lbs, 144 last year, and 152 this year. She is a veteran of many opportunities for excellence, adding two VAWA (Virginia Wrestling Association) freestyle state championships.

Seeking national challenges, she won All-American honors twice at the big Fargo, ND tournament (fifth and third places), two gold medals at the Powerade tournament, two titles at Eastern States, and two undefeated performances at the Tulsa National Duals.

Climbing possibly the highest mountain, she reached the finals of Beast of the East twice, as winner and runner-up. Folkstyle, freestyle. . . .she also has an abiding enthusiasm for judo, coaching younger wrestlers in that sport.

May is an achiever across the board, earning a 3.8 GPA with an interest in psychology that she will pursue at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. Meanwhile, she enjoys the support of a loving family: parents Michael and Chieko, older brother Kosei, and younger sister Annika.

Prince William County Public Schools, Prince William Times, Brentsville District High School Sports

30/03/2024

A wrestler dominates in Virginia with consistent excellence, going 110-7 in his school’s singlet... and then one performance thrusts him into the national spotlight.

Such has been the trajectory of Thomas Stofka, our choice for Divisions 5 & 6 Student-Athlete of the Year. The senior from First Colonial HS at Virginia Beach recently won his third state title (the first at 138 lbs., the second at 157, this one at 150). Coached by Rodney Johnson, the four-year team captain has also won four regional titles.

His breakthrough moment, however, came on a journey to the University of Delaware, at the prestigious Beast of the East tournament this past December. Seeded #14, he advanced to the semis, beating #3 and #11 in the process, and finishing fourth. His sudden emergence won this praise from the VAWA (Virginia Wrestling Association): “The outstanding Virginia wrestler from Beast goes to Thomas Stofka—LEGIT D1 talent.”

Wrestling for George Mason University in Fairfax this fall, Thomas plans to stay close to athletics. He wants a career in “making athletes better,” studying disciplines such as nutrition, coaching, athletic training, and kinesiology. His current 3.8 GPA promises success in these fields. He owes much to a supportive family: parents Jon and Melanie, sister Bella (a jiu-jitsu champion), and brother William.

George Mason Wrestling, VBSchools, 13News Now - WVEC