Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

InterMat Rewind: African-American Mat History

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Ok, even if the article is 10 years old it is a fascinating and well deserved look at the inclusion of African Americans into collegiate wrestling. Our compliments to these mat breakers. (Ok, still working on a suitable metaphor)
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A half-century after the first African-American won an individual college wrestling championship — and nearly 60 years after the first man of color stepped onto the mat to compete at the NCAAs — the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum has created a special exhibit to honor the achievements of African-American wrestlers in the United States. The exhibit, which opened in February 2008 to coincide with Black History Month, will be on display the entire year at the hall of fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma; a traveling version will appear at the 2008 NCAAs in St. Louis. Let’s take a look at some of the important historical events of African-American amateur wrestling, and the individual pioneers who wrote history on the wrestling mat in this country � Rest of the story at …. http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/3568/Rev-Rewind-African-American-Mat-Historyte

June 3, 2017 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Will Newbern Award presentation

Some photos from the Award presentation to Will Newbern at West Carteret

June 3, 2017 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Will Newbern awarded the James Johnson Trophy as top wrestler in eastern North Carolina

State Champion Will Newbern of West Carteret High School was presented one of the 16th Annual James Johnson Award as the best scholastic wrestler in eastern North Carolina in 2017. The award is named in honor of three time national champion James Johnson. Will will continue his wrestling at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
Will capped off a remarkable senior year campaign by going undefeated with a 51-0 record. He also competed and won both the N.C. Freeestyle and Greco Roman style championships, making Will, a rare
“Triple Crown” winner, the only one in North Carolina this year. He is the only wrestler in history to win the West Carteret hosted Beach Brawl tournament, the New Bern hosted Swiss Bear, the Croatan hosted Beast of the East, and the Chapel Hill hosted and nationally ranked Tiger Holiday Tournaments. Will accomplished this herculean feat not once but twice in his career, truly setting him apart. Will ended his career with 149 wins, 2x conference and regional champ and as a 2x place winner at the state tournament, finishing 5th his junior year to go along with his first place efforts his senior year.
Previous award winners were Tanner Stamper-Smith (2016) of Havelock, Joe Mondragon (2015) of Ashley H.S., De’Andre Jones (2014) of New Bern, Alex Bray (2013) of Croatan, Jon Wiley (2012) of South Brunswick, Marquin Hill (2011) of Washington H.S., Branden Lietz (2010) of J.H. Rose, Mamour Camara (2009) of Louisburg, Anthony Rogers (2008) of Knightdale, Ngu Tran (2007) of C.B. Aycock, Victor Hojillo (2006) of West Carteret, Raymond Jordan (2004) of New Bern, Shaun Sheffield (2003) of Havelock, David Pelsang (2005), and Paris Dottery (2002) of White Oak.
The TakeDown Report promotes amateur wrestling in eastern North Carolina and sponsors the Award. “The award is to recognize the most successful wrestler in the area each year.” Fleming noted, “It encourages the young men from the teams in the eastern part of the state with an opportunity to realize the hard work, determination and discipline it takes to be a top notch wrestler,” he added. The TakeDown Report is in its’ 19th year of operations in North Carolina encouraging media coverage of the sport. Contact the TDR at martinkfleming@gmail.com.
James Johnson started wrestling in his junior year for D.H. Conley High School in Greenville with Milt Sherman as his coach. James was Coney’s 1st state champion in any sport in 1976. He was North Carolina’s 1st Eastern Junior National Champion in 1975 and North Carolina’s 1st Junior Nationals All-American with 3rd in 1976. He went on to start four years at the University of Kentucky. He is now a sports consultant and coach for the Phoenix-based Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club. He also specializes in developing unique training for people of all fitness levels with a broad background in public speaking, sports training techniques, and health and fitness. He was inducted as an “Outstanding American” in the North Carolina State Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. In 2012 he was a coach for the U.S.A. Olympic Greco-Roman team in London.
Before developing James Johnson, Inc., James served as a Public Relations/ Community Speaker for Sunkist worldwide. He was on the USA National Wrestling team for 12 years, winning 3 National Championships, USA Athlete of the Year, AIM Christian Athlete of the Year, Olympic Team Alternate, and numerous accolades worldwide. He has been an Ambassador for the United States Olympic Committee, USA wrestling and The Sunkist Kids Wrestling organization for over 16 years. More at http://jjchamp3x.com/.

June 3, 2017 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

UNO looks at cuts, fee increases, wage freezes to balance athletic budget after move to Division I

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Well, there is no satisfaction here in showing that we were correct in stating how foolish the University of Nebraska-Omaha was in dropping wrestling and football to make a move to division I. Why did they? It was to satisfy the ego of the new Athletic Director who came in with no experience in directing athletic yet a failed career as a professional athlete and a failed career as a sports broadcaster. This genius was not even aware that his school’s wrestling team had won the national championships the previous two years. He made the class move of calling the coach on the night of winning their 3rd consecutive nationals to tell him that wrestling was being cut. The long time coach Mike Denney, Handle it with class. He did what he could to appeal the decision and then moved on to start a new program at Maryville University. Now as is shown in the linked article the annual debt of the athletic program has DOUBLED and now they are sucking money from students and academic programs. I doubt that the A.D.’s salary or budget has been reduced any. It is challenging to say who has made a more foolish and unwise financial decision in dropping wrestling, UN-O or Boise State. (refer back to earlier postings)
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The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s move to Division I athletics came with the promise of big-time college games, but it also has come with bigger financial woes and worries. Now in its second year as a full Division I program, UNO battles to increase revenues, cut expenses and fulfill a pledge that moving into Division I would stabilize athletics financially and solidify Maverick sports as a respected force on campus and in Omaha. A public records request by The World-Herald shows that many strategies, large and small, have been considered or deployed over the past year to right an athletic department that gushed with budget overruns in 2015-16. UNO has suggested everything from cutting expensive K-Cup coffee for employees at Sapp Fieldhouse to eliminating country club memberships for coaches and sports administrators to monitoring team and staff travel more carefully. UNO officials expect to balance their athletic department budget this year with a large infusion of university money and propose to raise student fees for the athletic department in 2017-18 by about $13 per semester for most students. The amount of direct university support for athletics rose at UNO from about $4.3 million in 2010-11, the year before the four-year transition to Division I began, to about $8.6 million last year, according to NCAA financial reports.
Rest of the story at ….http://www.omaha.com/news/education/uno-looks-at-cuts-fee-increases-wage-freezes-to-balance/article_13e7f7a4-196c-5d28-abd3-9e958b2b7d02.html

June 3, 2017 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment