THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412140190
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
As successful as wrestling is in high schools, middle schools and community leagues, the sport is in trouble on another level.
Eighty six colleges and universities have dropped their programs in the last 10 years. That's 8.6 schools a year - numbers that alarm Gary Hartranft.
Hartranft, the former Cox High coach now at Lynnhaven Middle in Virginia Beach, is the scholastic director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
The NWCA is mostly comprised of collegiate coaches and Hartranft is leading a campaign to enlist the help of more high school coaches.
``The scholastic side is something that really has been in need of development (in the NWCA),'' said Hartranft, who spoke last summer at the national convention on the theme that collegiate wrestling was an endangered species.
``My No. 1 goal is to increase the membership and that lies with the scholastic coaches. Scholastic wrestling is thriving.''
The weight of the sport now weighs on the shoulders of scholastic coaches across the country, so Hartranft has set up a networking system to help get more of them active.
The country has been broken up into eight regions, with a director in each. Each director has state representatives working under him - each with the responsibility to keep in touch with high school coaches in that particular state.
The most alarming thing about colleges dropping the sport is that with each departure, there are fewer opportunities for high school wrestlers to move up the ladder.
That's true even in Virginia, a high school wrestling hotbed. William and Mary, a national power in the 1970s, will drop wrestling following this winter. Norfolk State is one of a handful of Division II schools in this region that still has wrestling.
Gray Simons came to Old Dominion as head coach after leaving Tennessee, which dropped its wrestling program in the 1980s. Even in the midwest, where college wrestling is nearly as popular as college basketball on some campuses, programs have been folding their tents.
``With 8.6 schools dropping programs every year, that's 86 missed opportunities for high school wrestlers to compete at that level when they graduate,'' Hartranft said.
A potential savior of the sport could be to make it somewhat more exciting. College wrestling has a reputation of being boring because of the high level of ability. Wrestlers are afraid to make any mistakes, because their competition would most likely take advantage of them.
Matches notoriously finish with 2-1 scores and feature little action.
``In high school, mistakes are made and it makes for a more exciting product for the fans,'' he said. ``Kids take chances, they go for it. College wrestling has to make some changes and I think you will see things like increased team points for pins, reduced time for matches - things to make the sport more exciting.''
Hartranft won three state titles in his 10 years at Cox, but felt the program needed new life bred into it. He opted to move back down to the middle school level to make that possible, and to give himself more time to devote to his new national job.
``For years I was with Jack Harcourt with our state teams and part of our goal was to make Virginia competitive on the national level,'' Hartranft said.
``One year, we had four national champions - more than any other state. I've been making goals for myself in wrestling and now my focus is to try and help the sport of wrestling.''
A big obstacle in the sport's future, according to Hartranft, is Title IX - the gender-equality-in-sport law that he said is not working.
``To get things even between men and women, some colleges are dropping some men's programs and wrestling has been one of the victims,'' he said. ``That's not what women want. They don't want the men to come down to their level, they want to come up to the men's level.
``Many men's programs are suffering from the ax because of this ruling and I know that's not what women want. So in effect, by fighting for wrestling, we are hoping to open some eyes to what's going on in several collegiate sports.''
But wrestling is Hartranft's main concern and he makes no bones about what he wants.
``I love wrestling,'' he said, shaking his head at the thought that it was in such danger. ``I think we can turn things around. People are becoming more aware of what's happening and with any luck at all, we can make a difference.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BETH BERGMAN
Matt Viola, on top, wrestles against Reuben Dio of Granby Saturday
night in a match at Western Branch.
by CNB