Wrestling Awards Banquet I

Social hour before the Awards Banquet began

  The Beavers' official wrestling season came to its conclusion on Saturday, April 13, 2013 with the Awards Banquet, held in The Club at Reser Stadium.

Volunteers had been busy setting things up, a big thank you to Susie Morehead, Maureen McGlynn, Lauren Johnson, Scott Lewis, Jana and Ron Iwasaki and others who helped the Board!

At 5:00 the doors open and guest began to arrive. Wrestling fans are competitive, so a bidding war developed over some great silent auction items, while others vied for the winning door prize tickets.

MC Bob Allen introduces honored guests

Some guests were held up by the freestyle tournament being held at Corvallis High School, but by 6:00, things were under way. Wrestler Zach Cardwell gave the Invocation, then it was time for dinner.

While people finished their dessert, the silent auction closed, winners were announced and door prizes found homes.

Master of Ceremonies, Bob Allen, got the program rolling by introducing many of the notable people in the audience, representing years of OS wrestling. Among them were Lou Piha - class of '48, Nadine Ritchey - longtime companion of Dale Thomas, and former coach Joe Wells. Ken Noteboom was recognized for his Lifetime of Achievement. For many years Ken has worked on the Board of the Wrestling Endowment Fund, raising millions of dollars for scholarships.

Coach Zalesky with Reynold and Josh, who's got the letters?

A moment of confusion occurred when Former wrestlers Reynold Gardner and Josh Whisenhunt went up to help Coach Jim Zalesky award the Varsity O letters. Apparently that presentation will occur at a later date but didn't get removed from the program. No letters were to found. Jim ad-libbed by bringing up the wrestlers who earned their first letters so they could be recognized.

On behalf of "The FALL" President Craig Scharer and Secretary Mike Denison presented the coaching staff with gifts of a framed portrait of the team and Coaches with their 2013 Pac-12 Championship trophy.

 Then it was Head Coach Jim Zalesky's turn at the podium. He began by introducing the entire team to the audience. It's always an interesting challenge to identify the wrestlers in street clothes with no head gear!

Part of the team line-up, left to right: Ty Vinson, Drew VanAnrooy, John Tuck, Seth Thomas, Nick Schlager, Scott Sakaguchi, James Roberts

Next up was the Presentation of Awards by the Coaches. They started with two awards that go to others besides wrestlers. First was the Coaches' Appreciation Award which went to Matt Franzblau, first year Sports Information, who covered the wrestling action and became a fan along the way! Next, a very well deserved Booster of the Year Award went to FALL President Craig Scharer, who spends untold amounts of time and energy behind the scenes making the FALL Club work. Congratulations, Craig!!

More about the banquet in the next blog entry. Thanks to Michael Denison for the use of his photographs shown here.