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Thursday, May 25, 2017

Dennis Fuller - Celebration of Life This Sunday

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

For those who have not yet heard, Dennis Fuller, OSU Wrestling Booster of the Year and FALL Club member, passed away on Monday. Dennis was a devoted fan of many Beaver sports, but Wrestling had a special place in his heart
. He had attended 47 NCAA Championships in a row before poor health had prevented him from attending the 2017 NCAA's. He was already figuring on making it to the 2018's. Now that is dedication!

Len Kauffman shared details of the celebration for Dennis:



Celebration of Life for Dennis Fuller will be held 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. this Sunday, May 28, at the home of Laurel Spillum, one of Dennis’ daughters.  Address is 2121 NE Territorial Road, Canby, Oregon 97013.

If you wish to send a card or flowers, use the same Canby address (Fuller/Spillum to recognize the family). 

If you prefer to make a donation to the OSU Wrestling Endowment Fund in his memory, that would be fine.  In that case, make check payable to “OSU Foundation” and write “OSU Wrestling Endowment Fund” on the memo line.  Address is
Wrestling Office
129 Gill Coliseum
Corvallis OR 97339

It is best to always send wrestling donations (WEF and NW Regional Training Center) directly to coaches. That way they can be sure to acknowledge all donations personally.

Len  suggests you also include a note confirming the donation is for the Wrestling Endowment Fund in memory of Dennis Fuller.

I got to know Dennis when I joined Howard Horton and Dennis as an Officer on the Board to reconstitute the Oregon State Wrestling Boosters Club. Dennis really followed the sport. He had notes on all the matches and knew all the stats. He could tell you about all the possible recruits and who was going where. He really cared.

On behalf of "The FALL" Board, our deepest condolences to the family of our good friend, Dennis Fuller. He will be greatly missed. May he rest in Peace.


For you, Dennis, Go Beavs!


Friday, May 19, 2017

Another Former Beaver Honored & Golf Reminder

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

Another Former Beaver wrestler has been honored. This time the honor goes to Steve Lander, head coach of the Roseburg High School team, congratulations!

You will find the announcement in a section near the bottom of the newsletter that follows:


 #GrowWrestling Update!
View this email in your browser
 May Newsletter 
On behalf of the NWCA Board of Directors and our President Coach Tom Ryan, we want to wish our terrific office manager, Amy Dicato, a well deserved retirement.  Amy was the glue that held our office together for over 10 years and we will sorely miss her.  The outpouring of farewells that Amy has received from our membership over the past week was a testament to the job she did. While we are sad to see Amy go, I am happy to report that we have recently hired Hannah Grove as our new office manager.  Hannah is from Lancaster where she is finishing her degree in public relations at Millersville University. Hannah brings a strong skill set to the organization and will be a welcomed member to our NWCA family. In addition, her father was a successful high school coach from the Lancaster area. 

The NWCA staff has also been very busy with the compilation and release of our All Academic team and individual awards programs.  Nothing is more important to the long term sustainability of our collegiate programs than a very close alignment of our programs with educational values.  It is so encouraging to see so many of our collegiate wrestlers perform so well in the classroom.  Please click below to see a full listing of our top performing collegiate teams and individual wrestlers. NAIA  Division I

I’m thrilled to announce that we have another terrific class of 18 deserving head/assistant college wrestling coaches who have received full scholarships to attend our CEO Leadership Academy in Edwardsville, Illinois on May 16/17, 2017.  We are excited to mention that the United States Marine Corps will be a major part of our academy this year. The primary purpose of this academy is to strengthen our coach’s CEO/entrepreneurial skills and at the same time, ensure that our collegiate programs are closely aligned with the educational mission of the schools they represent.  On the back end of our CEO Leadership Academy, our participating coaches have elected to enroll in an exclusive Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) coaching development component in which the curriculum is complimentary to the NWCA CEO Leadership Academy content. The faith based components of the curriculum are delivered by the FCA and is designed to insure that we have a deep pool of well trained college coaches to lead all of the newly established collegiate wrestling programs at faith based colleges. Click HERE to read more about the FCA Academy! 

And while I have much more good news than bad news to report in this executive director’s update, there is one piece of bad news to share with you.  Many of you may be aware that several weeks ago, Boise State University has announced that it is discontinuing its Division I wrestling program after 53 years of rich tradition. This decision has essentially been made by one misinformed college president without little transparency and/or collaboration with students, alumni, and community leaders. I recently attended a strategy planning session in Boise and I am encouraged to report that we have a very strong local organizing committee (LOC) that is prepared to push back hard. We also have some very prominent national leaders who have committed to participate as well. We are finalizing our plan, and very soon we will be launching a powerful, compelling, and sustained campaign designed to reinstate the program.  This plan will include a comprehensive legal, political, grass roots, media, and public relations component and we are prepared to stay the course for as long as it takes to reinstate the program.  We will be sure to solicit the help of the entire wrestling community when the time is right and thank you in advance for your willingness to help us.

Lastly, for those of you who have not yet registered for our annual NWCA Convention on August 4-6, 2017 in Daytona Beach, please click here: www.nwcaonline.com to register online.  This year’s convention is located at a beautiful 5 star beachfront Hilton Resort that is very family friendly.  Last year, we were down in Fort Lauderdale, but this year Daytona Beach is our hot spot! This is an important time for the entire wrestling community to come together to celebrate our successes and to also problem-solve without the distraction of competition.  We hope to see you there.

Growing wrestling together, Mike
Scholastic Award Winners

One of the highlights of the year is our opportunity to recognize and honor our most deserving high school head and assistant coaches across the country.  This year we once again had an outstanding group of state, sectional and national award winners. The committee had the most difficult task of determining a national winner from one of the strongest section winners ever. We would like to congratulate our national award winners, Head Coach of the Year – Steve Lander (Roseburg High School, OR) and Assistant Coach of the Year – William Eastman (Dixon HS, IL), on both of their incredible seasons and amazing accomplishments. Please view the entire list of award winners for the 2016-17 season HERE.

Thanks to Ron Iwasaki and Dennis Fuller for sharing this article with me.

Next, a reminder from the Coaches about the Golf and Camps coming up:
Greetings!

Hope everyone is finally enjoying some nice weather! A quick update around the campfire here at Oregon State Wrestling! We are still busy with school and doing a lot of work in the weight room. Individual drills are focusing on specific areas of improvement for the different wrestlers. The guys are getting ready for a busy few weeks of final projects and exams, then a short break before camps and a good few weeks of training. The staff is busy trying to get ready for camps, fundraising, and recruiting!

Speaking of fundraising and recruiting, we want to recruit you for The Dale Thomas Golf Outing. It all goes down on July 3rd at The Corvallis Country Club! Start time is 12 Noon. The day includes lunch, 18 holes of golf, a cart, dinner, prizes, as well as a silent and silent auction. We are currently looking for individual golfers, foursome teams, and hole sponsors. If you can’t make it but would like to donate, you can do that as well. The golf outing is a very important fundraiser for the program, and is vital for us to continue The Orange Crush Wrestling Club and providing the coaching, training and competition opportunities that come along with it! We need everyone’s help to accomplish great things. Attached is a flyer with all information for the outing. If you would like to sponsor, the Tax ID is provided. Business sponsors will be provided so please make sure to get your artwork to us! Do not hesitate to call or email with questions.

Coaches, I’ve also attached camp info! We would love the opportunity to help your wrestlers this summer! The Northwest Duals Team Camp currently has about 16 teams confirmed, with more on the way.

We are busy trying to finish up the 2017-2018 competition schedule. We anticipate 6-7 home meets this year. Tournaments we will attend include The Navy Classic, The Las Vegas Invitational, and The Midlands. Oregon State will host the 2018 Pac 12 Championships in Corvallis, on either February 24th or February 25th.

As far as recruiting, we signed a solid group of student-athletes that we are excited to get into the program. We look for them to be a solid group of contributors to the program. We are still working in this area and will update when finished.

The staff is excited to get to see some of our great alumni this weekend at the annual IOC gathering. They are a great group of alumni and supporters. It is always a pleasure to see them, catch up and spend some time around many of the great individuals that paved the way and built Oregon State into a great program.

Until next time,

Oregon State Wrestling Staff

Again, congratulations to Steve Lander for being recognized as High School Wrestling Coach of the Year!
Don't forget, we're still looking for new Board members! That's it for this time.

Go Beavs!

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Wrestling Update - Alshujery Honored, Jones Retirement & Golf

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

Time for a little update on all things Wrestling at Oregon State.

First of all, a couple of very interesting stories for your attention.

Congratulations to Ali Alshujery on being selected for the 2017 Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A)! You can read the article at osubeavers.com for the details. Wishing Ali all the best in his quest to become a doctor. Again, congratulations!!

The second story is an article on former OSU wrestler Mike R. Jones, who is retiring after 41 years as the coach at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Mike originally hailed from Lebanon, Oregon. Wrestling took him a long way from the Willamette Valley. Well done, Mike!! Enjoy! Maybe you can come back down and return to life as a Beaver fan!

Thanks to Craig Scharer for sharing those links with me.

Next up, the latest news from the Coaching Corner. Some of you may have already received this note. It came out last week while I was off on vacation.

Wrestling fans-

Wanted to check in with an update of things in the wrestling world, especially here at Oregon State. The spring has been going well from a training standpoint. Our main focus has been in the weight room and getting stronger, as well as working with individual athletes on technical areas most specific to them. We have a nucleus that includes many returners from this past year, as well as a crop of newcomers that we are excited about. Recruiting is still going on, but we expect to have 8-10 new faces next fall. Many of the athletes will be arriving this summer and begin training here in Corvallis.

As you may know, Boise State took their coaching staff, team and the wrestling community by total surprise and announced that they would be dropping wrestling immediately. This obviously has an effect on The Pac 12 Conference and Oregon State, as we enjoyed a great rivalry with them for many years. Our hearts go out to all most impacted by the decision, as it leaves a lot of people in limbo and negatively impacts the opportunities to wrestle for many future young people. We also are dealing with the landscape it leaves for our conference, and what to do from that standpoint going forward. I can say that these things are being addressed. The coaches across the board would no doubt like to see more teams invited to join the conference. We will keep you updated on that situation as it unfolds.

The tentative schedule is for 2017-2018 is almost complete. We are trying to finish that up soon and look forward to some good competition slated for this coming year. We will let you know when it is released and season tickets are set. We will be attending a few prestigious tournaments and competing against some good teams in dual meets. We will be hosting The 2018 Pac 12 Championships at Oregon State! Make plans to be there!

We want to remind everyone and ask for their support in The Dale Thomas Golf Outing. We would really appreciate your support, as this is a big fundraising opportunity for us each and every year. This year, the event takes place on July 3rd. I have attached information and we would love to see you there. We are looking for teams, individual golfers, corporate sponsors and auction items. The day includes lunch, 18 holes of golf, a cart, door prizes, dinner and an auction! Let us know if you have any questions.

Also, we are looking for Hole and Tee Sponsors! If your business would like to get some great advertisement during the day of golf and live auction, let us know! It’s only $100 to sponsor, of course Golf and Sponsorships are toward a non-profit organization! If you are interested and can send your logo or artwork, we will get you a great sponsorship sign!

I’ve also attached information for coaches on the 2017 Oregon State Wrestling Camps and Northwest Duals Team Comp! Again, let us know if you have any questions. We value the opportunity to help the youth and high school wrestlers and it also helps us to keep our athletes around training in the summer.  We have lots of variety and options available for wrestlers to learn and get better this summer. Information can be found at
www.oregonstatewrestlingcamp.com.

We are looking forward to seeing many of our alumni next weekend at the annual IOC outing. They have been a tremendous support group over the years and continue to be one of the best alumni support groups in the country.

Until next time,

Oregon State Coaching Staff


The Camp and Northwest Duals information was attached to the original email. Here you will find it at the links above.

For those who do not golf but want to participate, you may sign up for the dinner only. See the Golf form for information.

Go Beavs!


Thursday, May 4, 2017

Dale Thomas Golf Classic Coming Up!

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

Wrestling fans and Golfing enthusiasts, Golfing fans and Wrestling enthusiasts - and those who are both - it is that time of the year again!! Time to support your Oregon State Beavers and have some fun playing golf!  The Annual Dale Thomas Golf Classic will be held Monday, July 3, 2017 at the Corvallis Country Club!

Here's a note from Coach Kevin Roberts announcing the golf tournament:
We are once again looking forward to The Dale Thomas Golf Outing! This is a huge fundraising event for our program! We are in search of individual golfers, Foursome teams, Hole and Tee Sponsors, and Auction Items. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Price of The Dale Thomas Golf Outing includes:
18 Holes of Golf, Lunch, Dinner, Door Prizes and a silent and live auction!

We also would love to invite any non-golfers to The Dinner and Auction, for just $25!

It is always a great time to catch up and reconnect with fellow wrestling supporters and enthusiasts. This event helps us do things with our college program and our youth program that otherwise would not be possible! We would like to invite everyone to be a part of it. As always, we thank everyone for the support! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Kevin Roberts
541-230-0613

Just fill out the reservation form and send it in!
Here is some of the information from the form to help you get started:
Date: July 3, 2017 - Registration starts at 12:00 pm, Golf starts at 1:30 pm
Location: Corvallis Country Club - 1850 SW Whiteside Drive, Corvallis, OR 97333
Cost: $125/Golfer - includes Door Prizes, 18 holes of Golf, Cart, Dinner, Season outlook!
Rules: 18-Hole Best Ball Scramble - 2 Drives Required per Person
Now - an interesting article about one man's thoughts on how to build more interest in wrestling across the country. Thanks to Ron Iwasaki for sharing the link to this story.

Another way to support OSU Wrestling is to join the FALL Board and get involved with the program. Let me know if you are interested.

Don't forget, get your registration form sent in right away before you forget!

Thanks! Go Beavs!