With wrestling kicking off the winter sports season this weekend; it’s a pretty good time to catch up on some accolades recently received by some former Tiger wrestlers.
In fact, all three are members of the 1980 state champion Tiger wrestling team.
Let’s start with Todd Ford, who after a distinguished coaching career in Arizona was recently inducted into the Arizona Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
After wrestling for Mobridge and Auggie, Ford went to Arizona where he proved to have a knack for building wrestling programs. From 1985 to 2006, he taught wrestling at Maricopa, Tempe, Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista. His teams won 217 dual matches, winning at a 65 percent clip. His boys were the 2002 state runners-up.
According to an article in the Ahwatukee Foothill News by Jason P. Skoda, “Ford’s biggest contribution may have been helping develop Arizona wrestling as a whole as the AZ USA Wrestling juniors’ director and cultural exchange programs along with being named the USA Wrestling Person of the Year in 1998.”
With his name etched in the Arizona Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Ford is now the third member of the 1980 state champion Tigers to have his name forever listed at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla., joining distinguished members of the hall of fame, Bill and Jim Scherr.
Speaking of the Olympians, both have made some news of late, Jim with a new job, Bill with a new hall of fame induction.
Jim took over as the Interim Executive Director of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association in late August. Jim’s vast experience with the Olympics, Paralympics, USA Wrestling, (the list can go on) taking the NWBA to the next level should be right up his alley.
Bill was one of 22 former Nebraska Cornhusker student-athletes named to the inaugural class of the University of Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame. One athlete from each of Nebraska’s 22 sports was inducted this first year in early September. Bill was not there. He was home in Chicago for the wedding of his oldest daughter, the same weekend as the enshrinement was held in Lincoln.
There is an excellent article and Q&A with Bill on the Huskers’ website. The easiest way to find it is to go to Google and search for “Hall-of-Famer Helped Save Nebraska and Olympic Wrestling.”
The young men who are strapping on their headgear and new head coach, Scott Stone, do not have to look far for inspiration as they start this season. All they have to do is look to the past. All they need is the Tigers of yesterday as they move forward as the Tigers of today.
Rose Henderson
South Dakota State University is celebrating 50 years of women’s athletics on the campus in Brookings. One part of the celebration is recognizing the top 50 female student-athlete Jackrabbits during that 50-year span.
Mobridge-Pollock head volleyball coach Rose Henderson nee Ebnet is one of eight former volleyball players to earn the honor of being celebrated as one of the top female student-athletes in Jackrabbit lore.
The former Division II All-American and the other 49 Jackrabbit greats were honored in Brookings on Nov. 13.