Local mat greats to be honored

Some of the greats in Creston wrestling history will be honored each year in a newly-formed hall of fame.

A six-person board of coaches and former Creston wrestlers organized the Creston Wrestling Hall of Fame earlier this year, and the first inductees will be honored in a banquet Saturday, Nov. 18 at Creston Eagles Club (see related story).

Darrell Frain, head coach of the Creston/O-M Panthers since 2000 with state traditional team championships in 2007 and 2016 and two state dual team championships, said he got the idea to establish an enshrinement program from his former high school.

“About four or five years ago when I got inducted into (Oakland) Riverside’s Wrestling Hall of Fame, I started bringing it up with some local wrestling people that we should try to do that here,” Frain said. “I got to talking to Chuck Hulett and Dennis Leith again last summer and we decided to get started.”

Former Creston coach Dannie Stephens is chairing the committee which also includes Frain, Hulett, Leith, Randy Marlin and John Walters. The organization is not directly tied to Creston Community High School.

Frain said the idea is to have two honorees each year, preferably from different eras of Creston wrestling since the sport began here in 1961. There will also occasionally be teams honored from Creston’s past, such as the 1972 team in this initial induction ceremony.

Honored this year individually are Jerome Hruska, who coached the

Panthers as they became a state contender in the 1970s, and 1999 graduate Dylan Long, who won two state titles for the Panthers before becoming an all-American at the University of Northern Iowa with a national runner-up finish at 141 pounds in 2003. He later coached at UNI and Iowa State University before becoming employed at Wells Fargo in Des Moines.

Hruska is retired and living in his hometown of Cresco.

“We didn’t know if we were going to honor a team right away, but since Hruska coached the 1972 team and we’re already inducting him, we thought we’d go ahead and do it,” Frain said.

Creston had a strong wrestling team in 1970 and 1971, but competed in the largest classification (3A) and had several near misses in state tournament qualification. Tom Sevier qualified in 3A in 1970. Then in 1972, as a Class 2A team, Creston had a state-best seven state qualifiers and the program’s first state finalist in 138-pounder Steve Harvey.

It started a run of four straight years of team contention at state, with placings of sixth, fourth, fourth and second in Class 2A. Mike Howard and Dennis Smith were two-time state champions during the run.

Cresco was a wrestling hotbed in northeast Iowa, where Hruska had wrestled under legendary coach George (Chris) Flanagan with teammate Gary Kurdelmeier, who went on to coach the University of Iowa in the 1970s, before his assistant Dan Gable succeeded him.

Walters, who wrestled for Hruska and assistant coach Rich Downing during that era with a state runner-up finish as a junior in 1975, recalled how Hruska injected a new brand of wrestling in the Panther program.

“They had wrestling for a long time in Cresco with a strong tradition,” Walters said. “He qualified for state three years in a row when there was just one class and only eight qualified. He was fourth as a senior. He had the history and knowledge of wrestling and when he came down here you could really tell he knew the moves. There were not many coaches around southwest Iowa who had the wrestling knowledge that he had. He made a big impact real fast.”

Hruska was high school assistant coach in 1965-66, coached Southwestern Community College wrestling in 1967-68 and then became high school head coach in 1969. He held that position until 1979, when he moved back to Cresco to serve as co-head coach.

The Panthers were 100-13-2 under Hruska with undefeated seasons in 1974, 1976 and 1979.

Stephens graduated from Creston High School in 1968, so he just missed having Hruska as a head coach. But as a student at Northwest Missouri State University, he was aware of how the program was improving.

“Hruska had some good kids on those first teams in 1970 and 1971, but we were in 3A and didn’t get that many to state,” Stephens said. “When they moved to 2A in the 1971-72 season, they had the most qualifiers in the class (seven) and had five placewinners. That’s when they really took off.”

Stephen helped with the wrestling program while serving as a student teacher in Creston, and saw first-hand how Hruska was building a powerhouse program.

“He was really respected and motivational with the kids,” Stephens said. “It was all business. He was driven. It was exciting to be in the program and be around him. Everybody who wrestled for him did their very best for him.”

Stephens said the committee didn’t want to wait any longer to honor the 1972 team, because five team members are deceased — Rick Conard, Mike Howard, Gary Veitz, Mike Abel and Andy Smith.

1972 team

The regular lineup included seniors Kim Kirkman (132), Steve Harvey (138), Dave Tackett (155), Jamie Hayes (167) and Mike King (heavyweight); juniors Vern Loudon (119), Rick Conard (126) and Curtis Bolinger (145); sophomore John Schmoll (185); and freshman Jeff Abel (98). The 46-man squad had many others compete in varsity matches such as Scott Wood, Mike Howard, Randy Vicker, Mike Abel, Steve Ray and Terry Latham. The junior varsity had a 10-3 record including a victory over the Lenox varsity.

The team won every tournament it entered that season, including a 31.5-point margin over runner-up Corning with 100 points in the prestigious Corning Tournament. The team tied for the Hawkeye Eight Conference dual title, losing to Harlan, but beating Lewis Central. Harlan lost to Lewis Central to create the three-way tie.

In exciting fashion, Creston won the Hawkeye Eight Tournament that year by one point over Lewis Central at Red Oak. The championship was decided when heavyweight Mike King won in overtime by referee’s decision over Harlan’s Mike Larsen, who would go on to play football for Iowa State University. Lewis Central was a distant second to Creston in the district tournament, 79.5 to 44.5 points, respectively.

After Creston took seven wrestlers to the state tournament in 1972, the run continued to be strong with seven again going in 1973 and six qualifiers in 1974. The 20 state qualifiers in that three-year period led Class 2A, with 13 being the next highest. Each weight class had eight state qualifiers at that time.

“The unique thing about Hruska was that on that 1972 team we had seven guys going to state, and they wrestled seven different styles,” Walters said. “Each one did certain things well. It wasn’t like the whole team did one thing. Coach Hruska would show you all the moves, and he’d let guys use what worked best for their style. We’d do situation drills a lot, so you knew how to counter certain situations. When Jerome would wrestle with the guys, you could tell he knew what he was doing. He had everyone’s respect.”

Dylan Long

Dylan Long barely weighed 80 pounds, with his arm in a cast as he competed in the district tournament in Harlan at 103 pounds as a freshman for the Panthers in 1996. He almost earned a state berth, taking third in the district.

The next three years he wrestled in the state finals, claiming two state championships at 119 and 125 pounds. Frain was assistant coach for Rich Downing then, and would succeed Downing the year after Long graduated. He said Long was the headliner of a new era of excellence in the program.

“With Dylan I remember thinking, that’s how I want people to be like when I’m head coach,” Frain said. “The dedication that he had was amazing. Every morning before school, he was in there working out. Taking shots. Shadow wrestling. Anything he could do to make himself better. He was so fast and technical, he could take you down without touching you. That was the biggest adjustment he had to make in college, learning to control the tie-ups and set things up more.”

Long lost in overtime to Teyon Ware of Oklahoma in the national finals his junior year at UNI.

“I’ll never forget that match,” Frain said. “Dylan got in on the legs and was so close to scoring in overtime. I thought he had it. UNI didn’t get many wrestlers of that caliber.”

Long was also champion at the Midlands Tournament in Chicago in 2002.

Long would go on to coach with Cael Sanderson at Iowa State, when younger brother Andrew was also earning a national runner-up finish for the Cyclones. He continued to train for international competition, placing fifth in the 2006 World Team Trials at 66 kilograms. He was selected to go to Budapest, Hungary for the USA World Team.

In 2010, Long partnered with former Iowa State all-American Nate Gallick to open The Academy Wrestling Club for youth wrestlers in Johnston. Long is married and the parent of 18-month-old twins, and employed as a home mortgage sales supervisor at Wells Fargo. He has a bachelor’s degree from UNI and master’s degree in business from Iowa State University.

“Dylan was the best technician of anybody around here,” Stephens said. “He was not as physical as some, but nobody could top his technical skills and heart. He really competed at a high level nationally and, later, on a world level. He also had some pretty outstanding coaching experience. He probably could have followed Cael to Penn State, but he chose to stay here in Iowa.”

Walters worked as a wrestling official and broadcaster after leaving the coaching profession, and saw something special in Long’s ability.

“He was awesome to watch,” Walters said. “What was neat was that he was such a good kid, too. He was a good role model and worked his tail off. As a wrestler he kind of reminded me of some of our guys in the ‘70s like Vern Loudon and Jeff Abel. So slick, so precise and accurate with their stuff.”

Banquet planning

Hulett said a lot of organizational work went into holding the first induction banquet, with great support from the wrestling community. He said a hog has been donated by the Kinsella family with two halves to be among raffle prizes, along with a Creston Panther cooler wrapped by Podium Ink in Mount Ayr, and a variety of gift baskets. A group from the Cattlemen will cook the steaks for the dinner served at the Eagles Club.

“We’d like people to buy tickets ahead of time if possible, so we know how many meals have to be prepared,” Hulett said. He said there is capacity for 350 at the venue.

“We don’t know what to expect this first year, but we did get invitations out to all the members from the 1972 team,” Frain said. “So, if a lot of them come with their families, we could have a pretty good turnout. We’d love the public to come out and help honor these people.”

Inductees receive a coat that has a Creston Wrestling Hall of Fame inscription, along with a picture plaque.

“Dylan has a coat from winning the Midlands championship. That’s where we got the idea for the coat,” Frain said. “Several businesses have expressed interest in having picture displays of the honorees as well. The more people who get a chance to see it, the better.”