On November 4th, 2006 we welcomed 5 new members into the Texas Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

This was a great road trip for me with Bob Maughan, Executive Director for the Texas Chapter of the Hall of Fame, Tim Marzuola, Charter member of the Texas Chapter of the Hall of Fame and Wendy Gallatin, Vice President of PR for the Texas Chapter. I got to be the emcee for the second time and it was a great honor to participate and be able to induct these deserving recipients.

Tim Marzuola spoke to the significance of this achievement and how it later hit him that his name was and those below would be in the same Hall of Fame as the greats of our sport. Dan Gable, Danny Hodge and Doug Blubaugh. That is pretty good company.

The event was hosted by Westside High School Coach Ron Baker and he and his staff did a great job. The meal was exceptional and the evening was a total success. Each of the acceptance speeches was video-taped prior to the induction ceremonies and it was a great idea that Ron had. The recipients weren’t worrying about what they were going to say and they could just sit back and bask in the glory of the evening.

This event brought our total of National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees to 16.

North Texas Region

Paul E. Aubrey-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Lelan Brotherman-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Jim Giunta-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Terry Knouse-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Tim Marzuola-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Rick Ortega-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Stephon Breedlove-Medal of Courage

West Texas Region
Johnny Cobb-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Eldon Jackson-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
James Kyle-Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Scott Tankersly-Medal of Courage

And Now for the South Texas Region

Bill Dushane
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Bill graduated from Oakland University in Michigan in 1980 where he competed in the sport of wrestling for two years. He was also a High School Wrestling Official during his college career.

As a pioneer of our great sport he started 3 High School programs. He started the team at St. Thomas of Houston in 1985. He then started the Notre Dame Prep School in Pontiac Michigan in 1998 and returned to Texas to establish the program at Cinco Ranch High School where he remains as a teacher and a coach.

Bill served as the South Texas representative of the Executive Committee of Texas Interscholastic Wrestling Association and the Texas Wrestling Coaches Association from 1987 until 1998.

While at St. Thomas he had a dual record of 153-20-2 and his teams were Gulf Coast Regional Champions in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998.

As coach of Cinco Ranch he has a Dual meet record of 125-45 has 6 consecutive District Championship teams from 2001 to present. He also had 6 State Champions and 13 All State wrestlers in the last four years.

Bill was voted by his peers as the District Coach of the year in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 and was Region Coach of the Year in 2005.

In 2004 he was named the National Federation High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year.

Bill was inducted into the Texas Wrestling Hall of Honor in 1998 for Outstanding Contributions to the sport of wrestling as a leader and a coach.

Craig T. Grace
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Craig attended the University of Texas and graduated in 1972. He competed on the UT club team and was the Texas Collegiate Champion in 1971 at 167 pounds.

Craig has coached wrestling at Lanier High School for the past 31 years. He helped form the first Austin ISD District and the Capitol Area Region, and served as President of the South Texas Coaches association for 6 years.

Craig has compiled a Dual record of 158 wins and 60 losses while at Lanier. He also had 12 District Team Titles and 3 Regional Titles and has had 36 All State wrestlers including 4 champions. 2 of his State Champs were named Outstanding Wrestler.

He coached Tabithia Ramsey to a State Championship in 2002 and she was named Outstanding Wrestler. She was a Collegiate All American in 2004, FILA-Juniors National Champion, placed 4th in the Pan Am Games and 7th in the World Games in Poland.

Craig was inducted into the Texas Wrestling Hall of Honor in 2006 as a leader and a coach.

Steve Leisz
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Steve founded the wrestling program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston in 1984 and was a Texas Collegiate Champion. He graduated in 1989.

Steve was a high school wrestling official for three years 1989-1991 and was elected by the Coaches Association to officiate two State Tournaments.

He was the Head Wrestling Coach at the Kinkaid School from 1992-2006 and his Dual meet record is 234-68. He coached Regional Team Champions in 1997 and 1998, Gulf Coast Team Dual Champions 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002.

His teams were Gulf Coast Team Dual Runners-up in 1993-94-95-99-00-03. His teams also had a top two finish every year in the Southwest Prep Tournament. He has coached 67 state placers, 18 state champions, 26 state runners-up, 43 Southwest prep champions, 8 prep All Americans and 3 National Academic All Americans.

Steve also served as the Gulf Coast Regional Representative to the Texas Wrestling Interscholastic Wrestling Association for 10 years.

Steve was inducted into the Texas Wrestling Hall of Honor in 1998 for outstanding contributions as a leader and a coach.

He is currently the head wrestling coach at the Episcopal High School of Houston.

Russell Clarence Pederson
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Russell graduated from Mankato State College in 1961. His exposure to wrestling was limited to wrestling classes he took while at Mankato. In 1962 he was recruited by the Superintendent of Houston Minnesota to coach the wrestling team. He was also the football and baseball coach.

While at Houston, he coached many district champions, three regional champions and 3 state placers.
In 1977 he coached his team to the school’s 100th Dual meet victory.
He was named District Wrestling Coach of the Year in 1979.

In 1979 Russ and his family moved to San Antonio, Texas. Russell founded the Madison High School wrestling team and coached there until 1993. He coached many of the wrestlers from schools that didn’t have a program. At tournaments they represented their own school but worked out with Russell’s team at Madison.

Russell coached 15 All State wrestlers and 37 Regional Champions and served as the Gulf Coast Regional representative to the State Wrestling Coaches Association from 1983-1988.

He is extremely proud that his son Blaine is now the head wrestling coach at Madison to carry on the Pederson tradition.

Russell helped coordinate the AAU Junior National Tournament in San Antonio in 1988 and in 1991 he worked at the Olympic Festival in Los Angeles. In 1993 he coordinated practice times, equipment and venues for Greco and Freestyle teams for the San Antonio Olympic Festival.

In 1991 Russell was named Gulf Coast Wrestling Coach of the Year and received the North East ISD Recognition for Devoted Service to Wrestling in 1999. Look for him at any NCAA tournament or off the Coast of Corpus Christi fishing for the “big ones.”

Sharyl LeAnn Pederson
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Sharyl lists her special honor as being married to a man that started a wrestling program in Minnesota and then came to Texas to do it all over again on a volunteer basis with no school funding.

When the program at Madison was founded by her husband Russell, she sold candy bars and t-shirts and helped organize parents groups to aid the program. She served as chaperone on overnight trips and attended all of the state tournaments every year with the Madison team.

Sharyl was the assistant principal at Lee High School in San Antonio from 1987 to 1997 and encouraged the coaches there to start a wrestling program. When the UIL adopted wrestling in 1998 she immediately called former Madison wrestlers and two were hired at Churchill and Madison.

In 1983 she and Bill Gillespie ran the State Tournament in San Marcos and in 1989 she ran the State Tournament in San Antonio. Sharyl got the reputation and was asked to do the State Tournament team scores in 1990 in Amarillo and in 1991 in Dallas.

She continues to support wrestling by working tournaments in the San Antonio area and in 1997 her daughter Marcia caught the “wrestling bug” and works tournaments with her.

Sharyl was also honored in 1999 by the North East ISD for Devoted Service to Wrestling.

Congratulations to all of these distinguished honorees.

In 34 years of officiating, and 18 as a wrestler at all school levels, I have never witnessed or had such bile directed at me from a group of parents and fans.

The final score of the Dual was 44-18 with Allen taking the win. First, let me clarify that Creekview Coach Lopez and his kids were well behaved. They have good wrestlers and some that are young and coming up. I hope they stay after it.

It is early in the season and for some kids that are finding their way, they are not aggressive and everyone that has been around for awhile knows how I call stalling. Allen has a good team and they know how I call stalling and wrestled aggressively. Creekview for the most part wrestled tentatively and “not to lose.” This meant they were called for stalling and consistently so.

Probably 95% of all the calls went against Creekview and they were warranted because they were not wrestling aggressively. After each warning, caution or penalty, I always take the time to explain what the kid has done or isn’t doing that caused the call. That is why there is a warning for stalling.

I officiated the same as I always do but apparently these Creekview parents did not know me. It started with a whine “Be Fair Ref” directed at me to which I replied, “I am.” “No your not.” My fault for answering. How dare you insult my integrity.

Then came Booing by several on every call I made that didn’t go their way. “My kid is losing, It MUST BE THE REFS FAULT. Didn’t change the way I called it. I just kept calling the same way.

We then had a match where there was a dispute in the scoring. Normally, I keep the score in my head and check the scoreboard regularly to make sure the score is right and I can generally go back and recreate what happened in my head, but with 20 people screaming things directly at you, it broke my concentration. That was my fault. I should have tossed some people earlier. Anything or anyone who keeps me from concentrating on the match and calling the best match I can needs to leave.

It came down to us walking back through the score and looking at Tony’s scorebook and there was a question of whether there was one or two takedowns so we went with the official scorer who has kept score for me several times and does an excellent job.

I raised the Allen kids hand and the score was 8-6. The Boos really erupted and I turned and stared in disbelief at these people. I have never seen any of them and apparently they are used to TAWA. We do it a little differently at the High School level.

We then started the 180 lb. match and the kid from Creekview got a beautiful takedown but decided to throw a cross face from right field and I do mean he brought it all the way back before nailing the kid. I will give him credit that he pulled up just before he hit him but it was still for punishment as there was no reason to throw a cross-face when you are totally on top of the guy with both feet down behind him. Had he been to the side when he threw it, there is a setup from there. I could have called Flagrant but gave an Unsportsmanlike Conduct and these people came unhinged. Apparently, slugging your opponent is ok with these people as long as it is your kid delivering the blow.

I thought I had mellowed over the years but poor sportsmanship brings out my temper for so many different reasons.

I had already picked my two that I was going to toss and asked the officer to show the whiner and the Loud Boorish Booer who needs to trim him mustache to the front door. But we weren’t through yet. One of the men stood up and told me to ref fairly and I told him he could go out with the other two. This one almost made me laugh.
“When you get home, I hope your Momma slaps you.” Boy, that was good for right off the cuff.

It went along rather quietly after that until one of the boys from Creekview got a cramp while the Allen wrestler had his legs in. I stopped it and told him not to move because I wasn’t sure what his injury was. I guess it was Momma who had to tell me that “It didn’t have to go that far.” There was no torque or anything but he had a cramp and it was THE REFS FAULT. Lady, the debate team is a lot safer or try soccer as your group would fit right in.

Any lessons that could have been learned went right out the window because of these parents that became loudmouth adolescents. Backing out of bounds, countering without a counter-attack is stalling. It will be called on any kid the same way every match that I officiate and most of the better officials call stalling the same way I do.

We are trying to help your kids understand the rules and if they do something wrong we penalize and hope they learn.

I penalized two of the Allen kids for “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” after wrestling had ceased because they slapped the mat hard in disgust. This was the correct call. Jerry asked me if I would do that during a State Tournament. YES. If we are consistent though in the way we call it, the kid will learn that this is inappropriate behavior and not commit such acts if he makes it to State. I also asked Jerry if he WANTED his kids displaying that kind of behavior? He’s gonna get back with me on that one.

It was obvious to me that the rules aren’t understood by these people nor do they care. Some of the instructions they were yelling to their kids were totally inappropriate and they weren’t anywhere near a setup for what they were yelling for them to do. I feel bad for Tony and the kids as he apologized and one of the kids came by and apologized for the parents. I never had to apologize for my Father and my son and daughter never had to apologize for me. Why would a parent put their kid in that position?

Before every UIL meet there is a statement that is normally read before every contest that states that “Sportsmanship should be shown by all spectators, no matter which team they are backing.” Some schools require a sportsmanship contract with the parents that they will not act out and represent the school and team in a negative way. MOST of all, DO NOT EMBARRASS YOUR KID.

I was pretty sure those parents had crossed the line when I looked at Tim Bowen and his mouth was open but he wasn’t yelling at me. He was jaw-dropped at the behavior of these parents. Most of the Allen fans were the same I believe. The police officer that escorted me to the car was incredulous. He couldn’t believe it. He said he was just waiting for me to give him the word. Heck, don’t wait for me. Go get them and get them out of there before they make bigger fools of themselves.

It is amazing to me how much I improved the next night. I felt like I officiated the same way. I just sit back and watch the action and award points. If there is no action, I encourage it by calling stalling.

It could have been the differences in the crowd. Flower Mound and McKinney fans understood their role in the event. Cheer your kids on and don’t make a fool of yourself.

By the way, Allen’s parents conducted themselves as they always do. Properly.

It is really very simple. We each have jobs.

Mine is to officiate-if you were qualified you should be out there. You may know some of the rules but we have to know them all. Shucks, they give us tests and everything.
Coach-If there is a question, it is HIS job to talk to the official.

Fan- To cheer on their team. You do not have the right to talk to an official nor set a bad example for the kids. If you act up, you will lose your job and be in the parking lot waiting for the match to end.

There will be a UIL report filed and a hopefully the school board will deal with this. All officials will be briefed on this at our next meeting. We wont be laying for anyone but there is not going to be a repeat of this performance. I waited too long to start tossing people. That is a mistake I wont make again.
Time to grow up and act like a responsible parent.

I have been so blessed in my life to be associated with men and women and kids who live by a code. Rationalizing right and wrong is not an option. Right is right and wrong is wrong. There are no gray areas.

I have had several people who have shown me the right path in life and in the sport. My idol turned close friend Paul Aubrey. He lived a good life and was truly one the best people I have ever known.

Bob Maughan, my only real coach in my mind. He is loved by those he coached because he loved you and he showed it. He walks the right path and you want to follow.

Brandon Slay, a champion on the mat and off. I officiated him in high school and I am so proud of him because of the person he is and the exemplary example he presents for our kids. He could be the most humble person I know and is so wise for a man his age. Wiser than me and I am old enough to be his__brother?

Keegan Mueller- a winner all the time regardless of the score. Win or lose, he was always the same christian kid that displayed sportsmanship and respect for all. In doing so, he earned the respect of all who met him.

There are so many I can’t list them all because I may forget one.

On July 14th, I lost my role model, my mentor and my best friend. My Dad. W.C. “Dub” McQueen. I want to share some of his wisdom in the hope that some of this makes sense to the kids and they begin to see some of the lessons that their parents are trying to impart to them.

My Dad was old school and I have to give you a little background to appreciate the sacrifices he made willingly. When I was born in 1950 my Dad was playing Pro Baseball in the Cubs organization and by midseason he was the starting catcher in the majors. He was a 4-sport, 4-time all stater from Wynnewood, Oklahoma. In November of 1950 my mother’s Dad died of TB and asked my Dad on his death bed to make sure his family was taken care of.

My maternal grandmother went into a catatonic state that lasted for 15 years and was institutionalized. My mother had 4 brothers between 10-16 and a sister that was 2.

At 21 my father became the father of six and went to work for Chicago Bridge and Iron building refineries as he couldn’t make enough playing ball then and you can’t raise that many kids on the road. There were 4 sisters after me.

After I was older and realized what he had given up, I asked him if he ever thought about it or had regrets. No pause “I made a promise to your Grandfather and a vow to your Mother so there wasn’t anything to think about. There was no choosing, you do what is right.”

You see, in our house it was simple. There was only one rule. “Do the right thing.” There were no spankings but we had “CHATS.” You had to stand with your nose on his while he had Copenhagen in his mouth and explain what you did wrong. Never had the same CHAT twice. My worst fear was that my parents would be disappointed in me.

Many of you kids face peer pressure and so did I at your age. My Dad prepared me well. This was his greatest gift to me.

“There are two kind of people in this world, Leaders and Followers. A leader decides his fate, a follower cedes that decision to someone else.” “If you want to see a bunch of followers, I’ll take you to McAlester State Pen. Everyone of them will tell you it wasn’t their idea.”

“Each man is given free will by God. Each path you choose you suffer the consequences or you reap the benefit. By being a follower you let someone else choose your path.” “A Leader is in charge of his own destiny and takes the path that is “Right” and doesn’t rationalize. “Any “friend” that would try to lead you to darkness is no friend. YOU are responsible for your own actions, no one else.”

I was no angel but when my friends wanted to do something that I knew was wrong, I asked them to take me home. I was razzed but held my ground. “There are simply things I will not do.” I always followed with a gesture involving a finger. Those friends respect me to this day for that.

Many of you may suffer self esteem problems. My Dad tied this in with the message above. “A person that does the RIGHT thing will like who he sees in the mirror and have self-respect. It doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks, it is what is right in your heart and the eyes of God.” “Respect and love by others will be the by-product. It’s better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you’re not.”

For those of you that know me, I am sure you have noticed that I have no problem with self-esteem. Pop used to say, “If you don’t believe in yourself, don’t expect others to.”

I watched my Father give people a second chance in life when others turned away. He found a man beaten severely in 1981 at the end of the Jefferson Street Bridge. The man told my Dad he was a veteran and Dad took him to the VA Hospital. 3 days later they called Dad and told him that he could come pick up William Killian. Dad said he would take him home so he picked him up and “Red,” as he would come to be known by the family, directed my Dad back to the bridge. He got out and started under the bridge. That’s where he lived. My Dad took him home for a “few days” to recover as he was afraid someone else would beat him. 23 years later, Red died peacefully in his sleep on my Dad’s couch. “No man that fought for our country will sleep under a bridge when I have a room in my house.”

Thanksgiving and Christmas are a huge event in my family because it is a huge family. Every year we were introduced to someone that had no place to go for the holidays. Many of them will continue to spend their holidays with us because that is what Dad would want.

My Dad was at every baseball game and every wrestling match I had. He sat quietly and spoke with his eyes. For baseball he would always take me home and we would work on things I needed to improve on but it was never done negatively. In wrestling, he deferred to my coach cause he said ” I never knew whether you were winning or losing til they raised your hand.”

The one thing he promised me that he would never embarass me or any of his kids by making a scene at a school event. He made us promise to do the same with our kids. If only he could have gotten through to my mother, I wouldn’t have been known as MIKEY all the way through high school.

His lessons were simple because he taught by example. “Be there for your family and friends without fail and let those you love know it, not just in words but deeds.” ” To have a friend you must be a TRUE friend.” “Find something to laugh about every day, even if the laughs on you.”

He walked the talk. He was the most HONORABLE man I ever knew and the funniest and I will spend the rest of my life living up to his legacy.

Starting today: Be somebody you’d be proud to know!!!