Who are the top 25 Most Influencial People in Illinois Wrestling

[tada]

Originally Posted by greenlantern

can some explain to me what happend with jeff estrada and were hes from because I dont know

IKWF "Sons of Thunder" coach. Dual Team State Champs, and many individuals state champs, including Keith Surber,Jake Gregerson, Chris Williams, Dominic Chase, Cain Salas, Josh Bennett??? i think, Drake Chase,David Pierce. Controversial coach, his high level of enthusiasm and ambition was often misunderstood in Illinois.

[tada]

Originally Posted by Can't make weight

I've never posted before but I feel compelled to throw Henry Pillard's name into the list. Henry was wrestling coach for Joliet Junior College from 1965-1985. He recruited heavily from local high schools. I believe he is very responsible for northern Ill being the wrestling power house it is today. Many of his wrestlers are now high school and college coaches. He produced 46 All-Americans and 8 National Champions. He was instrumental in bringing the Joliet International Wrestling Tournament from 1978-1982. Until this tournament many young local wrestlers had never heard of freestyle wrestling. 1968 patent (wrestling throw dummies), 1968 & 1972 Olympic Trial Coach, 1975 & 1978 Junior College Coach of the year, 1986 Ill Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame, 1990 Athletic Hall of Fame, 1997 IHSA Grand Marshall, 2002 National Wrestling Hall of Fame-Presented with Lifetime Service To Wrestling Award.

That is cool. I enjoy learning of people like Henry Pillard. Is he still around?

Also, didn't Kyle Jahns Dad have a lot to do with the IESA?
And I agree with all the mentions of Mark Mestemacher. He's the guy down south for sure.

[Mann]

Originally Posted by tada

IKWF "Sons of Thunder" coach. Dual Team State Champs, and many individuals state champs, including Keith Surber, Chris Williams, Dominic Chase, Cain Salas, Josh Bennett??? i think, David Pierce. Contraversial coach, his high level of enthusiasm and ambition was often misunderstood in Illinois.

I run the Pondo CO website and wondered what the story was on all the recent traffic from the IllinoisMatmen forum.

Jeff Estrada was a very welcome addition to the Pondo coaching staff. He's running the junior wrestling program and an assistant at the high school. I've only talked to him a couple of times, but I only hear good stuff from anyone who has seen him in action. I think we really lucked out by getting him on board. I hope he sticks around for the long haul because a great Jr. Wrestling coach will take the program to new levels.

I was out with the head coach about a week ago and people's initial reaction to Jeff came up as a topic of converstion. He told me that the first few days of Junior Wrestling practice he got scores of phone calls from concerned parents, and he told every one of them the same thing: "Give it a couple weeks and then call me back if you still feel the same way". Not a single phone call back or negative comment since.

He seems to be an interesting guy, but there is no question about his enthusiasm or coaching ability.

[tada]

thanks for that reply MANN!!!
Our loss was your gain.

[mkoz57]

Coach jim craig!!!

[Artheritis]

Jon Davis

As long as I can remember he was the 1st one there at any IKWF event & he was also the last to leave. The guy just flat-out busted his butt for youth wrestling.

I don't know if you'd call what he did "influential", but he had a huge influence in IL wrestling (if'n ya know what I mean).

[sp103]

I see a lot of wrestlers' names posted because of their record as a competitor. If that's the case then all three and four time champs should be "influential". If a wrestler is great on the mat AND contributed to the sport as a coach, writer etc than I think their name belongs on the list. For example Mike Mena, 4 time champ, 4 AA, accomplished freestyler on the Senior circuit, asst coach at Indiana that has produced 3 of the last 4 125 pound champs. Same with Israel Martinez, he's made contributions to the sport after he was done competing.

[King Cradle]

albert white, lee munster

[GOOTS15]

Originally Posted by King Cradle

albert white, lee munster

While these guys are both excellent wrestlers, I don't think you can really say they are [i]influential[i], let alone in the top 25 Most Influential people. They would be a better fit on a top wrestlers list.

[10bender]

My opinion 1. Mike Polz 2. Keith Healy 3. The Ruetigger Brothers