This summer I sat in a sweltering Wellspring Church in Ferguson and listened to a panel of speakers discuss the killing of Michael Brown Jr. and the aftermath of that tragedy. The panel included Ferguson Mayor James Knowles. After the event was over I walked up to Mayor Knowles and challenged him to a wrestling match. He responded to my challenge with an amused look.
Despite the numerous political disagreements we have, I admire the fact that Knowles volunteers as a little league wrestling coach at McCluer South-Berkeley. North St. Louis County was once a powerhouse in the sport of wrestling, and today the sport is on life support in North County (and the City of St. Louis). Other than the McCluer South-Berkeley program, there are only two other little league programs remaining in North County: St. Louis Warrior Wrestling coached by Jeremy Guyton and Major Decision Wrestling ran out of McCluer North.
To put this into historical context, Ritenour won every Missouri state team wrestling championship from 1948-1963, and the one time they didn’t win O’Fallon Tech won. In 1965 Riverview Gardens won their first of six Missouri state championships. McCluer won in 1968. Hazelwood in 1969. Hazelwood West in 1985. Hazelwood East won three state championships from 1993-95.
Then there is Coach Charlie Sherertz Sr. Between 1967-73 he led Northwest High School in the Walnut Park neighborhood of North St. Louis to five state championships. After a stint in Nebraska (where he led Columbus High School to four state championships) Sherertz returned to Missouri wrestling, coaching McCluer North to three state championships from 1988-90.
After 1995 there are no more state championships for North County. The epicenter of power for the sport of wrestling in Missouri moved to St. Charles County and to the suburbs of Kansas City.
Why did wrestling rise in North County? And why did it fall?
I have my theory. If we look nationally, wrestling has tended to thrive in both industrial blue-collar areas (such as the mining and factory towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio) and rural farming communities (in Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, etc.).
North County suburbs boomed in the post-World War II years for many reasons: the GI Bill, suburban housing boom, the interstate highway system, and desegregation in the city leading to white flight. Within this newly created suburban culture, there were many good and bad traits, but one of the defining characteristics of North County has always been hard work.
North County grew as industrial blue-collar suburbia. Hardworking people achieving a little piece of the American Dream in modest homes. Prosperity in North County was at its highest when unions were strongest, factories were open, and the economy was growing. Today North County is still full of hard workers. Anyone who disputes this, I encourage you to wake up at five in the morning and see who is getting up early to go to the bus stops and Metro stations to commute to their low-paying jobs with laughable benefits.
Wrestling has declined in North County as the economy declined. While the economy declined and communities were desegregated in the same time period, white flight to St. Charles County and further points west exploded. The sport of wrestling was a casualty as wrestling coaches, officials and families moved west of the river along with everyone else.
The question for the wrestling community is: if you love this sport and want to give back to the sport shouldn’t you be giving where it is needed most? When I talked to the Athletic Director at Riverview Gardens and he told me that the school may not even have a wrestling program anymore, it hurt my heart. When I see other schools in North County with once-proud programs no longer competitive, it hurts my heart. When I see the St. Louis Public Schools with zero commitment to the sport of wrestling, it hurts my heart.
Why? Not because of trophies and not because of medals. No, there is something far greater than that. Wrestling builds character. Wrestling creates virtue. Wrestling helps to build the future leaders of our society.
I want every child to have access to this beautiful and ancient sport. You shouldn’t have to live in a nice neighborhood to be able to wrestle and be properly coached. Having parents who can’t afford to send them to academies and camps should not prohibit kids from competing at a high level.
Wrestling doesn’t have to only thrive in the middle-class suburbs and exurbs. It can thrive in the ghettos and barrios of America and in communities made up of the working poor, African Americans, and immigrants. USA Wrestling started the Beat The Streets program for this reason. However, much more is needed.
First and foremost, the fraternity of ex-wrestlers must give back where it’s needed and where the kids need it the most. This is in both maintaining the sport in places like North County and expanding the sport in places in the city.
Secondly, school districts must be lobbied to do their part to ensure kids have access to wrestling.
Lastly, if urban recreation centers throughout the country (including the City of St. Louis) are going to fund boxing programs, they need to start funding wrestling programs as well. This is something we must lobby Aldermanic President Lewis Reed – a former wrestler – on.
Umar Lee may be reached for comment at umarlee@gmail.com. His writing may be found at his Amazon author page or umarlee.wordpress.com.
