SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2008 Wrestlers WithOut Borders will name the inaugural class of the Don Jung Hall of Merit inductees at the 24th annual Don Jung
Memorial Tournament this weekend in Chicago. The Hall of Merit was created to
recognize salutary and long-term contributions toward making wrestling
successful and inclusive.
The inductees to be announced this Sunday, May 25, will form the foundation class of the Hall with four wrestling pioneers who were honored last year in San Francisco at the tournament, formerly called the Memorial Day Weekend Tournament: Southern California Wrestling Club founder Peter Runyon, Golden Gate President Gene Dermody (who has wrestled in all six Gay Games), San Francisco State's Allen Abraham (who delivered the keynote address at the inaugural Gay Games in 1982) and Steve Swanson of Archbishop Riordan High School. Swanson, whose posthumous award was accepted by his protégé Vic Anastasio at Riordan, worked with GGWC founder Don Jung to ensure the success and acceptance of the first two Gay Games wrestling tournaments.
This year's list of nominees spans three decades and two oceans. The nominees are: Kevin Martin, Rick Van Tassell and Bob Sayers of Pennsylvania; Barry Webb of Australia; Jek Fong of Great Britain; New York¹s Ed Lindsay; and Californians Ron Ward, Abram "Alex" Ostrovskiy, Russ Connelly, Johnny Almony, Les Morgan, Jerry Tillman, Roger Brigham, Kathy McAdams, Rochelle Robinson, Carlis Sharpe, Ace Rocek, and Erich Richter.
"We wanted to establish a tradition that reinforces our values by properly recognizing those who have sacrificed the most for our mission, so that others will be inspired," Dermody said. "We are looking at a 25-year history in which we have neglected to recognize many of our leaders who are now gone. We want to honor them now as well as those who continue to lead us.
"We call it a Hall of Merit rather than a Hall of Fame because we are not honoring people who sought fame as an ego boost. The nominees have all displayed sacrifice and selflessness to encourage other to achieve as much as they could and to create safe and supportive wrestling opportunities for athletes regardless of skill level, gender, orientation or age."
Four of the nominees are club founders: Webb (Sydney's Harbour City Wrestling Club), Fong (London Amateur Wrestlers), Lindsay (New York's Twin Towers Wrestling Club), and Connelly (San Diego Bulldogs Wrestling Club). Almony, a three-time Gay Games medalist, captained Golden Gate Wrestling since 1998 before returning to Hawaii, where he remains an active wrestling coach. Van Tassell has participated in multiple Gay Games in wrestling and martial arts, competes in the mid-Atlantic region in various wrestling styles, and was an early organizer and coach for the Philadelphia Spartans, in addition to serving several years as WWB¹s delegate to the Federation of Gay Games.
Philadelphia's Martin and San Francisco's Ostrovskiy, Tillman and Morgan are all USAW officials whose support of the Gay Games and club tournaments has helped earn acceptance and respect for WWB clubs. Ostrovskiy, who holds international wrestling¹s highest officiating credentials, survived the WWII invasion of the Soviet Union, competed and coached there at the highest level, and has worked with GGWC since 2001. He also officiated at the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney and conducts frequent technique clinics for GGWC, as do Martin and Morgan.
Golden Gate's McAdams and Robinson were among the first women to win California-USAW freestyle championships in the 1990s. Sharpe, an East Coast champion who competed in the first four Gay Games; and Rocek, a Nebraska champion who competed for Notre Dame and in three Gay Games, were major contributors and inspiration in the early development of GGWC.
For the past 14 years, Sayers, of Fleetville, Pa., has organized and run a low-cost summer multidisciplinary wrestling camp in Pennsylvania that attracts about 150 wrestlers from every style from pro wrestling to submission. Ward was responsible for keeping SCWC running for several years after the death of SCWC former coach Mike Rio in the late 1980s. Brigham, current chair of WWB, became the first person in history to compete in freestyle wrestling on artificial hips, winning a silver medal in the USAW Far Western and a gold at the 2006 Gay Games, and founded GGWC's Alliance Wrestling program for San Francisco high school students. Richter, a three-time Gay Games medalist, was WWB¹s first chair and designed the early web sites for the FGG, WWB and GGWC.
This year¹s Jung tournament serves as WWB¹s first official championship, held in non-Gay Games years. The next championship will be in May 2009 at the 25th annual Don Jung Memorial Tournament in San Francisco. The tournament was relocated for 2008 to Chicago, host for the last Gay Games in 2006.