by Oran Sorenson
It was in the fall of 1969 when Norbert Bruggeman delivered three 24-ft long round packages on his truck. Kids from the study hall were asked to unload this unusual three-piece cargo. “Boy, they are long and heavy!” exclaimed some young farm boy in the crowd. “What are these things Mr. Bowar?” another young lad asked. Until now, wrestling had only been introduced as an intramural activity and wrestling took place on small thin mattresses previously only used as tumbling mats in PE. Keeping these mattresses close together and covering the hard gym floor was a never-ending task in an effort to prevent injuries. Mr. Bowar had for a long time solicited support from the school board to launch this program and provide an alternative sport for young boys who were not inclined or interested in basketball. His four-year wish came true in the 1969-70 school year.
Originally from Dimock, Al Bowar had wrestled in college at Springfield State Teachers College. Bowar was South Dakota’s first intercollegiate conference champion and participated in the 137 lb. weight class. Coach Bowar taught for two years and introduced the sport of wrestling in Verdi, Minnesota before his move to live and teach in the community of Garretson, where he would also be married and raise his family. When the fall sports were over that year, the many young boys who had no winter sport were anxious to see what this new sport would entail. But first, where would we unroll these three big mats to practice? The first year, part of the physical workout each day was to carry these very heavy mats and unroll them either in the lunch room, on the gym stage, or in the old Legion dugout. It would not be until some time later when the old original gym was abandoned by other interests that Coach Bowar would finally have a permanent place to leave the mats. But even then, for competition in the new gym, (today’s old gym first opened in or around 1966), the team would have to pull the mats up the old staircase and carry them on their shoulders, meandering through the lower halls to the gymnasium.
Workouts that first year included a lot of running, usually up the staircases and throughout the halls. Also important to coach Bowar was a routine of weight lifting with barbells in the old weight room called the “dungeon” beneath the stage in the old gym. But the most important part of practice each day was work on the fundamentals of the new sport. We had to learn what a setup was, then the all-important takedown. Next was to learn how to “ride,” which after one minute was an extra point for riding time like they still have in college today. On the bottom we learned just two moves, the switch or the long sit out. The standup, most popular today, did not come until some time later. What did Coach Bowar demand of us that first year? You will always get out of the bottom, and you must never get pinned. That was not an option. When you were on the top, each of us developed our own favorite pinning combination. And every single wrestler had a least one.
Nearly forty young lads showed up that first week for practice. A few fell through the cracks, but even at the end of the season there were still 26 boys on the team. Coach Bowar was able to put together a nine dual and one tournament schedule. The one tournament was the long-lasting Chester tournament, which has now been turned into the Top of the Rock event now held in Dell Rapids, who until this year invited Chester to join their program. Additional to this schedule was of course the district, region, and state tournaments at the end of the year. The public was first able to witness what this program would offer on a Monday night against Sioux Valley in our local gym. Eighth grader Elden Semmen, now a farmer and gravel supplier in Edison Township, would make history as our first varsity wrestler to take the mat at 98 pounds. Freshman Ron Nelson would likewise make history to be the first GHS wrestler to get a pin on friendly turf. With eight pins and one forfeit our maiden voyage would make a big splash with a convincing 45-13 sinking of the Cossacks of Sioux Valley. These first-year grapplers were extremely fired up on their first outing with pins coming from sophomores David Quamen and Randy Schleuter, juniors Paul Nesheim and Jim Julson, and seniors Dick Dubbelde, Oran Sorenson, and Steve Holzapfel. Awarded 6 points for forfeit was senior Royce Quamen.
As that first season advanced, the Cinderella story continued with wins over experienced programs such as Hurley, Arlington, Chester, Hills Beaver Creek, and a very respectable 2nd or 3rd place finish in that Chester Tournament. The only regular season losses that year were to a loaded Brandon Valley Lynx team and a team from Sioux Falls Lincoln that was supposed to be their JV. We soon found out that Lincoln coach and relative of Coach Bowar, Frank Kurtenbach, had sneaked in a few varsity wrestlers that night, which proved to only make the Blue Dragon grapplers tougher in the long run. Both the District and Region tournaments that year were held in the new gym of Sioux Falls Lincoln. With the sport of wrestling still relatively new, there was no A or B division, just South Dakota wrestling. Some schools such as Brookings, Faulkton, Miller, and Redfield were the pioneers and actually had introduced the sport a number of years earlier. One history source says the first wrestling competition to ever take place in South Dakota was at the school for the blind in Gary. The second round of schools to offer the sport were the Sioux Falls schools, Brandon, Chester, and a few others. Only Dell Rapids, Tri-Valley and maybe Salem in our area were after Garretson. It is interesting to see how many small schools once offered the sport and were quite competitive in the old days. Montrose, Canistota, Hills Beaver Creek, and Chester would well fit into that category.
A surprising number of our young men qualified at that first District tournament to move on to the Region competition the next week at the same location. During the long day at region competition our boys would wrestle all the area schools, large and small, as well as experienced teams from as far away as Wagner, Yankton, and Vermillion. From the Region III meet, two of our boys were fortunate enough to move on to the state competition in Watertown. Those two boys were Jim Julson at 115 lbs. and Oran Sorenson at 175. Julson was able to win one match and Sorenson was one and out. In those days if you lost and your opponent did not make it all the way to the quarterfinals, you earned no wrestle back, which of course has been changed to the better today. Another feat definitely deserving mention was our 137 pounder Dick Dubbelde. Dick used his “farm strength” and new found skills to finish the regular season that first year undefeated. No doubt from those who knew the team that there was something special about that first year. Much of that determination was instilled by a very special person, Al Bowar. The crowd too enjoyed that maiden voyage. It has been told that at coffee, Clair McKenzie and other new gentleman fans loved telling about what feats they witnessed the previous night at the local gym. Also, testament to the popularity of our newest sport was the crowd at the dual with Brandon Valley in our local gym. As many college kids came home for a holiday weekend, there was standing room only for the people from Garretson as well as our neighbors in Brandon who wanted to see the show. Not until some years later at the football game against Brandon at Tanberg field, with two teams ranked high and loaded with talent, was the attendance record broken from that winter night back in 1969-70. Assistant coach that first year was student teacher Allan Eitriem, who assisted coach Bowar in any way he could at practice.
Last by certainly not least, was the importance of cheerleaders. Having a nice group of young ladies was always important to any wrestling squad. Besides leading the team in cheers, many a coach long believed it was easier to recruit boys if there were some fine young girls on the bus. With so much attention and work kicking off the actual wrestling squad, picking cheerleaders for the new sport had not happened. So, for the first two meets the senior basketball cheerleaders Peg Vandersnick Quamen, Jean Leister Wick, Mary Garry Frerk, and Nancy Froseth Stanisz did their best to adapt their basketball cheers to the new sport, and their efforts were greatly appreciated by the team. According to former news articles rediscovered by fellow senior classmate Kristi Hanson Gramstad, on December the 12th nineteen young girls performed their skill in front of three judges being ranked on such skills as the ability to jump and do cheers, team leadership, the ability to get the crowd involved, and overall congeniality, etc. The three chosen that would now focus on learning all they could about the new sport, were junior Deb Rinken Bonte and seniors Julie DeSchepper Heinemann and Kristi Hanson Gramstad. All three did a very fine job and were very important to that first-year team.
Probably the best compliment one could give that first-year team was that “they got it done!” Yes, there were three 3-sport athletes on that team, but all were brand new to this sport and it was not skilled athletic ability alone that brought the success that year. What brought the success that first year was a bunch of good old boys, many from the farm, all with a faith in the leadership from a Coach whom it was easy to believe in. We were all one, on a maiden voyage not knowing exactly what was ahead. But there was belief in each other, and especially in our Captain. When people believe, it is amazing what can happen. That maiden voyage with many young boys watching would establish a foundation which lead to much success for this program in years to come. Our first gold medalist in wrestling was just a sophomore that first year. David Quamen would go on to be our first state champion a year or two later and there would be many more to follow. But as the dust settles and the many years would pass, through older eyes when one looks back it certainly was not a title, ribbon, medal, or wall chart that would make this commitment special. What made it special was being expected to do our best, being taught to believe in ourselves and each other, and the smiles and good feeling that would come with whatever success we were able to achieve. And sometimes that’s got to be enough.
