By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
Dowagiac celebrated 50 years of wrestling Wednesday night during its Wolverine Conference quad meet with Three Rivers, Vicksburg and Paw Paw.
Dowagiac honored the 1956-57 wrestling team in between its matches with Vicksburg and Three Rivers.
Thirteen members of that original wrestling team attended the match.
Returning were Adolf Kruger, Chuck Nolke, Duane Bailey, Jack Szymanowski, Roger Baker, John Sadowitz, Craig Hardman, Sonny Bakeman, Al Fruedenberg, Ron Behnke, Bruce Behrmann, Jerry Potter and the legendary Dave Behrman.
The members of the team were announced prior to the start of the Three Rivers match. They were also honored at a reception following the matches.
A display was set up in the cafeteria which featured memorabilia from the decades.
Behrman, who played for the Buffalo Bills in the former American Football Conference, traveled the farthest to take part in the festivities as he lives near Jackson.
Nolke noted that he was attending his first wrestling match since competing in high school.
"He told me it was great," Dowagiac Athletic Director Greg Younger said of Nolke's comments about the action on the mat.
More than 25 other alumni attended the match and were treated to a pair of Dowagiac victories.
The second win over Three Rivers, got them out of their seats as the Chieftains erased a 22-point deficit for a 34-28 victory.
"It was nice to get a victory like that in front of a good crowd," Dowagiac coach John Green said. "I was nice to have all those alumni in the stands cheering us on."
Other members of the team were John Barnhardt, Wilbur Sumners, Gary Behrman, Terry Stone, Gary Basham, Gary Ruff, Craig Hardman, Dennis Houseworth, Butch Johnson, Carl Miller, Bob Reed and Ron Churchill.
The team was coached by Earl Clupper and Dick Boles.