Bison Wrestling Through the Decades, Presented by Geisinger

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Wrestling at Bucknell dates back to World War II, when servicemen stationed at Bucknell formed a wrestling team. In 1946-47, the sport earned varsity status, and although it would be another two years before the program earned its first dual win, the Bison have gone on to produce numerous conference champions, NCAA qualifiers and All-Americans. The Bison won team league championships in 1986-87 and 1994-95, and since the varsity program was brought back in 2006-07 after a four-year hiatus, Bucknell has competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), one of the top leagues in the nation. Under the direction of head coach Dan Wirnsberger, the Bison have finished as high as third in the EIWA on two occasions, and they have crowned three EIWA individual champions and a two-time All-American in Andy Rendos, who is a 2020 inductee into the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame. Over the course of this week, we will take a look back through the decades and hear from many of the top wrestlers who helped shape the program's history. Special thanks to Geisinger for sponsoring the series.

1950s & 1960s
After debuting as a varsity sport in 1946-47, Bucknell Wrestling gained traction as one ot the better teams in the East during the 1950s and 1960s. The Bison recorded two undefeated seasons in that era, a 7-0 mark under head coach Bill Wrabley in 1957-58 and a 9-0 record under Fred Prender in 1961-62. The latter team was co-captained by Bill Graham '62 and Ken Brust '63 P'97, who join us on today's chat along with Pete Fritts '60 and Bill Sweet '63. Graham recorded a 7-1 record during that 1961-62 season that saw Bucknell sweep all nine duals and then finish third at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships. Graham has gone on to become one of Bucknell's most generous benefactors, and his support paved the way for the wrestling program's return to varsity status in 2005 as well as the beautiful new Graham Wrestling Center. He is a member of the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame, the EIWA Hall of Fame, and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Fritts logged a 14-3-2 record in dual matches and finished in third place at the MAC Championships in 1960, helping the Bison to a best-ever second-place team finish. Brust posted a 10-4-3 dual record, he was a MAC runner-up in 1961-62 after finishing third the previous year. Sweet compiled a 7-1 record in duals and was twice a third-place finisher at the MAC Championships

1970s
The decade of the 1970s saw a couple of coaching changes and a conference change. Rich Schumacher took over as head coach in 1970-71 and led the team for three seasons, and then in 1973-74 Bob Ferraro began his 24-year tenure. In 1974, In Ferraro's second season, Bucknell moved from the Middle Atlantic Conference to the East Coast Conference, and the Bison finished fourth in their first ECC Championships on the heels of a 10-6-1 dual season. The team's best ECC finish of the decade came in 1979, when Bucknell finished second to Hofstra by a mere 3.5 points. A number of great wrestlers donned orange and blue singlets in the '70s, none better than Tom Scotton '78, who graduated with an 89-4-1 career record, with all four losses coming at the NCAA Championships. Scotton never lost a dual match (55-0-1), he won three ECC titles at 126 and 134 pounds, and he was named ECC Outstanding Wrestler in 1976. Scotton, Rick Strouse '78 and Bob Bryson '78 were Bucknell's first NCAA qualifiers in 1976, and in 1979 Steve and Bob Greenly of nearby Milton, Pa., became Bucknell's first brother combo to go to NCAAs. Scotton and Bryson are two of the guests on today's episode of Through the Decades, and they are joined by Gene Santoli '75, Bill Cressler '76 and Richard Salamone '80. Santoli was a heavyweight whose career .831 winning percentage (60-9-8) ranks fourth in team history. Cressler was a three-year letterman who captained the 1975-76 team. Salamone was a four-year letterman at Bucknell competing at 118 pounds, and he enjoyed a stellar international wrestling career. He won seven National AAU or U.S. Wrestling Federation championships, including in 1978 when he was 2-1 in World Cup competition and traveled with the U.S. team to the Soviet Union. He competed at the 1982 Olympic Trials and was once ranked first nationally at 105.5 pounds.

1980s
The Bison wrestling squad continued its excellence throughout much of the 1980s. The lone blip came in 1982-83, when the Bison finished 1-13 in duals and slipped to fifth at the East Coast Conference Championships. But just one year later the team set a school record with 11 dual wins and moved back up to third in the conference, and in 1986-87 the Bison captured their first-ever league championship. Led by ECC Outstanding Wrestler Ed Curran '88, who won his second of three straight 134-pound titles, the Bison topped host Rider by 15.5 points to claim the crown. Bucknell took second in each of the next three seasons, setting a record with five conference champions in 1989. One of those was 167-pounder Tom Marchetti '91, who would later become Bucknell's very first All-American with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Marchetti won four matches in Oklahoma City in 1989, including two pins and a major decision, and he was the highest finisher in the entire tournament among non-seeded wrestlers. Marchetti advanced all the way to the semifinals before losing to top-seeded and eventual champion Dave Lee of Wisconsin, but he pinned Syracuse's Jason Morris in the first period of the consolation semis to get into the third-place match. Joining us on our look back to the 1980s are Bob Greenly '80, Tom Pangonas '84, Ted Christiansen '86, Kevin Bullis '88, Curran '88 and Carl Chambers '89 P'17, '19. Greenly was a two-year team captain and a two-time ECC champion. he won the 1979 ECC title at 177 pounds and then dropped down to 167 and won another gold medal in 1980. He was also a two-time NCAA qualifier. Pangonas was a two-year captain, a two-time ECC heavyweight champion and a two-time NCAA qualifier. He was also a three-year letterman on the Bison football team. Bullis was elected team captain as a senior, and he was a two-time ECC 158-pound champion and two-time NCAA qualifier. Curran was a two-year captain, and his career winning percentage of .777 ranks seventh on Bucknell's all-time list. He made three NCAA trips, advancing as far as the quarterfinals in 1986, and he was also a two-time Academic All-American.

1990s
Some of the best wrestlers in Bucknell history competed during the 1990s, including Hall-of-Famers Bryan Burns '91, Tom Marchetti '91 and Bobby Ferraro '94, all of whom join us on today's call along with Steve Caruso '95 and Gbenga Akinnagbe '00. With all of that talent in the program during that era, it's no surprise that the team found great success, particularly in the early part of the decade. from 1990-95, the Bison finished no worse than fourth in conference championship action, highlighted by an ECWA championship in 1995 and runner-up finishes in 1990 (ECC) and 1992 (ECWA). Burns, a 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, won three straight conference titles from 1989-91, and as a senior he finished eighth at 190 pounds at the NCAA Championships to secure All-America honors. Marchetti became Bucknell's very first All-American two years earlier, when he placed fourth at 167 pounds. That remains the highest national finish in program history. Marchetti, who ranks fifth in team history in winning percentage (.813), was a three-time conference champion and the ECC Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1990. He won a total of eight matches at NCAAs, including four by fall, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. Ferraro became Bucknell's first two-time All-American when he finished eighth at 177 pounds in 1994 and seventh one year later. His 118 career victories was a school record at the time and now ranks fourth, and his .846 winning percentage (118-21-1) ranks second behind only fellow Hall of Famer Tom Scotton '78. Ferraro, a 2004 Hall of Fame inductee, was a four-time ECWA champion. Caruso enjoyed a sensational senior season in 1995, when he captured the ECWA title at 134 pounds and earned an NCAA bid. Akinnagbe was a two-year letterman on the Bison wrestling team, and he has gone on to great success as a film and television actor. Perhaps his best-known role was as Chris Partlow in the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire.

2000s
The decade of the 2000s was a period of both disappointment and triumph for Bison Wrestling. Following the 2001-02 season, the program was reclassified to club-varsity status, along with men's crew. But through the generosity and creativity of Bill Graham and other alumni, the program officially regained its varsity status on May 12, 2005. The announcement was made at The Graham Company headquarters in Philadelphia, and the ceremony was attended by wrestling legend Dan Gable and other dignitaries, as well as Dan Wirnsberger, who had been named head coach just two days earlier. Wirnsberger spent more than a full year rebuilding the program's infrastructure and hitting the recruiting trail, and when the first competitions rolled around in 2006-07, the Bison hit the ground flying. Bucknell defeated Maryland in its first dual in November, and the squad finished 12-9-1 overall and 3-3-1 against EIWA opponents. Led by stars such as David Marble, who reached the 133-pound final, Andy Rendos and Shane Riccio, the Bison placed a respectable ninth at the EIWA Championships in their first year back and sent three wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. By 2009, the team finished third at EIWAs, a school-record six Bison qualified for NCAAs, and Rendos placed fifth to become Bucknell's first All-American since Bobby Ferraro in 1995. Here to talk about how the team achieved such early success are Wirnsberger, Marble '10, Rendos '10, Riccio '10 and Kevin LeValley '11. Current senior Matt Kolonia also joins the discussion. Marble and Rendos will go down as rare four-year team captains, and both were four-time EIWA placewinners and NCAA qualifiers. Marble's 111 career wins rank fifth in team history. Rendos, a 2020 Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame inductee in his first year of eligibility, graduated with a school-record 121 wins, only to see that total surpassed by LeValley (127) the following year. Rendos' .791 career winning percentage is sixth-best in team history. After finishing as the 165-pound EIWA runner-up in 2009, he won the title as a senior in 2010. He earned a spot on the podium at NCAAs in both 2009 and 2010, making him Bucknell's second-ever two-time All-American along with Ferraro (LeValley would join that club a year later). Riccio was a two-year captain who won 108 career bouts, seventh-most in team history. He was a three-time EIWA placewinner, including a pair of third-place finishes, and went to NCAAs three times. LeValley not only holds the Bucknell career wins record, but his 42 wins in 2009-10 is the single-season record as well. LeValley was the EIWA champion at 149 pounds in 2011 (see 2010s for more on that historic win) and was awarded the EIWA Coaches' Trophy. He finished seventh at NCAAs in both 2010 and 2011 to become a two-time All-American. LeValley competed internationally after graduation and has been an assistant coach at Bucknell since 2015.

2010s
One of the most significant events in Bucknell Wrestling history took place in the summer of 2016, when the doors opened to the brand new Graham Wrestling Center. Located on the second floor of the Graham Building, which also houses the Bucknell Student Health Center, the new facility is a game-changer for the program and was made possible by one of its most prominent alumni and benefactors, Bill Graham '62. The state-of-the art training center provides the Bison wrestling team with a spacious practice area, weight room, locker room, sports medicine center and coaches offices. One the competitive mats, the Bison crowned three EIWA champions during the decade of the 2010s: Andy Rendos (2010), Kevin LeValley (2011) and Joe Stolfi (2014). Rendos garnered his second straight All-America medal in 2010, and a year later LeValley turned in one of the most memorable wins in team history. In the 149-pound EIWA final at Sojka Pavilion, LeValley upset Cornell's Kyle Dake, who graduated with a 137-4 career record and four national titles. The Bison garnered 29 NCAA qualifiers in the period from 2010-19, and this past spring two more -- Zach Hartman and Drew Phipps -- were headed to nationals before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the event. Bucknell tied a school record with six NCAA qualifiers in 2016 after finishing third in the EIWA team standings for the second straight year. On this edition of Bison Wrestling Through the Decades, Wirnsberger and Hartman are joined by four star wrestlers who combined for 13 NCAA appearances: Stolfi '16, Victor Lopez '17, Tom Sleigh '18 and Tyler Smith '18. Stolfi is one of the finest heavyweights in team history. He was a three-year captain and four-time NCAA qualifier who graduated with a 120-41 career record. He smashed the school records for pins in a season (23) and career (65), and he ranks fifth all-time in total wins. He was the EIWA champion in 2014 and runner-up in both 2015 and 2016. Lopez was a two-year captain who ranks seven on Bucknell's career list with 108 victories. He was a four-time EIWA placewinner, finishing as high as fourth on two occasions, and he made two NCAA appearances. Sleigh missed a season due to injury but still ranks 13th in Bucknell history with 89 wins. He was a three-time EIWA placewinner, including a runner-up finish at 197 pounds in 2017, and he went to NCAAs three times. Smith became a four-time NCAA qualifier after his runner-up finish at 141 pounds at the 2018 EIWA Championships. His 107 victories are ninth-most in team history, and he is one of 11 Bison to post an undefeated dual record when he went 16-0 as a senior.

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Bison Wrestling Through the Decades, Presented by Geisinger

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