In 2020 Princeton Wrestling made the “Slammies”, which is a yearly tradition in the NJ wrestling community where Rick Fortenbaugh, a wrestling reporter for the the Trenton Times, reports on the “best, worst, and bizarre from the wrestling season.” I love the Slammies and think they are great for wrestling, but, generally speaking, you do not want to receive a Slammy.
In 2020 we were definitely a target for the slammies as it appears Rick attended our Rutgers match. We were picked for:
“Put a Sock In It II” (Although, I think we should have been #1 not #2 here)
“Dumbest Fan I”
“Dumbest Fan II”
“Funniest Sign”
Four Slammies in one year!! That must be a record. It made me wonder if Rick is on Rutgers payroll considering we beat Rutgers on that day he is referring to and his awards all sound like ones that would come from a disgruntled fan. You decide for yourself:
I wanted to zero in on Slammy #4, “Funniest Sign.” At our duals, we put up a sign that my wife, Lori, painted that has the slogan, “Princeton is a Wrestling Town.” The comment from Fortenbaugh that accompanied the Slammy was:
“Funniest Signs >> The ones that appeared prior to the Rutgers match declaring “Princeton is a Wrestling Town.” Yeah, right.” -Rick Fortenbaugh, Trenton Times
Not exactly the reaction we were hoping for with the sign.
When I came to Princeton in 2006 one of my goals was,in fact, “to make Princeton a wrestling town,” and was the inspiration for the painting. At the time it seemed a near impossible task as we finished the 2006-2007 season without a dual meet win or an individual win in the conference tournament. Wrestling was the last thing on the mind of the Princeton community.
But I believed it could be built. I reflected on all the good wrestling communities in NJ and beyond, and asked “how did they become wrestling towns?” I thought the answer was simple…people. Most likely a small group of people worked really hard to make wrestling important. Often it probably started with a coach, but could be a parent, or other community leader. A group of people needed to do the work. And the work would not be easy.
So over time a band of people in the Princeton community began to work to make wrestling important at all levels in the community. In fact, this effort had already started on the youth level before I arrived as a passionate group of parents operated a pretty darn good community team from the Princeton University wrestling room, so we had a bit of a head start.
Every year more people got on board and it slowly, but surely, continued to grow on all levels. More coaches were added to the University program. The youth numbers continued to grow. We created the RTC, hired a coach there and started to add athletes. The Princeton team started winning and people were coming to matches. On every level of wrestling we were and are continuing to grow.
Which brings me to the past week. It would be hard to argue Princeton is not a wrestling town if in the last 7 days the following things happened:
-Princeton Wrestlers secured seven (7) All-American spots at U23 World Team Trials- The MOST of ANY college
-NJRTC (only Princeton wrestlers scoring points) placed second in team race of all RTC’s
-Pat Glory won and became a U23 World Team Member and will represent the USA at the world championships in Serbia
-Pat Glory Outstanding Wrestler at U23 World Team Trials
-Two (2) U23 World Team Trials Fianlists-Glory Monday
-Nate Jackson won a Pan-American Gold Medal for USA
…Oh and 2x World Champion and Olympic Bronze Medalist J’Den Cox thought enough of Princeton as a wrestling town that he announced will be training here through Paris 2024!
(https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/24614)
I could also mention that our youth program, Princeton Wrestling Club, had the most NJ state placers in program history this spring and the University program had 7 All-Americans in 2019 and 2020.
That is a lot of wrestling success coming back to the town of Princeton in a short amount of time! In fact, I’m guessing there are not many places in the country, nevermind the state, that have near the recent accomplishments as Princeton NJ! Princeton is a wrestling town!
Which leads me to my counter award to the Slammy, which is the “Crammy”, in honor of Nate Jackson’s Cram double. (see here with volume up) (https://twitter.com/natejackson__/status/1163485527812661248?lang=en)
This Year’s Crammy…
Most Mis-Informed Wrestling Award Selection>> Rick Fortenbaugh’s selection of Princeton to receive a Slammy for funniest sign.
Well, once again put a bullseye on myself, which I am pretty effective at (I sure no one remembers when I publicly said a certain wrestler wouldn’t score a takedown on one of my own wrestlers).
Rick, have fun with next year’s Slammies.
