OCR Text |
Show 0 Vemfll ExpfStt Friday, February 10, 1984 Undress I 1 i i -ju.-uuiiu.li i L, y . i,-m 'mi' in iii id ii mi innnnu-" -f $ ,.'"' V 1 f i X ' 1 -wtv i - '.sx , i i lit iw . ..... . J; Su-v ' , - ; v ; ....,. Jr L - v' : j V-:: ;f', i4- - I L;L'l'- ll5r-u4;''"!!,rr:?xv v, j-O ilrr";! 67 fx. - ' -; " ; -.7'-''-' a rr-r 1 - Iiiiiii1i,i i- - -.i". .- - - " - " , - ' . . . . , . UINTAH HIGH School's fourth three-time state champion, Pat State Wrestling Tournament in Ogden. Jenkins snared his third Jenkins, left, engages in a battle out on the mat in the 1983 3-A ; title in 1983. BILL MURRAY roots for his son, Gary Murray, during the Region 7 Wrestling Tournament. Murray became the first three-time state champ at Uintah High School in 1958. 1 yyi r " PAT JENKINS, left, competes in the 167 pound Grove. Jenkins became a three-time champion championship match with Kent Fugal of Pleasant with a win over Fugal at the 1983 state meet. My first visit to a state tournament was the 1970 Class B Wrestling Meet at Wasatch High School as the Union High School Student Reunion Sports Editor. The building wasn't as big as Weber State College, Brigham Young University and University of Utah Special Event Centers, but the gymnasium gym-nasium was still o.k. and was nice and cozy. I was hoping for a state championship champion-ship for the Union Cougars in 1970, but second place behind Uintah High School would have also been all right for this Cougar fan. Uintah and Union were in the same region and thus the region meet was like the state meet for the Cougars as they had to battle the eventual state champion a week before the rest of the teams. During the wrestling days of old only on-ly the top two wrestlers in each region qualified for the state tournament. So thus a win over a Uintah wrestler usually meant a spot in the state tournament. tour-nament. The Utes were the number one wrestling power and they ruled the region and grabbed many first and second se-cond place titles. Union usually had fewer qualifiers for the state meet because they were in the same region and if they had been in another region they might have qualified more tusslers. Uintah jumped into first place after the first day of action and Union was in second place. Delta was in third place. Uintah and Union stole the state wrestling show in 1970, but Delta was able to overcome the Cougars on the final day for second place honors at 74 points. Uintah placed first at 86 points and Union placed third at 67 counters. The Uintah Utes advanced seven tusslers in the title matches and Union had five men In the championship finals. Four of the Union matches were against Uintah Utes. Uintah's Greg Cook beat Hackford In the 137 pound match and Jack Boren, 155, beat Union's Craig Phillips, 5-0. Jim Miller became a two-time state champion when he blanked Cloyd Wooley, 5-0. This Union Cougar fan in 1970 gained gain-ed a Cougar win over a Uintah Ute when Billy Davis pinned Jim Johnson in the 175 pound match. Johnson took Davis down and went out on a reversal rever-sal in the second round. Davis caught Johnson, brought him back to the mat and pinned him for the first place title. ti-tle. Union also had Steve Huber place first in the state meet and other Utes placing first were John Price and David Broome. Six years later I attended my second state tournament in 1976 and this time the shoe was on the other foot as I had gone from Student ReUnion Sports Editor to Vernal Express Sports Editor and my job was to cover the Uintah Utes and thus I became a Uintah Uin-tah Ute rooter. My first state tournament as the Vernal Express Sports Editor was a big thrill and what made it extra special was that I had good news to report as Uintah beat Pleasant Grove, 90 to 73, for the 1976 3-A state title. I also had two first place champions to report about as Scott Ruppe, 126 and Rick Massey, 138, snared titles. Ruppe beat Garth Hyde of American Fork, 2-1, for first place and Massey beat Gary Bowden, Cyprus, 8-5, for top honors. The meet also had some sad stories to cover as Jim Tripp and Eugene Woody failed in their bids to become three-time state champions. Woody finished second at 119 pounds when he was edged by Craig Walker of Pleasant Plea-sant Grove, 3-2. Alex Maestas beat Tripp, 105, by the score of 5-1 and Tripp placed second. Uintah's 98 pounder, Kevin Huber lost to John Cordova of Bingham, 15-7 in the championship match and finished finish-ed in second place. Jerry Murray, 155, placed third and Calvin Murray, 185, grabbed fourth. Most sports editors are lucky to cover one state championship team for a twice a week newspaper, but I covered five Uintah High School state champion teams in my first five years. My state tournament streak ended in 1981 when the Utes placed third. The Uintah team placed fifth in 1982, but I covered my sixth state championship team from Uintah High School in eight years on the job when the Uintah team won the state title last year. T '00 t, ilk,. By Aldon Rachele Express Sports Editor UTE MATMAN, Ryan Siddoway, left, engages in a tussling battle with former Uintah Ute and now a Mountain View Bruin, Chris Smith, right, in the 105 pound region title match. b ' Most schools are lucky to brag about having one three-time state champion in the high school sport of wrestling in Utah, but Uintah High School has more than one as they have four three-time three-time state champions in Billy Murray, 1956-58; John Price, 1970-72; Scott Ruppe, 1975-77 and Pat Jenkins, 1981-83. A three-time state champion can't reach the extra special club without wins in the first two years, but the win in the final year has to be the most important im-portant one as it's the one that puts the ' tussler in the three-time club,' 1 A wrestler wins titles as as sophomore and junior and now in the senior year everyone is gunning for the senior tussler, who is going after his third crown in a row. He has to live with the pressure of being a two-time state champ, who is going after a third title and having everyone wish him luck and telling him to win that third one. The spotlight is on the wrestler all year long. Finally the wrestler I qualifies for state and he has to win : them all just to get in the champion-i champion-i ship match. He reaches the final match and now it's time to win or lose . for the bid for a third title. Some have lost their shot at the third one, but four Uintah Utes have not and are members of the three-time state champion club. The first three-time state champion at Uintah was Billy Murray and he joined the club in 1958 and also was a member of the first Uintah state wrestling championship team. Murray decisioned Anderson of Cedar City, 1-0, in his first 154 pound match and pinned Long of Pleasant Grove in his second match. Murray became the first Uintah member of the three-time state champion club when he pinned Hone of Millard. Murray won the first place crown in 1956 in the 145 pound class and placed first in 1957 at 154 pounds. The Utes won the first state title in 1958 with 79 points and placing second was Cedar City at 73 points. Millard placed third at 60 and Pleasant Grove finished in fourth place at 48 points. South Summit placed fifth at 28 counters. Also taking first place honors for the Utes were Lyle Southam, 133 and Ronnie Lewis, 175. The second Uintah Ute to join the . three-time state championship club was John Price, who won his third championship in 1972. A portion of a wrestling story about the state tournament tourna-ment follows as it was printed in the Vernal Express on March 2, 1972. "112 pound action saw senior Johnnie John-nie Price become one of the few wrestlers in the state to earn three state titles. Price took first place by pinning Weaver of Morgan in 1:19 of the third round after pinning Clyde, Wasatch and defeating Jensen, Emery, who placed third, 4-0." Uintah won the state title in 1972 with 120'fc points and Delta finished second se-cond at 50. Seven Utes, Price, 112; Chris Walker, 105; Cliff Grua, 138; Mike Murray, 145; Gary Duke, 155; Robbie Gray, 167 and Brent Merrell, 185, nabbed state titles. The third Uintah Ute to gain a spot in the three-time state championship club was Scott Ruppe in 1977. Scott Ruppe decisioned Craig Walker of Pleasant Grove, 7 to 1, for the 132 pound title and his third state crown ' in a row. Ruppe advanced into his title ti-tle match when he pinned Jerry Fankhouser, Murray and decisioned Dallen Reddington, Cedar City, 14 to 5. Ruppe captured outstanding wresUer honors in 1975 as a sophomore and in 1977 as a senior. Ruppe's comments com-ments follow as they were printed in the Vernal Express on March 3, 1977. "It's a great feeling to be a state champion cham-pion again," remarked Ruppe. The Utes won the state title in 1977 with 158 points and Pleasant Grove finished in second place at 132 points. Other Utes who placed first in 1977 were: Kevin Huber, 112,; Jr. Tripp, 138; Stacy Hall, 155 and Jerry Murray, 185. Pat Jenkins became the fourth Uintah Uin-tah Ute in the three-time state title holder club when he placed first in 1983. Jenkins beat Kent Fugal, 11 to 5, in the 167 pound title match for his third championship. Jenkins grabbed a first round lead of 4-1 on two takedowns and gained a three-point near fall in the second round. Jenkins added a takedown in the second round for a 9-2 lead and scored two neutrals in the final round for an 11-5 win. Comments from Pat Jenkins about his title match, which was printed in the Vernal Express on Feb. 16, 1983 are as follows: "I'm glad it's over, but . I really liked it. My last match was the toughest. Fugal was the final one I had to beat for three in a row. The third ti tle is the one that feels the best because the team took state." .. "All my takedown moves worked well, I felt I could take him down whenever I wanted to. I used a jerk back move for a three-point near fall in the second round. He shot up and I just jerked him back. I used a fireman carry and a head shuck in the-first round for takedowns," Jenkins was named as the outstanding outstan-ding wrestler in the upper weights in-the in-the 1983 state meet. Jenkins beat Paul Phelon, Pleasant Grove, 1981 and Jack Coffman, Tooele, 1982, for his other two state titles. Uintah's Jenkins received a scare in his second match in the 1983 state tournament tour-nament as he had to go into overtime to defeat Bruce Killian of Carbon. The regular portion of the match ended at 1-1, but Jenkins calmed down his fans when he beat Killian, 6-1 in overtime. Jenkins won state titles in 1981 and 1982, but one thing was missing and that was being a member of the Uintah Uin-tah state championship team. Jenkins won his third title and was also a member of the state championship Uintah team due to a first place win by the Utes. Uintah toppled Pleasant Grove 176 to 154 for top honors. Jody Young, 185, placed first for the Utes when he downed Pleasant Grove's Mark Harvey, 7-5. " ... ,,r-' TT-vJ iimi 1 1 in I 1111 J THE SECOND three-time state champion, John Price, competes in a wrestling bout. Price gained his third championship in 1972. ' fir - & sk 1 " THE THIRD three-time state champion, Scott Ruddo. dash in y, a tussling bout. Ruppe won his third wrestling title in 1977. ;j |