{"id":77997,"date":"2016-03-01T14:55:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T14:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=77997"},"modified":"2023-02-17T22:10:37","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T22:10:37","slug":"behind-mic-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: The Streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott Barr is the RCN wrestling \u201cguru\u201d.\u00a0 He has even written a book about District XI wrestling which goes back to its inception.\u00a0 This past weekend, Scott announced the District XI individual wrestling championships as he has done for so many years.\u00a0 He, along with Jim Best, did their usual impeccable job.\u00a0 But one occurrence happened for Scott while doing the match that has NEVER happened before \u2013 the Easton Red Rovers did not crown a champion!\u00a0 I asked him to reflect on the end of what came to be known as \u201cThe Streak\u201d.\u00a0 Here is his essay:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And, so, it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

Just like that, when the buzzer sounded on the final weight class of the 2016 District XI Wrestling Championships, it was over.\u00a0 After 14 championship bouts, for the first time since 1947, none of the winners was wearing an Easton Red Rover singlet.\u00a0 All I could muster, on the air, was, \u201cIt feels weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Logic first told me about \u201cThe Streak\u201d in the late 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 Nobody except Jack was really talking about it, but it was a remarkable accomplishment even then.\u00a0 By the turn of the century, with The Streak still intact, I began calling it \u201cthe greatest streak in all of high school sports.\u201d\u00a0 Though I can be prone to exaggeration, I believed this statement to be true.<\/p>\n

When Dick Rutt won the first championship, ever, for the Red Rovers, Harry Truman was president.\u00a0 It was the first time that Easton had ever fielded a team.\u00a0 His coach was Gust Zarnas, a man who played professional football for the Bears and Packers before World War II.\u00a0 Last week, we were in Liberty\u2019s Memorial Gymnasium to see if Easton could crown their 186th<\/sup> champion, 69 years later.\u00a0 \u00a0Of course, they could not, and The Streak went from reality to immortality.<\/p>\n

There were years where the Red Rovers had only one champion.\u00a0 Bob Ferraro, Dwight Danser, Dan Kasperkowski, Greg Geiger, and Elijah Brown come to mind.\u00a0 More often, multiple champions represented the legendary teams from Easton.\u00a0 In 1949, there were nine champions.\u00a0 In 1996, the first seven weight classes had Red Rover champions.\u00a0\u00a0 A friend of mine, Pete Stoelzl, was crowned as the 100th<\/sup> champion in Easton history in the mid-1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The Streak was already six years old when Steve Powell, Easton\u2019s current coach, was born.\u00a0 Steve is on my \u201cMount Rushmore\u201d of District XI wrestling, and I can\u2019t imagine the pressure he has endured throughout his tenure.\u00a0 He told me, years ago, that he never thought about keeping The Streak alive.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure he was lying.\u00a0\u00a0 By tournament time, for the past 10 years, it\u2019s all anyone was thinking about.<\/p>\n

Face it\u2014no matter who you cheer for, you liked The Streak.\u00a0 When you talked with wrestling fans in other parts of the country, you told them about it.\u00a0 And you spoke with pride about how tough District XI is in wrestling.\u00a0 You may even have called it \u201cWrestling Country\u201d.\u00a0 And you told those folks how one school has epitomized the consistent excellence produced in this area.\u00a0 You have been amazed by The Streak, and you wanted them to be amazed, too.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, in a way, it\u2019s fitting that 2016 should be the end.\u00a0 This season, District XI Wrestling has lost icons Ray Nunamaker and Tony Iasiello who passed last summer.\u00a0 Bill McCoach, the \u201cvoice\u201d of the wrestling tournament for 50 years, has announced that he will not return.\u00a0 Bob Kern, the long-time referee and coach, announced his retirement as well.\u00a0 And now, we will not have The Streak, either.<\/p>\n

At the end, it was long-time rivals from Nazareth and Northampton that had the honor of dispatching The Streak.\u00a0 It was a merciful blow, dealt by deserving champions.\u00a0 Like Maximus lying on the floor of the Coliseum in the climactic scene of \u201cGladiator\u201d, we all knew that the time had come to honor this \u2018once in forever\u2019 accomplishment.\u00a0 None of us will be here when this record is broken.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the wrestling gods have spoken and The Streak is dead.\u00a0 Long live The Streak.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Barr is the RCN wrestling \u201cguru\u201d.\u00a0 He has even written a book about District XI wrestling which goes back to its inception.\u00a0 This past weekend, Scott announced the District XI individual wrestling championships as he has done for so many years.\u00a0 He, along with Jim Best, did their usual impeccable job.\u00a0 But one occurrence…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[164,624],"class_list":["post-77997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-district-xi-wrestling","tag-easton-wrestling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: The Streak - 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