West York Wrestling
www.westyorkwrestlingalumni.com
Feature...Interview
Q&A with "KRW"
Keith R. Warehime
Keith Warehime
(left) at the 2003 Juniata Veterans Tournament
westyorkwrestlingalumni.com
11/04/09 Interview
w/Keith Warehime
Keith R. Warehime
Ben Ricci Photo
Keith R. Warehime (KRW on PennLive's Wrestling Forum) is a 1979 graduate
of Littlestown High School and a life long wrestling supporter. Keith
created
the YAIAA Wrestling Website, which was infamous for it's YAIAA rankings and
results in the 2000's. Keith is never shy about expressing his views,
so Don
Lehman of westyorkwrestlingalumni.com got together with Keith for a Q & A!
DL
- Keith, the 2009/10 high school and college wrestling season is coming soon!
Are you excited?
KRW
-
Yes,
I always get excited with the upcoming seasons as they approach. This
year especially, since Pennsylvania has probably one of the better "senior"
classes we have had in a long time! There are so many of the nations
top 10 wrestlers in PA with the
Alton twins (Andrew & Dylan), Josh Kindig, Josh Dwieza, Marshall Peppelman... and it will be real nice to
see this group very
soon!
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DL
- I know you wrestled at Littlestown High School back in the day! Can
you pick out a special match that still comes to your thoughts, and what was
the outcome?
KRW
-
My
most memorable match came in
1978 at the Sectionals. I was wrestling in just my second year,
and it was my first varsity year! I was entered in the tourney as the
4th seed. I made it to the semi-finals where I faced the top seed,
Craig Melhorn, from New Oxford... who had pinned me earlier in the year (in
less than a minute) during the season dual meet. My LT Coach,
Tom Weikel, told me to make
sure you stay out of that "headlock" since that's what he caught me with
earlier in the year. Well, I went out and proceeded to get caught
again in that headlock, but I managed to survive the first period and
found myself down 5-0. I thought to myself, "hey, he isn't that tough
- he just has that one move!"... so, I started to fight back and
found that I could score on him. I got through the second period and
pushed the score back to 9-5 by the end of the second period. I then
noticed Craig was not used to wrestling into the third period and was
looking tired. I was in pretty good shape myself as far as my
endurance, so I proceeded to put several cradles on him and scored at will
through the end of the third period and secured the win at 14-9! That
was my first of two sectional finals. This ('78) was the match
that I truly fell in love with the sport! Before, I was just wrestling
for something to do in between football season... but afterwards, I started to
really follow it and like I said - fell in love with it!
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DL
- What did you learn from wrestling that you have taken into your life?
KRW
-
Hard
work, toughness, physical strength, endurance... all pays off in the long
run. Plus, like that old "Karate" commercial said - nobody ever
bothered me after I started to wrestle... I wonder why?
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DL
- After high school, and even within the last couple of years,
you continued to compete at some open tournaments. And, you even tried a
shot at the infamous
Beach Wrestling
. You have to love the sport to put your
body through that kind of torture competing in the world's toughest sport!
KRW
-
Well, I haven't competed in a few years. In 2005, I went to the
Veterans Nationals and finished first... and, the same year competed at
Beach Wrestling's first nationals at Long Beach, NY. Also, I competed
at the Keystone Games for several years in the Open division. The
problem with it all is very few men my age actually show up, so you
have to wrestle mostly "20-something's" and that can be taxing! I have
always gotten nice comments from the younger guys just for showing up.
I haven't competed recently but might get back to it when I hit "50" in a
few years.
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DL
- Before wrestlers like Mike Anderson and Cory Beaver excelled for the
Bolts... Warren Robertson stood out as a special wrestler at Littlestown.
What can you tell me about Warren? (W. Robertson placed 2nd at the
1976
PIAA AA States @ 167lbs. and 3rd at the
1977
PIAA AA States @ 167lbs.)
KRW
-
Well, I spent my first year wrestling for the Bolts on the same team as
Warren Robertson.
Warren was the first really good wrestler at Littlestown
since the program was started in the middle 60's. We had a few good
ones, but none who were considered one of the top wrestlers in the state.
Not like West York or the other area teams who had long histories!
Warren was Littlestown's first elite wrestler. He had an "all out"
style. Warren was very quick and surprisingly strong for a 167 pounder
and it was his junior year that he was in PIAA State finals! That
encouraged me go out for the wrestling team the following year.
Warren's winning percentage will likely never be matched. He only lost
5 matches back when you were lucky to wrestle 25 matches in a year. Of
those five, three were in his sophomore year. He only lost to
PIAA "state
champions" his last two years! In Warren's junior year '76 - he lost in
finals to Fritz Bleich (Hanover Area). And when everyone thought he
was shoe-in for the '77 State Championship in his senior year, he ran into a
wrestler from (Milton), Charlie Heller, who was not only the returning 155
champ from 1976 - but turned out to be 3x All-American in college as well!
Not bad for a kid (Heller) who didn't pick up wrestling until he got into
Junior High School. Warren lost to him in Penn State's Rec Hall in the
semi-finals, 4-3, in a week that he was sick (with the flu) and then
finished 3rd. I went with my brother to PSU that year and it turned
out to be my first of many PIAA State Championships I have attended
over the years. Warren
Robertson went to
*Delaware Valley for college and he not only
wrestled all four years at Del Val, he also lettered in two other sports
(Football and Track/Javelin) all four years! Warren was quite the
overall athlete! I don't think you will ever see that again in today's
world.
*note
- Warren is a
1988 Delaware Valley College Hall of Fame inductee for Football,
Wrestling & Track/Field. Warren graduated from Del Val in 1984.
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DL
- Wayne Beaver, father of
2007 PIAA State AA 171lb. Wrestling Champion -
Cory, (who is now wrestling at Penn), and himself, (Wayne Beaver) a 3rd
place finisher at the
1981 PIAA State AA Championships at 185lbs. (New
Oxford) - developed an extremely detailed and outstanding Littlestown
Wrestling website. What happened to that great website and how
can we get it back online! (Wayne also created
PA Youth Wrestling!)
KRW
-
I
believe Wayne has moved on to other projects - the last I heard. Cory
is at the University of Pennsylvania and I guess he doesn't have the time to
keep the Littlestown site going. I have said I'd host his site and
keep all the records he compiled for the Littlestown wrestling website going
strong, but he never took me up on the offer.
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DL
- You developed the
YAIAA
Wrestling website - 10 years ago. I remember waiting EVERY week
for your updated YAIAA wrestling rankings! I also spent time reading the daily box scores
of the many dual meets and tournaments you published. I know with the
NWCA and
NHSCA daily
online results, as well as local newspaper also publishing results online, it's
not the same world. But - those rankings were the deal back in
the day. What's the status of the website these days?
KRW
-
I am not sure... I have kept it up and functioning for the past two years,
but my work situation has prevented me from doing the job I used to do in
the past! It is hard to get out and see the matches and weekend
tourneys. Since the website never generated incremental income, I had
to take priority with my job, which I am sure your readers understand!
I'd love to do my YAIAA rankings again,
but I feel if I can't do them the right way and put the kind of time into
them that is needed - then it is not fair to the kids or my fans. So I haven't
done them the past few years. But, things change and maybe someday I
can get them back online. I had great success with the rankings and
compiling them was one of my favorite things I did with the YAIAA Wrestling
site over the past ten years.
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DL
- If you had to choose - Folkstyle, Freestyle or Greco-Roman... what is your
favorite type of wrestling and why?
KRW
-
As I
grew older and more nuanced with the sport, I have grown to like Freestyle
and Greco-Roman more than today's Folkstyle. I am not a big fan
of today's Folkstyle with the emphasis on mat-wrestling with tilts. As
a wrestler today, I like Greco Roman more than the others, since at my age,
it is a bit less demanding on the body! But, I have to admit that I am
not that strong in the upper body - so I am at a disadvantage in that
style!!
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DL
- I believe you coached Littlestown elementary wrestling at one time.
What advice would you give to the young wrestlers of today and their
parents?
KRW
-
To
the young wrestlers of today - I will give the same advice I gave those kids
I coached in 2003-2004. The big matches are won on your feet! You
have to be able to take your opponent down to win. True story... I
would have this drill at end of practices in what I called the "takedown
tourney." You would line em' up with the smallest to largest kids and
the first one to get a takedown won - and you stayed out to wrestle the next kid.
All the time I'd preach "Someday in a big match, you're going have to have a
takedown to win!" We had some nice young kids that year who were coming out
for the sport for the first time.
Tyler Zittle, Troy Ruppert, Tanner
Mitz and many others (who I am sorry I can't name here).
There was one kid though, who was great at this drill and would almost always win
every night! His name was Cory
Beaver and when he took down
Jon Fausey in the last seconds to win Littlestown's first ever PIAA
State Wrestling Championship... I couldn't help but think I had a very small part of
it. I was mat-side that day and I was the first to jump up after that
thrilling state victory! To the parents... all I can say is not
to pressure the kids too early. Not every kid matures at the
same rate, so the sport in the early years should be about learning "how to
win and lose" and to get the proper technique down. Losing is a part of
the sport and should not get the kid down. Who knows how a kid
develops in the future... and what you don't want is for them to give up the
sport years before their bodies develop. They will never have the real
chance to get the most out the sport if they get frustrated and quit.
Very few ever wrestle in college, but I have never met anyone who
wrestled through high school and didn't think it was one of the
best experiences they
had in sports
and in life!!
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DL
- What ingredients in this modern era make up a "good wrestling
coach?" Do you think that a coach having high school and college
wrestling experience or having a teaching position at the school... makes a
difference these days?
KRW
-
That's hard to say. I think you can get a good coach either way.
Having the teaching experience helps with handling kids, but you can do it
(coaching) without it. My brother coaches with the
Littlestown Football Team (for many years) and Bob is not a teacher, but
I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better line coach in the
YAIAA area! Does it help to have wrestled somewhere in your career
along the way? I don't think you have to have had wrestled in
college... although it does help! With the lack of college programs
today, I think you will see less college wrestlers coaching. I think a
good coach is part-technician, part-drill sergeant, part-mentor and in
today's world, part-counselor. In the YAIAA, we have been blessed
with many excellent coaches over the years...
all of whom I have the utmost
respect for.
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DL
- Pick out a couple of local YAIAA wrestlers and coaches that you have had
the pleasure of watching throughout the years... list them, and tell me why
they stood out?
KRW
-
Wow!! There have been so many over the years!
Terry Conover of Hanover was actually
the coach of both wrestlers I lost to at Sectionals in '78 and '79, so I got
to see him from early to late in his great career. The
Henson Brothers (Josh/Joe) were both
very fun to watch in the day! The Henson's were ones I pointed my boys to
watch when they were elementary wrestlers coming up. I was always
impressed with Coach Dave Gable
of Dallastown. Gable always reminded me of a coach who could take his and
beat yours, then take yours and beat his! Dave Gable was a wonderful
coach who I never saw get overtly emotional during a match or dual meet.
Coach Dave Bowersox of
Littlestown taught me that it is "still high school sports" and that all the
kids should have fun. Dave was an excellent bench coach and someone
who always had great relationships with his wrestlers.
Coach Cox and Greg Sprenkle of
Southwestern, along with
Coach Biff Walizer of Red Lion, have always treated me nicely when I
would ask them a question and they were always willing to help out a
"bothersome" webmaster looking for some arcane stats! Wrestlers??
Oh so many - Cory Beaver, Tyler
Zittle... I mentioned already, but I loved following those two since
I coached the both very early in their years.
Gary Mayfield and Tommy Slaugh
from Hanover were always nice to me when I'd talk to or email them.
That's just a few and I'm sorry if I didn't mention all, but there were so
many over the years who I've had the pleasure to befriend and get to know...
that I can't remember them all!
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DL
- How nervous did you get when your son, James Ortiz, wrestled for the
Littlestown Bolts? And, can you remember an Ortiz match that stands
out?
KRW
-
No, not
really, not any more than any parent gets. His mom was
always much more so. Most memorable match? Well I'd have to
say it was just a regular match and home dual meet in his senior year
against Dover. The Bolts hadn't beaten Dover in my memory... in quite
a few years. James was a 189lb'er, and as many know - goes about all
of 5'3". The Bolts Thunderdome
was rocking! Fans were quite loud as the match came down to last few
matches and it was close all the way! Coach Dave Bowersox bumped James
up to 275lbs. to wrestle the Dover wrestler. The guy looked like we
was about 25 years old, if you know what I mean. He went every bit of
230lbs. and was a real brawler of a wrestler. The name slips me for
now, but James went out with the Bolts needing a win/bonus point to win.
James got pretty much man-handled the first period by the much larger
wrestler, but James, who was always a fan favorite, got the crowd's support
and fought his way back and took the match into the third period.
James was still losing, but he kept after the Dover wrestler... and with the
crowd screaming for him all the way - managed to get the fall! The
place went nuts and it was the loudest I ever saw a crowd in the old gym.
I have that pin on tape somewhere and even I couldn't contain myself when he
pinned the Dover kid! I was told by a another wrestler on Dover's team
(who was a buddy of mine) that he was glad James won - even though it meant
Dover lost the match - because that wrestler wasn't well liked by his
teammates and as it turned out... he quit the team the next day.
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DL
- James just returned from a tour in Iraq. I want to thank him
for his service to the country. It had to be a relief when he returned
home safely!
KRW
-
Yes,
that's for sure! We are glad no one from the local batteries got hurt
and we are glad that they did their mission and came home in one
piece!
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DL
- If Keith Warehime was the NFHS or PIAA "Czar" for a day, what changes would you
implement at the High School level to enhance the sport of wrestling?
KRW
-
If I was
Czar for the day... I would institute a rule that states you can't step out
of the circle. A push-out rule, where you lose points if you step out
of bounds (like they do in international styles). I think it would
keep the action going and keep it more in the middle, instead of floating
around trying to score cheap points on the edge of the mat. I would
institute more rules to bring high school wrestling more in line with
international styles.
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DL
- When I wrestled in the early seventies and in college, we had riding time.
It's still at the college level, but it has been eliminated for some time at
the high school level. Would you like to see riding time come back to
high school wrestling?
KRW
-
No, not
really. Like I said earlier, I am not big fan of mat wrestling.
I would rather see the action on their feet.
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DL
- Pennsylvania High School Wrestling is arguably the best in the nation.
District III has really been a force at the PIAA State Tourney lately.
I know you look forward to the post season and the PIAA State
Tournament. Who are the names that stand out to you this
year to capture a state title at the AA & AAA levels?
KRW
-
Well, if
you don't mention Josh Dwieza, Josh
Kindig and the Alton Twins... along with
Nick Roberts at 103lbs., and
either Spencer Myers or Nate Gaffney
up top - you not an AAA fan today! I would also pay attention to CD's
Kenny Courts and of course,
CD's great Marshall Peppelman!
I don't think there are as many "shoe ins" in AA this year, but I will be
watching the locals from Biglerville and Delone Catholic to make some noise
statewide. Laike Gardner of
Biglerville and Tyler Small of Delone Catholic
have the best chance. One kid to keep an eye out for NEXT year will
be Chance Marstellar of
Kennard Dale. He is very competitive as an eighth-grader and if
he stays healthy and keeps up the hard work - Chance could be quite the high
school wrestler for Kennard Dale!
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DL
- You are a frequent poster of the Penn Live Wrestling Forum as
"KRW".
Some thoughts on this popular modern wrestling medium?
KRW
-
Well, it's been a little over
ten years since I've been posting on
PennLive's Wrestling Forum under my moniker "KRW." Anyone who
knows me realize "KRW" are my full initials. I really don't give out the
middle name! Only my truly closest friend and family knows that
secret. Anyway, I found PennLive forums early in the "Internet Boom"
back when everyone had 26K dial-ups! Getting wrestling results were
hard to get. Not one of the great sites of today were around.
Wrestling results were non-existent, and you were lucky to find them.
The results were often big JPEG scans from the newspapers. If you had
a typical phone modem connection, then it took forever to upload and
view them. That's if you could find what you were looking for!
I started posting on PennLive in 1999 (I think) because I was looking for an
alternative to the District III site at the time. At first, it was
great! But like many non-registered sites back then, "flamers" were
abundant. I have never
liked adults picking on high school kids who were participating in a sport.
PennLive took notice and started to monitor the site... and with that - the
popularity grew! It is a great place to get good info and still
today, one of the fastest ways to get info about Pennsylvania High
School Wrestling and wrestling in general. You still get others who
choose to berate and demean high school kids, but they are often "self
policed" on the site. I think the Wrestling Forum is one of the best
PennLive has... and that is a testament to the many people who use it!
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DL
- What are some of the other wrestling websites you visit daily to get the
most up-to-date information?
KRW
-
The Mat,
InterMat and
Tom Fortunato's
Web's Best of Amateur Wrestling site, as well as all the
wrestling related sites that are out there.
Flowrestling is
becoming pretty good, too... with the
video aspect.
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DL
- There have been some huge changes at the coaching levels in the
YAIAA the past couple of years. Gone are Dave Gable at Dallastown,
Terry Conover at Hanover, Dave Bowersox of Littlestown, the recent Central York change,
etc. What do you see this year in the YAIAA as a "new breed" of head
wrestling coaches take the reins?
KRW
-
YAIAA Division II will be
mostly the same and the top teams won't see much of a change. In YAIAA
Division II... who else but Bermudian Springs, Biglerville, Delone Catholic
and Littlestown coming up fourth again. Hanover will be the best of
the rest in DII. With
Neal Dutterer taking over Hanover, I don't see a big program change
since a Conover left. Coach Dutterer has been at Hanover a long time!
In YAIAA Division I, expect the same "Big Four" - Dallastown, Spring Grove,
Red Lion and Southwestern... along with Central York and Kennard Dale
being the best of the rest in YAIAA DI.
It will be very interesting to see
how Dallastown does without Coach Dave Gable at the helm!
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DL
- Who individually stands out in the YAIAA this upcoming season?
KRW
-
In AA - Tanner Coyle from
Bermudian Springs and Laike Gardner from Biglerville have bright
years ahead of them, as does the Delone Catholic duo of Josh Ruppert
and Tyler Small! Matt Wolf (Bermudian Springs) and Danny Thomas
(Biglerville) will lead the pack along with Dylan Ferguson from Fairfield.
In AAA - New Oxford's very tough Jordan Conaway and the Southwestern
duo of Drew Rebling and PIAA place-winner Cameron Throckmorton will be back
strong! And, I say to keep an eye out for Dallastown's Phil Sprenkle
and Dave Quackenbos from Red Lion... as well as Billy Randt from your West
York! There is always a
surprise wrestler, and I'm sure I have forgot his name!
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DL
- Lastly, do you follow NCAA college wrestling? And, do you have a favorite
team or wrestler in college?
KRW
-
No, not as much as I follow
high school wrestling - but I do follow the Top Ten NCAA teams and I keep up
with Top 20 in each weight class.
I like to follow all the kids
from Pennsylvania at that level... and of course, I watch the NCAA
finals each year now on ESPN. I will be curious to see the changes
Cael Sanderson brings to wrestling on the East Coast! I strongly
believe that East Coast wrestling has gone from great to EVEN BETTER because
of Cael Sanderson coming to Penn State University!
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DL
- Keith, thank you so much for sharing your memories with the
westyorkwrestlingalumni.com readers, and most of all, thank you for being
such a
big part of the YAIAA and the Littlestown wrestling family!
KRW
- No, Don - thank you. I have always admired your work (website) and am
so glad you still keep it up after all of these years! Excellent site!
You can e-mail Keith Warehime
HERE!
or, check him out on
PennLive Wrestling Forum as "KRW"
Littlestown's Keith Warehime (top) takes his position at the 1978
Sectional Tournament semi-finals versus the tourney's #1 seed.
The Bolts'
Warehime won 14-9 over New Oxford's Craig Melhorn
and advanced to the finals @ 185lbs., finishing 2nd!
Littlestown's Keith Warehime (top) rides NO's Craig Melhorn at the
'78 Sectional Tournament semi-finals. Melhorn was the #1 seed.
Warehime won 14-9 and advanced to the finals, finishing 2nd!
▪ Keith's mom is standing in the white coat in background...
Jubilation after Warehime knocked off the #1 seed
Melhorn, 14-9 @ 185lbs.!
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