WEBVTT
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From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends
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is Legends. I'm Jason Bryant. Prepare for a journey through
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wrestling's past, present, and future. As we'll hear are the
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great stories of wrestling and success from the true legends
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of the sport here on Hall of Fame Legends.
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One of the most meaningful parts of a tribute like
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this is hearing from the people.
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Who walk closely with our.
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Honorees, the ones who have seen them at their best,
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stood with them through challenges, and shared with them in
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life's quiet, behind the scene moments. These are the voices
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that know the real stories, the ones that don't always
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make it into the headlines onto the resumes.
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They remind us that legacy isn't just about accomplishments, It's
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about impact.
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An impact is always most deeply felt in relationships.
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Life's about relationships.
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So as we listen to these reflections today, let's really
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lean in because this isn't just a program, it's a
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glimpse into the heart of who our honorees truly are.
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Each of our speakers will be allowed to talk for
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five minutes. Speakers, there's a five minute clock up there
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in green.
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And and then there's the red and I'm just old
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enough that I'm not auditioning for anything, and We're going
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to keep this program rolling. There will be no injury
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timeouts and we do not have overtime. So without any delay,
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let's begin with Pa Bowler, who will be speaking of
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about our meritorious official recipient, Ken Marra, who Pa says
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is his hero, not only because of what he did
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for him, but the fact that Ken works hard to
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make everyone better.
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Welcome Pierre, Uh, thank you, Tim I Uh.
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They might have a.
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Problem with with my relationship with Ken now because I've
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been trying to keep my idolatry secret, so I may
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have some things to work out with him when this
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is over.
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But Ken is excellence personified.
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When when you're that good, and uh, when you're that good,
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it is so hard to be as humble as he is.
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Ken. He walks with integrity and.
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Honor and and and Ken's not walking line, Ken, That's
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just who Ken is.
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And the actually the line is the path that he
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has led, is the line that we're trying to follow
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and emulate just from his example.
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You know, referees have a simple job, right, It's not
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an easy job. All right, But it's simple when you
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break it.
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Down to the best of your ability. You want to
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ensure the safety of the wrestlers.
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You want to make sure that one wrestler doesn't gain
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an unfair advantage over the other.
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Right, I want to keep it safe and fair.
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And then after that you recognize when points have been scored.
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All right. Referee has never penned a wrestler.
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Referee is never thrown a coach out, is recognized when
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those things have been earned. And I see a couple
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of you looking at me. I've seen the videos too,
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but so for our purposes. Ken has never pinned a wrestler.
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If you're a wrestler, no, I'm sorry. If you're a referee,
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your eye is more likely drawn to the one thing
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that went wrong than the twenty things that were done well.
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Referees can be tough critics. So when.
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When well respected referees have come out of the woodworks
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to support and to write letters of recommendation and more
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letters than we were able to put in the application, right,
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it is it's very telling. Ken is the kind of
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official that makes people around him better. I remember working
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my first state tournament as a as a young referee
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and Kim's assistant on the mat. And what Ken did
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not say, you know, Red has stolen his as off right,
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all right? What Ken said was in a voice that
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I was the only one that could hear him in
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that He says, Uh, if you're thinking about Red for stalling,
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I'm with you. In that moment, I gained confidence as
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an official. I learned what what stalling looked like on
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that setting, which is what stalling looked like in any match.
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All right, Because.
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For uh, for Ken, you get you get the same match,
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whether David Taylor is sitting in the corner, or whether.
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Dan Gables sitting.
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In the corner, or whether Coach Brown from Pudank High
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School sitting in the corner, you get in the same match.
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You know.
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It's said that the best compliment of referee can get
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is that he wasn't seen, right, And I don't really
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ascribe to that, but I understand the sentiment.
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Ken wasn't seen for twenty n.
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C Double A tournaments that he worked, And Ken wasn't
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seen for the nineteen finals.
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He called, Ken wasn't.
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Seen for all the big conference tournaments that were fighting
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for him. And I'll date you a little bit Ken,
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including four SEC tournaments that used to be a thing.
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kN could have called it a fine career after hanging
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up his NC double a whistle, but he came back
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to Tennessee, back to high school where he was needed.
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And I tried to I tried to draw comparisons between
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Ken and the thousands of referees that have received this honor.
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Wait a minute's hundreds, right, I'm sorry, it's dozens, right,
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it's a handful of dozens that have received this honor.
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Ken, your honor today makes you a member of one
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of the most exclusive clubs on the planet. And I
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see you, Ken Mara, we all see you. Thank you,
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Thank you Pa. And now we'll.
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Hear more about one of the best that's ever done it,
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Ken Mara, from one of the best that's ever done it,
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Mike Haggerty, who has also been recognized by the Hall
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of Fame as a meritorious Official.
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Please welcome Mike. Thank you Tim.
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First of all, I would just say anytime that I
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have an opportunity to share about another official, especially a
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guy that I have so much admiration for, I'll take
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that opportunity. And when I was asked to say something
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on behalf of Ken. I knew right away what that
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was going to be. What was I going to say
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about Ken? And as Pa just mentioned a moment ago,
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he mentioned those twenty NCAA Championships, He mentioned the nineteen finals.
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That he worked.
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But for me.
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Watching Ken as I came up, it wasn't anything about that.
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It wasn't anything about what Ken.
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Did statistically, as Pa mentioned, it was the fact that
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he was on the mat. In my estimation as another
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fellow official, probably the ultimate professional. I watched Ken and
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mimicked Ken. I wanted to be like Ken. I felt
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like his style was something that maybe I could bring
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to the table.
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I felt like he was one of the very, very
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best at the time.
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Yeah, there were guys that were maybe a little bit
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more flashy. There were guys that we probably know in
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the wrestling community, maybe more than Ken.
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But that's not the story. That's not who Ken was.
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Ken was a guy that went out and did his
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job and almost nobody knew it.
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Nobody knew it, including a lot of the other officials.
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I didn't know what Ken's numbers were, and then when
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I looked at him, it's like, Wow, twenty NCAA Championships,
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nineteen Finals, all the other championships that he worked, but
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again the ultimate professional. He went out and almost unrecognized
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and did just an amazing job.
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And like I said, it was also the style that.
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Influenced me a lot in my career and a lot
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of other officials Ken, not just mine, a lot of
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other officials which I truly respect now and the roles
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that I play so as I look back, I also
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wanted to mention in regards to Ken's career, that I
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know the sacrifices that my family made to allow me
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to do what I did.
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I'd never had the chance to meet Ken's wife.
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But I met her today And for Kathy, I don't
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know where you're at, but thank you for sharing Ken
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with us. Thank you to the rest of the family
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for all the sacrifices, for the travel and the weekends
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away from home, and the mentorship, the phone calls after
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the duels are over, listening to sitting in the crowd
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and listening to people damn your name as an official.
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Thank you to Kathy and the rest of the family.
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You're very special people to allow Ken to be a
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part of our community.
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We appreciate that.
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When I had a chance to really work with Ken.
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It was as my role coming into the NCAA and
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Ken was an evaluator after he signed off as an official,
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and it was so great to have a guy that
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sort of I admired. When I've where I got my
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evaluations at the end of a session, the first one
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I would go to was Ken's What did Ken have
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to say about me? And I remember one of the
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things that to this day he put on one of
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those evaluations for evaluation forms was simply this.
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Haggardy, you hustle a lot, but you make it look.
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Easy that to me.
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To find how I wanted to be on the mat
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and Ken reassured that can help me become a much
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better official with a handful of words. And every time
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after that, again I promise you that the first person
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that I went to to see or hear what they
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had to say was Ken Marra's evaluation.
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So again, Ken, thank you for everything.
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With that said, and closing again, I would just say
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the respect, the professionalism that he's brought to the sport
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is something that I know myself and so many other
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officials will certainly appreciate.
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Thank you so much.
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Ken, Our first honoree is meritorious Official Ken Merra.
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Please enjoy this video.
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The official is a man Mara from Hickson, Tennessee.
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He did twenty national Division one championships and he was
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selected to be the head official in nineteen of those finals.
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That I don't know of anybody else with the exception
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of maybe Mike McCornick, who did that number of finals.
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Now what's significant about that is in order to do that,
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you have to be in the top ten at.
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The end of the evaluation period. Who got then.
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For at least nineteen years and possibly twenty, Ken was
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ranked in the top ten officials in the country. That's
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a pretty staggering statistic, guy think and it a test too,
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is professionalism and overall skilled and officiating.
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Chatt Nigga's home.
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It's a.
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Small, big old town. You know.
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It's not Nashville, it's not Atlanta, but it's big enough
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for us. So we're happy here.
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Chattanniggah has a great wrestling community. It's it's a family.
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It truly is a family.
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We don't have the reputation of being a necessarily wrestling
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states like they do in the Midwest and the Upper East,
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and that kind of thing, But uh, there's some good
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wrestlers come out of this area. We're into our where
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our fourth generation is now at door Dain.
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My parents both went to school there, and then we did,
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than our kids did, and then our grandkids did. He
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has three brothers who all three wrestled in high school,
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and then I have two sisters whose husbands both wrestled
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in high school.
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The first time I ever saw a wrestling matter when
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I walked on as a freshman in high school. I
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never saw that before.
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What is that?
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Are you gonna do?
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What?
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So, yeah, it was that's changed a lot.
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We started school in August September, I guess, and he
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was playing football at the time. He didn't start wrestling
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till what November, I guess, when football was over and
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wrestling started.
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And that was first first time he walked on that
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and I'd never seen wrestling before that.
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Our wrestling coaches were Big Bradshaw and Shack. Then there's
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a Shack was the teacher. He was the one that
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taught us how to wrestle. Nick was a football coach
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who had the head coaching debby wrestling as a selfle
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met to his income.
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But he was a good test master and he.
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Made sure that you did your grills and ring your ground,
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your laps and in your sprints.
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And that kind of thing.
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So I ope my success to those two, especially she
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had vandus.
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I don't think that I did go to the first
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couple until we really kind of got into what was
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going on and everybody was getting involved in it.
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She was your favorite because we were gaining some success
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and for the school spirit among not just the team,
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but are the students. Our pep rallies were awesome, and
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Kathy was a fan.
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Well.
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He was pretty good by senior year especially, and that's
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when we really were as a school more totally into
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the sport.
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But you know, you do a lot of gy rating
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and falling off the edge of the bleachers and stuff
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like that, and I still do that watching it on
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TV now, as you just I've watched it my whole life.
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Really, from the time I was fourteen years old.
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My senior year of high school, we won the first
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state championship that my high school had ever had won
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in that sport. A camaraderie and on our team was special.
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Most of those guys were still.
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Good friends of mine to this day.
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We were married, I was going to school working and
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we had a child and something had to give, and
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it was wrestling. At that point. It was just a
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way to make money. We were, like I said, I
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was in school.
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I worked at a warehouse unloading box cars at three
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o'clock in the morning, and they would go to school.
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And so her dad, my Marfe' dad was a football
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official and had been doing it for quite a while,
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and he got me into that.
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I didn't really like it. I just kind of migrated
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into wrestling officiating and.
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Liked it.
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Seemed to have had a knack for it, had some
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great mentors who held my hand and showed you how
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to do things the right way and the wrong way.
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What was the wrong way?
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When I got into the game, he was one of
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the guys that protected me and took me under his
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wing and taught me what to do and what not
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to do and how to act. You know how not
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to act, and you know, people that are referee at
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this level understand what that means. Senior guys can help
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you look good or they can help you look bad.
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And he always helped there and want to look good.
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My first year was nineteen eighty three.
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For the first couple of years.
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I believe they would invite twenty officials, they would cut
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three the first day, after the first day and send
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you home. I fully expected to be one of those three,
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and then I made the finals.
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As a referee, you don't you don't want to be noticed.
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You want to be out there.
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Your number one job is sayty and fair enforcement.
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Of the rules. But you don't want to be in
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the middle of everything and be a part of the match.
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You want to be a part of the match.
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Put an unseen part.
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In a mentor too. I'll shore hundreds of young men
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to become officials and kind.
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Of see a high school as well as college.
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But yeah, Kim's definitely one of the good guys. You know,
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silent assassin. You're never going to hear from him, and
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you haven't get high done, get low just goes and
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does his job and does a really good job at it.
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Ken got involved in a lot of bud of things
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in the state too. I think developing officials, rules interpreter,
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so you get involved the news.
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It more time.
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No to see someone rewarded so to speak for an
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amazing career is also okay. I mean when you put
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stripes on you know your ambition is certainly not to
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get into the Hall of Fame. I can't imagine if
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you ask anybody that is that would be their answer.
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But to be recognized by your years for something that
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you're really, really passionate about that's important to you, that
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you poured your heart and soul into is real quick.
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I can't tell you how thrilled I am, how honored
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I am.
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He has put his heart in his soul and sometimes
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his aching back into wrestling for fifty six years basically,
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so it just serves it.
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I tell people all the time, I don't know what
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I did to deserve this, but I'm not giving it back.
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So I'm I'll cherish this for the rest of my life.
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And now let's bring the honoree can to come forward
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please with his presenters, his daughters, Christy Higgins, Carrie Ngel,
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and Mandy Boy.
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How did I get here? How did I get my
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name in my story to be included among the greats
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of our sport. I first stepped onto the mat as
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on a wrestling mat when I was fourteen years old
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to tattle on myself a little bit. That was sixty
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one years ago, sixty one years as a wrestler, a referee,
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an evaluator, and now a supervisor and teacher. And all
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those years of wrestling, all those years of wrestling have
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given me a great deal of honor and opportunities. It
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gave me the opportunity to visit some great cities and
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some great arenas. I've had the opportunit to be on
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the mat to see great wrestlers show their skills.
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To the wrestling world.
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I've had the opportunity to work on the mat to
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see that those wrestlers, their teams, their coaches, and their
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fans all got a fair shake. That was my number
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one goal, that making sure no one got hurt. Wrestling
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gave me all those opportunities, and I hope that I've
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had I've done a good enough job of handling those
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opportunities by giving back to the sport just a little
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bit along the way I've had done iFIT of working
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on some great mentors, many and many great officials. To
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try to name them all would be silly because they
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would take too much time, and I'm sure I would
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forget most of them. But to name just a few,
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Doctor John Farr and Bill Hodges in my early years
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were great mentors they were did a great job of
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encouraging me when I needed it and kicking my butt
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when I needed that as well along the way. Later on,
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doctor Pat mc McCormick, assuming Yeah, doctor Pat McCormick and
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Lynn Dyke helped me along when I got to the
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Nationals and they were there to help me when I
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needed it. I was able to work with some great
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officials along the way and learn from them. I made
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a point of when I was not officiating, watching the
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officials to see if there were parts of their game
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that I could pick I've been working to mine. I
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worked with Tom Galen, Dave Frish, Darryl Henry, ed Kelly,
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and the list goes on. Mike Haggerty, I could go
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on forever. I want to thank all those good friends
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and associates who worked to get my name onto the
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consideration to be included here. You know who you are,
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and I can't name you all, but many thanks to
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your efforts to the Board of Governors of the National
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Wrestling Hall of Fame. I am eternally be grateful that
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you saw fit to include me in this twenty twenty
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five class. I'm humbled and proud to have been a
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part of this class. To my family, especially my wife Kathy,
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my daughters Christy, Carry and Mandy. I couldn't have done
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this without you. Your support, your encouragement, your advice, and
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your love help carry me through. Your sacrifices were me,
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but your support carried me through. I love you all,
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Thank you very much.
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Legends is a presentation of the National Wrestling Hall of
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Fame and produced by the Man Talk podcast Network.
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If you want to hear more from.
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Wrestling's legends, contribute to the project today by going to
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matttalkonline dot com slash contribute. We hope you've enjoyed this
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look in the wrestling history. This has been Legends. I'm
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Jason Bryant.
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From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends
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is Legends. I'm Jason Bryant. Prepare for a journey through
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wrestling's past, present, and future. As we'll hear are the
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great stories of wrestling and success from the true legends
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of the sport here on Hall of Fame Legends.
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One of the most meaningful parts of a tribute like
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this is hearing from the people.
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Who walk closely with our.
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Honorees, the ones who have seen them at their best,
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stood with them through challenges, and shared with them in
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life's quiet, behind the scene moments. These are the voices
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that know the real stories, the ones that don't always
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make it into the headlines onto the resumes.
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They remind us that legacy isn't just about accomplishments, It's
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about impact.
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An impact is always most deeply felt in relationships.
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Life's about relationships.
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So as we listen to these reflections today, let's really
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lean in because this isn't just a program, it's a
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glimpse into the heart of who our honorees truly are.
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Each of our speakers will be allowed to talk for
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five minutes. Speakers, there's a five minute clock up there
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in green.
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And and then there's the red and I'm just old
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enough that I'm not auditioning for anything, and We're going
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to keep this program rolling. There will be no injury
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timeouts and we do not have overtime. So without any delay,
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let's begin with Pa Bowler, who will be speaking of
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about our meritorious official recipient, Ken Marra, who Pa says
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is his hero, not only because of what he did
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for him, but the fact that Ken works hard to
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make everyone better.
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Welcome Pierre, Uh, thank you, Tim I Uh.
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They might have a.
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Problem with with my relationship with Ken now because I've
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been trying to keep my idolatry secret, so I may
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have some things to work out with him when this
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is over.
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But Ken is excellence personified.
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When when you're that good, and uh, when you're that good,
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it is so hard to be as humble as he is.
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Ken. He walks with integrity and.
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Honor and and and Ken's not walking line, Ken, That's
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just who Ken is.
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And the actually the line is the path that he
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has led, is the line that we're trying to follow
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and emulate just from his example.
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You know, referees have a simple job, right, It's not
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an easy job. All right, But it's simple when you
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break it.
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Down to the best of your ability. You want to
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ensure the safety of the wrestlers.
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You want to make sure that one wrestler doesn't gain
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an unfair advantage over the other.
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Right, I want to keep it safe and fair.
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And then after that you recognize when points have been scored.
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All right. Referee has never penned a wrestler.
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Referee is never thrown a coach out, is recognized when
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those things have been earned. And I see a couple
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of you looking at me. I've seen the videos too,
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but so for our purposes. Ken has never pinned a wrestler.
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If you're a wrestler, no, I'm sorry. If you're a referee,
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your eye is more likely drawn to the one thing
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that went wrong than the twenty things that were done well.
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Referees can be tough critics. So when.
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When well respected referees have come out of the woodworks
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to support and to write letters of recommendation and more
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letters than we were able to put in the application, right,
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it is it's very telling. Ken is the kind of
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official that makes people around him better. I remember working
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my first state tournament as a as a young referee
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and Kim's assistant on the mat. And what Ken did
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not say, you know, Red has stolen his as off right,
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all right? What Ken said was in a voice that
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I was the only one that could hear him in
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that He says, Uh, if you're thinking about Red for stalling,
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I'm with you. In that moment, I gained confidence as
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an official. I learned what what stalling looked like on
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that setting, which is what stalling looked like in any match.
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All right, Because.
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For uh, for Ken, you get you get the same match,
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whether David Taylor is sitting in the corner, or whether.
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Dan Gables sitting.
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In the corner, or whether Coach Brown from Pudank High
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School sitting in the corner, you get in the same match.
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You know.
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It's said that the best compliment of referee can get
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is that he wasn't seen, right, And I don't really
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ascribe to that, but I understand the sentiment.
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Ken wasn't seen for twenty n.
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C Double A tournaments that he worked, And Ken wasn't
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seen for the nineteen finals.
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He called, Ken wasn't.
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Seen for all the big conference tournaments that were fighting
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for him. And I'll date you a little bit Ken,
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including four SEC tournaments that used to be a thing.
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kN could have called it a fine career after hanging
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up his NC double a whistle, but he came back
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to Tennessee, back to high school where he was needed.
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And I tried to I tried to draw comparisons between
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Ken and the thousands of referees that have received this honor.
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Wait a minute's hundreds, right, I'm sorry, it's dozens, right,
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it's a handful of dozens that have received this honor.
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Ken, your honor today makes you a member of one
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of the most exclusive clubs on the planet. And I
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see you, Ken Mara, we all see you. Thank you,
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Thank you Pa. And now we'll.
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Hear more about one of the best that's ever done it,
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Ken Mara, from one of the best that's ever done it,
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Mike Haggerty, who has also been recognized by the Hall
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of Fame as a meritorious Official.
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Please welcome Mike. Thank you Tim.
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First of all, I would just say anytime that I
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have an opportunity to share about another official, especially a
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guy that I have so much admiration for, I'll take
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that opportunity. And when I was asked to say something
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on behalf of Ken. I knew right away what that
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was going to be. What was I going to say
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about Ken? And as Pa just mentioned a moment ago,
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he mentioned those twenty NCAA Championships, He mentioned the nineteen finals.
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That he worked.
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But for me.
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Watching Ken as I came up, it wasn't anything about that.
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It wasn't anything about what Ken.
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Did statistically, as Pa mentioned, it was the fact that
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he was on the mat. In my estimation as another
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fellow official, probably the ultimate professional. I watched Ken and
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mimicked Ken. I wanted to be like Ken. I felt
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like his style was something that maybe I could bring
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to the table.
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I felt like he was one of the very, very
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best at the time.
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Yeah, there were guys that were maybe a little bit
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more flashy. There were guys that we probably know in
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the wrestling community, maybe more than Ken.
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But that's not the story. That's not who Ken was.
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Ken was a guy that went out and did his
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job and almost nobody knew it.
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Nobody knew it, including a lot of the other officials.
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I didn't know what Ken's numbers were, and then when
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I looked at him, it's like, Wow, twenty NCAA Championships,
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nineteen Finals, all the other championships that he worked, but
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again the ultimate professional. He went out and almost unrecognized
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and did just an amazing job.
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And like I said, it was also the style that.
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Influenced me a lot in my career and a lot
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of other officials Ken, not just mine, a lot of
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other officials which I truly respect now and the roles
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that I play so as I look back, I also
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wanted to mention in regards to Ken's career, that I
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know the sacrifices that my family made to allow me
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to do what I did.
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I'd never had the chance to meet Ken's wife.
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But I met her today And for Kathy, I don't
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know where you're at, but thank you for sharing Ken
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with us. Thank you to the rest of the family
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for all the sacrifices, for the travel and the weekends
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away from home, and the mentorship, the phone calls after
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the duels are over, listening to sitting in the crowd
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and listening to people damn your name as an official.
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Thank you to Kathy and the rest of the family.
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You're very special people to allow Ken to be a
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part of our community.
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We appreciate that.
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When I had a chance to really work with Ken.
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It was as my role coming into the NCAA and
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Ken was an evaluator after he signed off as an official,
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and it was so great to have a guy that
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sort of I admired. When I've where I got my
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evaluations at the end of a session, the first one
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I would go to was Ken's What did Ken have
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to say about me? And I remember one of the
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things that to this day he put on one of
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those evaluations for evaluation forms was simply this.
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Haggardy, you hustle a lot, but you make it look.
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Easy that to me.
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To find how I wanted to be on the mat
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and Ken reassured that can help me become a much
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better official with a handful of words. And every time
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after that, again I promise you that the first person
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that I went to to see or hear what they
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had to say was Ken Marra's evaluation.
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So again, Ken, thank you for everything.
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With that said, and closing again, I would just say
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the respect, the professionalism that he's brought to the sport
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is something that I know myself and so many other
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officials will certainly appreciate.
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Thank you so much.
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Ken, Our first honoree is meritorious Official Ken Merra.
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Please enjoy this video.
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The official is a man Mara from Hickson, Tennessee.
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He did twenty national Division one championships and he was
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selected to be the head official in nineteen of those finals.
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That I don't know of anybody else with the exception
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of maybe Mike McCornick, who did that number of finals.
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Now what's significant about that is in order to do that,
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you have to be in the top ten at.
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The end of the evaluation period. Who got then.
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For at least nineteen years and possibly twenty, Ken was
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ranked in the top ten officials in the country. That's
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a pretty staggering statistic, guy think and it a test too,
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is professionalism and overall skilled and officiating.
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Chatt Nigga's home.
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It's a.
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Small, big old town. You know.
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It's not Nashville, it's not Atlanta, but it's big enough
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for us. So we're happy here.
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Chattanniggah has a great wrestling community. It's it's a family.
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It truly is a family.
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We don't have the reputation of being a necessarily wrestling
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states like they do in the Midwest and the Upper East,
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and that kind of thing, But uh, there's some good
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wrestlers come out of this area. We're into our where
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our fourth generation is now at door Dain.
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My parents both went to school there, and then we did,
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than our kids did, and then our grandkids did. He
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has three brothers who all three wrestled in high school,
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and then I have two sisters whose husbands both wrestled
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in high school.
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The first time I ever saw a wrestling matter when
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I walked on as a freshman in high school. I
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never saw that before.
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What is that?
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Are you gonna do?
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What?
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So, yeah, it was that's changed a lot.
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We started school in August September, I guess, and he
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was playing football at the time. He didn't start wrestling
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till what November, I guess, when football was over and
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wrestling started.
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And that was first first time he walked on that
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and I'd never seen wrestling before that.
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Our wrestling coaches were Big Bradshaw and Shack. Then there's
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a Shack was the teacher. He was the one that
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taught us how to wrestle. Nick was a football coach
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who had the head coaching debby wrestling as a selfle
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met to his income.
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But he was a good test master and he.
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Made sure that you did your grills and ring your ground,
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your laps and in your sprints.
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And that kind of thing.
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So I ope my success to those two, especially she
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had vandus.
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I don't think that I did go to the first
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couple until we really kind of got into what was
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going on and everybody was getting involved in it.
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She was your favorite because we were gaining some success
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and for the school spirit among not just the team,
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but are the students. Our pep rallies were awesome, and
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Kathy was a fan.
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Well.
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He was pretty good by senior year especially, and that's
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when we really were as a school more totally into
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the sport.
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But you know, you do a lot of gy rating
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and falling off the edge of the bleachers and stuff
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like that, and I still do that watching it on
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TV now, as you just I've watched it my whole life.
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Really, from the time I was fourteen years old.
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My senior year of high school, we won the first
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state championship that my high school had ever had won
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in that sport. A camaraderie and on our team was special.
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Most of those guys were still.
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Good friends of mine to this day.
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We were married, I was going to school working and
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we had a child and something had to give, and
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it was wrestling. At that point. It was just a
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way to make money. We were, like I said, I
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was in school.
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I worked at a warehouse unloading box cars at three
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o'clock in the morning, and they would go to school.
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And so her dad, my Marfe' dad was a football
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official and had been doing it for quite a while,
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and he got me into that.
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I didn't really like it. I just kind of migrated
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into wrestling officiating and.
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Liked it.
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Seemed to have had a knack for it, had some
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great mentors who held my hand and showed you how
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to do things the right way and the wrong way.
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What was the wrong way?
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When I got into the game, he was one of
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the guys that protected me and took me under his
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wing and taught me what to do and what not
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to do and how to act. You know how not
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to act, and you know, people that are referee at
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this level understand what that means. Senior guys can help
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you look good or they can help you look bad.
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And he always helped there and want to look good.
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My first year was nineteen eighty three.
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For the first couple of years.
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I believe they would invite twenty officials, they would cut
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three the first day, after the first day and send
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you home. I fully expected to be one of those three,
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and then I made the finals.
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As a referee, you don't you don't want to be noticed.
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You want to be out there.
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Your number one job is sayty and fair enforcement.
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Of the rules. But you don't want to be in
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the middle of everything and be a part of the match.
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You want to be a part of the match.
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Put an unseen part.
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In a mentor too. I'll shore hundreds of young men
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to become officials and kind.
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Of see a high school as well as college.
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But yeah, Kim's definitely one of the good guys. You know,
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silent assassin. You're never going to hear from him, and
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you haven't get high done, get low just goes and
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does his job and does a really good job at it.
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Ken got involved in a lot of bud of things
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in the state too. I think developing officials, rules interpreter,
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so you get involved the news.
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It more time.
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No to see someone rewarded so to speak for an
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amazing career is also okay. I mean when you put
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stripes on you know your ambition is certainly not to
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get into the Hall of Fame. I can't imagine if
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you ask anybody that is that would be their answer.
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But to be recognized by your years for something that
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you're really, really passionate about that's important to you, that
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you poured your heart and soul into is real quick.
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I can't tell you how thrilled I am, how honored
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I am.
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He has put his heart in his soul and sometimes
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his aching back into wrestling for fifty six years basically,
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so it just serves it.
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I tell people all the time, I don't know what
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I did to deserve this, but I'm not giving it back.
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So I'm I'll cherish this for the rest of my life.
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And now let's bring the honoree can to come forward
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please with his presenters, his daughters, Christy Higgins, Carrie Ngel,
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and Mandy Boy.
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How did I get here? How did I get my
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name in my story to be included among the greats
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of our sport. I first stepped onto the mat as
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on a wrestling mat when I was fourteen years old
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to tattle on myself a little bit. That was sixty
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one years ago, sixty one years as a wrestler, a referee,
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an evaluator, and now a supervisor and teacher. And all
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those years of wrestling, all those years of wrestling have
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given me a great deal of honor and opportunities. It
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gave me the opportunity to visit some great cities and
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some great arenas. I've had the opportunit to be on
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the mat to see great wrestlers show their skills.
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To the wrestling world.
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I've had the opportunity to work on the mat to
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see that those wrestlers, their teams, their coaches, and their
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fans all got a fair shake. That was my number
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one goal, that making sure no one got hurt. Wrestling
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gave me all those opportunities, and I hope that I've
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had I've done a good enough job of handling those
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opportunities by giving back to the sport just a little
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bit along the way I've had done iFIT of working
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on some great mentors, many and many great officials. To
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try to name them all would be silly because they
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would take too much time, and I'm sure I would
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forget most of them. But to name just a few,
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Doctor John Farr and Bill Hodges in my early years
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were great mentors they were did a great job of
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encouraging me when I needed it and kicking my butt
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when I needed that as well along the way. Later on,
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doctor Pat mc McCormick, assuming Yeah, doctor Pat McCormick and
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Lynn Dyke helped me along when I got to the
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Nationals and they were there to help me when I
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needed it. I was able to work with some great
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officials along the way and learn from them. I made
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a point of when I was not officiating, watching the
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officials to see if there were parts of their game
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that I could pick I've been working to mine. I
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worked with Tom Galen, Dave Frish, Darryl Henry, ed Kelly,
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and the list goes on. Mike Haggerty, I could go
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on forever. I want to thank all those good friends
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and associates who worked to get my name onto the
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consideration to be included here. You know who you are,
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and I can't name you all, but many thanks to
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your efforts to the Board of Governors of the National
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Wrestling Hall of Fame. I am eternally be grateful that
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you saw fit to include me in this twenty twenty
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five class. I'm humbled and proud to have been a
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part of this class. To my family, especially my wife Kathy,
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my daughters Christy, Carry and Mandy. I couldn't have done
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this without you. Your support, your encouragement, your advice, and
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your love help carry me through. Your sacrifices were me,
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but your support carried me through. I love you all,
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Thank you very much.
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Legends is a presentation of the National Wrestling Hall of
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Fame and produced by the Man Talk podcast Network.
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If you want to hear more from.
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Wrestling's legends, contribute to the project today by going to
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matttalkonline dot com slash contribute. We hope you've enjoyed this
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look in the wrestling history. This has been Legends. I'm
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Jason Bryant.
