Sports Hall of Fame - 2009 Legacy Award
1964-65 Wrestling Team

Coach Tom Robertson had lost five seniors off of his 1963-64 wrestling roster, including 2-time Sectional champ and 3^rd place NYS finisher Gerrie Stone. Robertson's deadpan quote to Dave Rossie of the Evening Press about his'64-65 team was "If we can fill in, we'll be pretty tough, comparable to the last two years, I guess," In his usual style, Tom never let'em know too much....

There were only 12 dual meets, scheduled against regular Susquenango League foes. It also pitted the Warriors against two other top Section 4 teams, Union-Endicott and Vestal. Although Coach Robertson would love to have seen Ithaca on the slate, battles with the Little Red would come later.

In only one match was the team score decided as late as the penultimate bout - that being a Noel Kobia pin at 182 lbs. to secure the 24 -17 victory in the "Battle of the Unbeatens" at Chenango Forks. The average margin of victory for all 12 matches was an astounding 27.5 points!

Sidney also prevailed in the two regular season tournaments that winter - by 10 points over Ithaca at the prestigious Windsor Christmas Tournament, and by only three points better than Section 3's Frankfort in the Center State Tournament.

Susquenango League Champions were Rick Cole, Wayne Terry, Lonnie Warner, Mark Payne, Claude Shaw, and Noel Kobia. Sidney's winning margin was 93-81 over Greene. Then at Sectionals, with the best of the best all in attendance, Robertson's crew totaled 85 points, 12 points better than the runner-up ... this time Ithaca. And they qualified an unprecedented FIVE wrestlers for States.

The facts are already well known from the 1965 NYS Wrestling Championships held at Ithaca College. All Five Sidney grapplers were top three material: Claude Shaw (154) and Noel Kobia (180) were State Champs; Mark Payne (133) and Lloyd Jerauld (138) placed second; and Wayne Terry (112) won his consolation match to finish third. Team scores showed Section Four blew away the field with 125 points! By winning the last 6 finals (including Shaw & Kobia), our section displaced Long Island's two sections (8 & 11), which had dominated the previous two NYS Tournaments.

Now for the reason Sidney can make its claim of New York State Champions stick: If the Warriors' five wrestlers were entered as a team, their 50 points could not be touched. What's more, they would have amassed more points as a team than all other Sections at the meet, with the exception of Section 4 (of course) and the previously mentioned Long Island sections. Fans of Sidney Warriors athletics often have fun discussing the best teams among its various sports. When it comes to wrestling, there are several other teams worthy of consideration. That's what made this program so successful - perennial team champions and 8 individuals totaling 10 state titles.

But after careful review, the consensus is No one team was better than the 1964-65 wrestlers.