Those three words exemplify the Mercersburg Academy wrestling program. Mercersburg fielded its first squad in the late fall of 1930, making it one of the oldest high school wrestling programs in the country. The Blue and White was successful from the beginning, sweeping to three winning seasons in the first four years while competing primarily against college frosh/JV teams. Fred Kuhn, who was to lead the Mercersburg mat fortunes for 34 years, coached his 1933-34 squad against opponents that ranged from the Hagerstown (MD) YMCA to the Galluadet College varsity.
78 seasons of competition have produced many memorable moments, a Tri-State area 520 dual meet victories and four National Prep Tournament championships. Mercersburg has faced 149 different opponents in that span and holds winning records against 89 of its challengers. The Academy's longest running rival is Wyoming Seminary, a series that began in 1931-32 and which Mercersburg leads 19-10-2.
BUILDING THE FOUNDATION
The country was just beginning to shake free of the Great Depression and World War II was soon to become a reality.
It was the 1930s and even then America had a passion for athletics. That passion extended to wrestling, particularly in the Northeast, where Bill Sheridan founded the Lehigh Interscholastic Tournament to bring the top private schools together to end the season. Sheridan had further motives as well, because the event proved to be a boon for Lehigh's recruiting efforts, helping strengthen one of the best college teams of that time and now. In an era when only eight weight classes were contested and the lightest was 115 pounds, when matches were routinely more than 10 minutes long, and when contests took place on canvas, the term 'Ironman' was quite applicable to wrestling.
Mercersburg's first team title at the tournament, in 1938, came on the strength of strong individual efforts. Five champions led Coach Fred Kuhn's squad in the race to outdistance Wyoming Seminary for the team title, Mercersburg's first of five over the next eight years.
Team Scores, 1938 Lehigh Tournament
Mercersburg (PA) 28.5, Wyoming Seminary (PA) 18, Blair Academy (NJ) 11, Choate (CT) 11, Poly Prep (NY) 11, Peddie (NJ) 8, Stony Brooke (NY) 8
1938 Lehigh Interscholastic Individual Champions
118- Tallman, Blair, 126- Laggan, Wyoming Seminary, 135- Greene, Mercersburg, 145- Browning, Mercersburg, 155- Beiseigel, Peddie, 165- Kreider, Mercersburg, 175- Shields, Mercersburg, Hwt- Jamison, Mercersburg