Since 2001 when Josh Koscheck took his place on the top of the medal stand at Carver Hawkeye Arena and was crowned the National Champion at 174 pounds, people knew that the tiny school of Edinboro home of the Fighting Scot Wrestling Team had truly made a name for its self in Division I Wrestling. Just twelve years earlier in 1989, they had crowned their first Division I National Champion Sean O’Day, only a few years after they had made the jump to Division I. There are now three Fighting Scots that hold the title of National Champion after Gregor Gillespie joined O’Day and Koscheck in 2006.
Edinboro is a Division II institution ranging in size from 7,000 – 8,000 students, located only thirteen miles from Lake Erie and directly in the snow belt of northwestern Pennsylvania. It is a relatively small school, compared to many of the schools that the wrestlers compete against during the season. They have risen to the top all because of an Athletic Director (Jim McDonald) that could not stand to lose.
It was January 25, 1984, and Edinboro University had just been handed a hefty loss by the Golden Eagles of Clarion. They lost every weight that night and to add insult to injury Clarion was not apparently challenged enough during the dual meet, that they held practice in Edinboro’s wrestling room before they got on the bus to head home.
The programs rise to a competitive Division I Wrestling Program is chronicled in a new book by John Dudley, “The Fighting Scots of Edinboro: One Small School’s Rise to Prominence Among College Wrestling’s Heavyweights.”
In a recent interview with the author, he gave his thoughts and inspiration as to how the book came about and what it means to him:
I started with an idea about two and a half years ago originally I was going to do it as a magazine story. I was not thinking about a book at the time. I had always heard the stories about the blowout loss to Clarion in 1984 that kind of sparked Jim McDonald that it was time to stop getting his butt kicked by other PSAC wrestling schools.
I went back and I met with Jim McDonald and met with other people that were around at the time. It struck me that there was probably more than a magazine story. At the same time Bruce had gotten an inquiry letter from this publishing company in St. Louis, Reedy Press. They do a lot of co-publishing with schools. “If you ever have needs for institutional publishing let us know.” So this went to a straight book deal, they liked the idea from the start.
There was a guy there that went to Iowa knew wrestling, knew (Dan) Gable and knew a little about Division I wrestling. He understood how unique the situation was with Edinboro as a tiny public school against Big 10 and Big 12 powers, how unique that whole story was. He was sold on it from the start. He sold it to his publisher group and 2 years later I have a book.
What was important to me from the start is we knew it had to be a narrative history, it could not be told in a linear this is what happened here and here. It became clear to me early in the project that the personalities had to carry the book, even though the book is loosely started in the early 1980’s, it focuses on those people that made the program what it was: Jim McDonald, Mike DeAnna, Bruce Baumgartner, Mike Hahesy, Sean O’Day, Tim Flynn, Tony Robie, Jason Robison, Lou Rosselli, Josh Koscheck, and Gregor Gillespie in my opinion that shaped the program and made it what it is today.
The book can be purchased online through Amazon.com or by follow this direct link.
Dudley is a columnist and sports reporter for the Erie Times-News, he has been covering high school and college wrestling since 1999.
