High-level tournament a boost for athletes, community

By KEVIN TRESOLINI
The News Journal

NEWARK — The Beast of the East has a national reputation but a profound local influence.

Ninety-three of the 760 high school wrestlers who’ll begin sweating and swirling around the mats inside the Carpenter Center today in the 16th annual tournament come from Delaware.

It’s a source of serious competition for everyone, and a resource for the Delaware teams that benefit from having it in their backyard.

“The Beast,” as the event is known in the wrestling community, is the place to be on a pre-Christmas weekend. At least 60 college coaches will be among those paying closest scrutiny to a gathering teeming with talent — seven returning champions, 21 state or national prep champs and 101 state or national prep place-winners.

Among the 89 teams represented, including 46 with their full rosters, 10 are ranked among the nation’s top 25 by Amateur Wrestling News, including No. 1 Blair Academy (N.J.) and Delaware’s own St. Mark’s.

Smyrna coach Kurt Howell wishes the Beast existed when he was in high school. Howell went 108-0 with four state titles at Newark from 1983-86, but rarely encountered out-of-state competition except in the annual Yellowjacket tournament and another at North East, Md.

“I know right now what it does for my kids,” said Howell, in his fifth year as Smyrna coach after six at Indian River. “I went through high school undefeated and it hurt me to be able to do that. I wish I would have gotten my clock cleaned a few times. When you get beat, you go back to the drawing board.”

Howell said he got the equivalent of the Beast experience during his summer sojourns to the national freestyle championships, where he also won, but said, “I think I would have greatly benefited from [the Beast]. I would have loved it.”

His wrestlers do, and draw considerable motivation from the Beast, said Smyrna junior 145-pounder Cody Carbine.

“I think it puts Delaware out there and shows we’re someone to be reckoned with,” Carbine said. “It gets us noticed nationally. It makes us work harder and want to prepare to do well. Last year, I was one match from placing, so I want to win pretty bad.”

The Beast is frequently touted by wrestling publications and Web sites as one of the nation’s top two high school tournaments, along with the Walsh Ironman held earlier this month at Walsh Jesuit in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

“We’re bigger and better than ever,” tournament director Bob Shaw said. “I know I say that every year, but it’s true.”

But Shaw and other local organizers have often wondered if they’re as appreciated as they should be at home and outside the wrestling community.

“When the Slam Dunk to the Beach was around as one of the top-ranked basketball tournaments in the country, people from Delaware recognized it and supported it a lot,” Shaw said of the now-defunct Lewes basketball extravaganza. “But it was a more visible sport. The wrestling community does recognize it and support it. The non-wrestling people, I don’t know. It’d be great if they did. But we do almost sell out every year anyway.”

Proceeds from the tournament have benefited Delaware wrestlers immensely, said Tom Abbott, president of the Delaware Wrestling Alliance.

“On the national level, the only reason people know about Delaware is because of the Beast,” said Abbott, whose son, Tom, was a 2006 Beast runner-up at St. Mark’s and a Division II All-American as a Minnesota State freshman last season.

“You’ve got guys all over the country talking about the Beast — oh, so-and-so won the Beast three times. When they announce them at the NCAAs, they say ‘[Iowa's] Mark Perry, Beast of the East champion.’ And they’re saying that at Nationals!”

The tournament’s economic impact on the area has also been profound and consistent, said Jack Newman, the DWA’s retiring 83-year-old executive director.

Seven hotels in and around Newark offer significant discounts, Newman said, to tournament visitors and will fill this weekend. The TGI Friday’s restaurant across from the Carpenter Center is the primary sponsor.

Research by the Delaware Tourism office predicts this tournament will bring $708,000 worth of business to the state, said Delaware director of tourism Linda Parkowski.

“It’s wonderful for tourism in Delaware,” she said of the Beast, “and gives us great economic impact, especially because most of the visitors are from out-of-state.”

The Beast has raised nearly $350,000 for DWA scholarships awarded annually — including $70,000 last year — to the top academic performers among all Delaware high school wrestlers.

Beast proceeds have also helped fuel a grassroots effort to fund offseason, particularly summer, wrestling programs, including camps, clinics and competitions.

These have included dual-meet competitions against other states, a Disney World Tournament, trips to the elite-level national freestyle and Greco-Roman championships in Fargo, N.D., and even elementary school workshops.

Beast officials estimate there are a couple dozen Delaware high school products on Division I wrestling teams or top Division II programs. They say having the chance to wrestle top-flight competition in their own state at the Beast is part of the reason.

Shaw, a 1976 state champion at Salesianum, remembers people telling him that, as a Delaware titlist, he had no chance against a top-five Pennsylvania finisher.

“Delaware doesn’t have to worry about that now,” said Shaw, whose son Bobby wrestled and son Jeremy wrestles now at North Carolina after standout careers at St. Mark’s. “If you win a state championship in Delaware, you can be compared to anybody, and the Beast has a lot to do with that.”