Timeline:

1922: Wrestling begins at Syracuse.1925: First showing at Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships1949: Team EIWA champions, 3 individual champions1950: Team EIWA champions, 3 individual champions1954: Edwin Rooney sets NCAA record for fastest fall (31 seconds)1963: Jim Nance wins NCAA wrestling champion1965: Jim Nance wins NCAA wrestling champion1965: Team EIWA champions, 1 individual champions1965: Team EIWA champions, 2 individual champions1994: Team EIWA champions, 3 individual champions1991: Team EIWA champions 31989: Team EIWA champions 2 1980: Gene Mills named to Olympic team1981: Team EIWA 4 individual Gene Mills becomes SU’s first 4-time All-American1992: Mark Kerr Division 1 champion at 190 pounds1996: Jason Gleasman participates in the Olympics in Atlanta.1997: Jason Gleasman, EIWA champion2001: Team disbanded for financial reasons and Title IX2003: Club founded2005: Club begins competition

EIWA: 8 team titles (most recent 1994)62 individial champions (most recent 1998)7 NCAA champions6 Top 10 finishes as a team in NCAA35 all Americans

Story 1: Andy Schwab

By all accounts, Syracuse wrestlers were some of the toughest men on campus, with the work ethic and the wins to back up any machismo they showed. So when Gene Mills, a former wrestler himself and then assistant coach, told his men in 2001 they’re team was over, no longer a Division I sport, their reaction was a stark contrast to the norm.

‘It was the hardest thing I ever did,’ Mills said. ‘To see a bunch of grown men drop to their knees and cry was really hard, especially guys who mentally were probably the toughest people on that campus.’

Though the team members in 2001 took full weight of the decision, the ripple effect spread across the country to the alumni, who founded Keep Syracuse Wrestling, Inc., to raise money to help reinstate the team and support the wrestling club that has replaced it. The alumni remain active with the wrestling club, which was formed in 2003, and plan to continue working for Division I reinstatement.

Andy Schwab wrestled from 1981 to 1986 and returned as a graduate assistant coach from 1990 to 1992 during law school and helped as legal counsel for Keep Syracuse Wrestling during its early years.

‘We’re letting (the administration) know you really can’t just drop a program like that, especially when you’ve got scholarship athletes,’ Schwab said.

Like all the alumni, Schwab hopes one day the team he loved will be reinstated, but for now, he must be satisfied with the memories. During his third year of law school, Schwab was chosen to represent the United States at an international competition at the War Memorial, beating the Russian national champion. In 1992 he was an alternate for the Olympic team. He was practice partners with everyone from champions to walk-ons who would never see competition, but came out for the love of the sport.

Today he helps the wrestling club, passing tips and tricks he once practiced.

‘Wrestling is almost like a lifestyle,’ Schwab said. ‘You want to stay with it as long as you can. Even if you don’t get to compete, you still get to wrestle.’

Story 2: Lelan Rogers

Wrestling wasn’t necessarily Lelan Rogers’ favorite sport, but he was good at it. Very good.

He found his way to Syracuse University for the first time in the spring of 1986, transferring from St. Lawrence University for SU’s wrestling program after winning the Division III national championship at 190 pounds. When he qualified individually for the Midlands tournament, he traveled, serendipitously, with SU.

‘As I was out there with them, I got the itch I wanted to go to D-I,’ Rogers said. ‘You have to have the competition to practice with, and up at St. Lawrence as a sophomore and junior there was really no one in the room that was better to practice with. To get better, you have to have someone beat you up.’

At SU, Rogers was beat up and improved with practices with Andy Schwab then-coach Gene Mills.

But during the offseason, he was taking his hits in a different venue – the lacrosse field, where he specialized as a face-off man. Rogers found himself more in love with the teamwork in lacrosse and out of love with wrestling’s individualism.

‘It’s very addicting to watch it to learn about it,’ he said. ‘It’s a little bit of basketball, a little bit of hockey, a little bit of football.’

After graduating in 1987, he worked as a graduate assistant, helping with football, lacrosse and wrestling, eventually choosing lacrosse. Rogers strayed from SU for a few years, including stints at Wesleyan and Cortland. He now works as director of operations for Syracuse men’s lacrosse.

But wrestling is in the bloodline. Rogers’ 7-year-old son, Casey, is a wrestler.

Published on January 17, 2006 at 12:00 pm