My Wrestling Journey – Bud Hennebaul

By Bud Henneabul, Scholastic Leadership Academy Director

My life in wrestling probably began when I was one year old. My uncle Fred suffered a freak accident and became a quadriplegic while wrestling in a high school meet. My dad and family chose to embrace wrestling rather than run from it. I am thankful today for their decision to dedicate their lives to wrestling.

My dad started an elementary school wrestling team in 1965 at the Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, YMCA. I was there with him at practice many times, yet too young to wrestle. It had to be challenging to keep up with me as I always wanted to get out on the mat and wrestle. He finally gave in when I was five years old. I took some severe beatings back then and loved it all the time.

After spending two and three nights a week making the commute from what we called the Back Mountain to the YMCA in Wilkes Barre, I had a transition to make to Junior High at Lake Lehman Junior/Senior High School. I spent many seasons wrestling far more matches than I should have and was suffering from being burned out. I decided not to wrestle in Junior High, but I did not have the courage to tell my dad. Instead of practicing, I would find places to hang out until after practice, when my mom would come to pick me up. I was young and not very bright. While I was doing my alter boy responsibilities a couple of weeks into wrestling, one of my dad’s high school coaches told him it was a shame I decided not to wrestle. That may have been one of the worst days of my life. I will not go into details other than the wrestling room we had in our house became hell on earth that day. Yes, dad had a temper.

After a few weeks, I went to my dad’s former coach, Mr. Zaleskas, and asked if he would talk with my dad. I decided I wanted to get back on the mats and be a part of the team and wrestle for Coach Ed Ladamus. Mr. Z and I both knew that was going to be difficult. We were finally successful. Coach Ladamus was a tremendous influence on my life as a wrestler and a person. He was a transformational coach long before people knew what it was. He was concerned and cared about his kids in everything we did. I grew to love wrestling over those next few years more than I ever had before. I am deeply indebted to Coach Ladamus still today. He helped me gain the love I have for wrestling today.

I experienced some success wrestling in Northeastern Pennsylvania as I grew as a wrestler. I won the AAU Eastern Nationals in 1976 and was invited to compete with a team that traveled to Turkey after the completion of the Olympics. Our team trained at St. Lawrence University during the Olympics. We were fortunate to watch the wrestling with some of the greatest USA Wrestlers in history. We made the trip to JFK Airport in New York to make my first flight in a Pan Am 747 across the pond to Frankfurt. It was exciting for a fifteen-year-old. The experience of all of this was beyond anything I could have imagined.

In my junior year in high school, my dad’s company expanded in the Southeast, and we moved to Georgia. I was told Parkview High School did not have a wrestling team before we made the move. We were at a school that had opened one year before we moved, and the Atlanta area was growing at an amazing rate. I was playing football, and during the third week of the season, one of my teammates told the running backs coach (wrestling coach) they should get me out for wrestling. I played it close to the vest and did not let them know I had any wrestling experience. The first week of practice was fun. I went on to win the Georgia High School State Championship that year. I stayed undefeated until my final match my senior year when I lost the finals to a future NCAA D1 All American by injury default.

I continued wrestling at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City, Alabama, where at best, I would have been considered average with a 14-12 record. There were not a lot of highlights with season-ending knee surgery. I made the decision then not to continue wrestling beyond my freshman season when CVCC discontinued wrestling. I began officiating high school wrestling and helped coach at Parkview High School, why I completed school.

In 1982, Coach Jim Morgan offered me a job as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which I accepted and joined him the following Spring. It would prove to be Coach Morgan’s last year and a half at UTC. Following Coach Morgan’s departure, I would serve as Coach Ethan Reeve’s assistant coach for his first two years (1984-85 and 85-86).

My departure from UTC came in 1986 when I married my wife, Beverly, and we moved to Jacksonville, Florida. I continued to officiate wrestling and a couple of Florida High School State Championships until we moved to Atlanta in 1993. When we moved to Georgia, I, along with a few friends, started the Metro Atlanta Wrestling Officials Association. I have been the president of the MAWOA since 1996.

During this time, I have been the Resilite Sports Products Independent Representative in all or part of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina (new), South Carolina, and Tennessee. In my spare time, I have been the GHSA State Wrestling Tournament Director since 2003. I have been on the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Georgia Chapter Board since 2003. I have served most of those years as the chapter president. I have been assisting with the direction of the Southern Scuffle at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since we brought it to Chattanooga in 2012.

In March of 2018, I decided to join Mike Moyer and the NWCA as the Director of Scholastic Leadership Academies. We have grown the Scholastic CEO Leadership Academies giving more than 2,000 individuals in 32 states around the country the opportunity to grow as coaches. Our goal is to have an in-person Scholastic CEO Leadership Academy in every state, every year. I have been in wrestling now, beginning my 54th year of wrestling. Life is good in wrestling!

PREVIOUS JOURNEYS

AUGUST | Dave Kemmy, Deputy Director