Dave Unruh, Wrestling and Life Lessons

Dave Unruh

Greetings, Aces!  As with many of you, I remember my years at East High with genuine affection.  In retrospect it is easy to see how those years had significant, if not profound, effect on my life. My intermediate school years were spent at Central Intermediate.  I had a wonderful experience there also, but since very few students from Central went to East, I did not have peer group support that many others enjoyed as they entered high school.  I seemed to find my niche at East when I went out for the wrestling team. (Left, Dave Unruh in 1960)

Coach Jim Barger was an excellent wrestling coach.  (Right, Jim Barger) He learned the sport at Oklahoma State University where he ranked behind the heavyweight national champ.  We benefited from his hard work and from ours. 

Some good memories are of Russell Duty winning winning a State Championship in Oakley, Kansas, with a “flying figure four” as described by the radio announcers.  Another is of Jim Sharp beating an undefeated Hutch wrestler on their mats. And of course Fred Freeman’s great win over Southeast’s 300 pound Bob Wellman in the East High gym. 

I had a wonderful experience wrestling at 95, 103, and 112 pounds at East and wrestling at 123 pounds for four years at Kansas State University. Those experiences and friendships are great memories, but making weight each week is something I do not miss.

Far left, Dave Unruh grapples with a North High wrestler. The East High Wrestling Team was undefeated in city competition in 1960, winning the Wichita City Championship.

The life lessons gained by the rigors of wrestling are many and long lasting:  discipline, sacrifice, commitment, self-reliance, tenacity.  I don’t claim to be the best example of those attributes, but at least some of them have benefited me in my career as a small business owner, as a County Commissioner, and even my avocations as a high school referee and as a “kid” coach.  Adversity, challenges, criticism are more easily endured when you have learned the disciplines that wrestling demands.

We were blessed at East with an outstanding faculty.  It’s difficult to name them all but I was influenced by the personality and character of Joe Hume as he taught World Geography;  by Ms. Esther Benedict as she taught Analytic Geometry; and by Don Aley as he taught a senior English class.   (Below left, Joe Hume; center, Esther Benedict; right, Don Aley)

 

The most significant event for me at East High was meeting Karen Van Buren just after wrestling season my sophomore year.  We started dating in the spring of 1958 and this year we will celebrate 59 years of marriage. (Right, Karen Van Buren in 1960)

My East High experience has been a foundational and ongoing blessing.  I am thankful.