Remembering Tyler Chesney and Dick Fisher

    Two more Bedford County natives, Tyler Chesney and Dick Fisher, that I have fond memories of have passed away in the last several days and weeks. Sadly, my most recent postings to this blog are of the same variety. I apologize for the lateness on this as I have wanted to write some words about each of them, but just haven't found the time to sit down and type. That said, both Chesney and Fisher deserve my thoughts.

   Chesney is one of the more decorated wrestlers in Northern Bedford history, as he put together a varsity record of 119-21, never losing more than six bouts in any of the four years. In 2009, Chesney joined an exclusive group of District 5 wrestlers by winning his fourth district championship. 

   That senior postseason for Chesney is something I remember most about him. In my years of covering the sport, the 125-pound bracket for the District 5 Tournament at Windber Area High School was as good as I've seen on paper. Chesney was the top seed, followed by Bedford's Devin Cook, North Star's Joey Lascari, and Hyndman's Levi Hosselrode in that order. For perspective, Chesney was a two-time state qualifier and a state medalist, while Cook and Lascari would each win two state medals in their careers. And Hosselrode was perhaps a step below those three, but still a tough competitor. The semifinal round went as expected with Chesney meeting Hosselrode and Cook drawing Lascari. 

   Right off the opening whistle, Chesney caught Hosselrode with an ankle pick and converted it for a quick takedown on his way to a 10-3 decision that I thought was a closer matchup that what that score ended up. Cook defeated Lascari on the other mat to set up the final. After the semifinal round was over, I said to WAYC Sports color commentator John Topper that I loved Chesney's aggressiveness from the start. That wasn't normally Chesney's style from my point of view, but he set the tone right away. He parlayed that into a 3-1 victory over Cook for the history-making achievement. 

   After a regional runner-up finish, Chesney eyed his first state medal the next weekend in Hershey. But he lost his first-round match and now had to battle just to have a shot at the podium. Chesney reeled off five consecutive victories, which is no easy thing to do. That included a 1-0 win over Cook in the consolations before avenging his regional final loss to Tyrone's Ronnie Garbinsky, 12-7 for third place in the state. As aforementioned, Chesney was almost always the winner on the mat and those last days in a Northern Bedford singlet cemented that status.

   Fisher had retired as athletic director at Chestnut Ridge just prior to my time at the Bedford Gazette, but I got to know him a little bit in seeing him at any number of Lions' sporting events as well as the annual Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame banquets. Fisher was inducted to the Hall in 2019. While I didn't know Fisher well, many of the remembrances I've seen of him this past week echo the same thoughts I have about him - a warm and engaging personality, professional, doing what's best for the athletes. 

   Whenever we chatted, those types of qualities stood out. Former Chestnut Ridge volleyball coach Wendy Miller called Fisher "one of the good guys," and I would say that certainly rings true.