Remembering Joel Easter

    Dedication. Enthusiasm. Passion.

   All three of those words echoed throughout the obituary for Bedford icon Joel Easter, who passed away late last week.

   One of the most accomplished wrestlers in Bedford’s storied history, Easter was also a small business owner and a beloved family man. On the mat, Joel collected three state medals, including a runner-up finish as a junior 105-pounder.

   I’ll remember Joel for his coaching style and the pride he showed upon the wrestling achievements of his sons Trey and Ryan.

   A memory that sticks with me came when Trey capped off a strong high school career with a seventh-place medal in the state tournament. 

   I was standing in the back hall of Hershey’s Giant Center after the medal ceremony, and in giving Trey time before interviewing him, those joyous few moments between a father and son were pretty cool to see.

   The next year, along comes Ryan and all he does is win four state medals, the first to do so, one-upping his dad in the process. And again, the father-son moments were the same from a journalist’s perspective and must have been just as cherished from a family mindset.

   While I’m sure it did happen, I always thought how cool would those dinner conversations discussing state medals have been for the Easter clan, like “Hey, we’ve got eight state medals, come beat that!”

   And it’s probably cliche to say coaches have a special insight to their particular sport, but I’ll also remember Joel Easter for that. On more than one occasion at a big tournament, I’d just happen to be standing close enough to hear him describe the larger picture in either an individual match or a round, whether Bedford was involved in it or not, and think “yeah, this guy knows what’s up.”

   No doubt, Joel will be missed in Bedford wrestling, Pennsylvania wrestling, and beyond. 

   My deepest condolences go out to Sheila, Trey, Ryan and the extended Easter family.

SanctionPA hits magic number

   We made it!

   On Tuesday afternoon, the SanctionPA committee announced that 100 school districts in Pennsylvania have now approved the formation of a girls wrestling program.

   With that comes the fulfilling of a standard set by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) that would make the sport eligible for inclusion in the state’s official array of sponsored sports.

Officially, Pennridge is the 100th program. The process began less than three years ago in the formation of a grassroots committee made up of coaches, administrators, and others interested in promoting and building the idea of girls wrestling to get to a day like today. That group and it’s end goal, of which I have represented District 5, is a testament to our dedication to this initiative.

   “Meeting the 100-school threshold further cements SanctionPA’s viewpoint that if you create equitable opportunities for girls athletics, growth will follow,” said SanctionPA president Brooke Zumas, who is also the girls coach at Parkland High School. “When we launched this initiative in March 2020, girls wrestling as a whole was treated as a novelty and not as a legitimate sport on its own validation. But with the collaborative work of people across Pennsylvania, it is clear that girls wrestling is a robust and needed sport that fulfills what was a void in the wrestling community and our state. In a few weeks, athletes will compete in what we hope to be the last non-PIAA sanctioned Pennsylvania girls wrestling state tournament. We congratulate each and every school and athlete, past and present, who helped pave the pathway for the great sport of girls wrestling in Pennsylvania.”

   High school girls wrestling participation in Pennsylvania grew by over 80% during the 2022-23 season and has experienced over a 400% growth in the past five years. Since the school year began last fall, 46 schools have approved a girls wrestling program.

   “PIAA would like to congratulate those member schools that are sponsoring girls’ wrestling and supporting their growth,” said PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi. “We are looking forward to developing a first class program to highlight these athletes and wish to thank all those involved with SanctionPA for their commitment to this growing sport.”