Red Bank Wrestling: Former state wrestling champions Joe Ward (middle) and Joe Pate (right) talk wrestling strategy with former Red Bank coach John Farr.
Pate and Farr recently presented Ward with a varsity letter from his seventh grade year.
photo by Wesley Schultz
The sparkle in the eyes and a smile as big as the Red Bank wrestling mat was proof that seventh grader Joe Ward belonged with the big boys.
Wrestling under first year Red Bank coach John Farr during the 1958-59 school year, Ward had earned enough points to gain that all-important, prestigious varsity letter.
But as quickly as it was earned, and quicker and more disheartening than a last second loss, the letter was then taken away. A year’s hard work, gone in an instant.
“Coach Farr had the unenviable task of telling me at the end of the season that the school principal disregarded the team guidelines for a varsity letter and said in no uncertain terms that he was not awarding a varsity letter to a seventh grader,: said Ward.
The verdict shook the Lion lightweight to the point that Ward quit the team the next year.
“I was devastated beyond words and could not understand why the principal would take away something that I had worked so hard for,” said Ward who had won his match in Red Bank’s first ever dual match under coach Farr earlier that season.
“Good or bad, right or wrong, I have carried that decision with me for years. I have learned to not go back on your word, because you have no idea the effect it can have on others.”
Ward could have been the poster child for ABC’s Wide World of Sports opening segment …”The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” so aptly described by announcer Jim McKay.
Ward felt similar pain for more than 50 years of the Yugoslavian skier Vinko Bogataj who had the famous fall in ski jumping.
But earlier this week – on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the TSSAA state wrestling tournament – fellow state champion and teammate Joe Pate took it upon himself to set the record straight.
Pate had a Red Bank varsity letter made with five white bars representing five varsity letters – Ward also lettered ninth through twelfth – and with other former Red Bank wrestlers from the 1960s looking on, made a surprise presentation of the “lost letter, found” to a stunned, yet thrilled Ward.
“I was glad to get this done for Joe and grateful to Sallye Worthington at Athletic Specialties who had the letter made at no cost to us,” Pate stated.
“I am so excited to get that first varsity letter,” stated Ward who received the framed letter in the old Red Bank Junior High gym, the sight of that first state wrestling tournament in 1961. “Joe was great to do this for me and it is very much appreciated.”
Childhood Setbacks: But the hurt of the lost letter went much deeper than just a piece of cloth taken away, but possibly the last straw in a tough, five-year window for a young boy.
Ward was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth in the third grade causing him the loss of all his teeth. The next year he was severely shocked by a live electrical wire, while climbing a tree.
“Thousands of volts went through my body and I was stuck in a tree for a couple of hours until my dad was able to rescue me before the rain came which would have electrocuted me for sure.”
“Many of the children in school kidded me unmercifully, because I looked like an old man without my teeth,” stated Ward. “Kids can be pretty cruel.”
Ward was in his first year of youth wrestling and not only did he loose his teeth, he lost every match as well.
But one who learned to overcome the odds, Ward proceeded to go undefeated the next three years before earning the varsity letter.
Heed Good Advice: “A lady who taught Bible in the Schools at my elementary school knew about my cancer and suggested I go the elders at a church so they could pray for me,” said Ward.
“So I followed her instructions and had elders pray, lay hands on me and anoint me with oil as it states in the book of James and the Lord healed me of cancer which, of course, was a miracle.”
Ward was on the fast track of success on the mat in the seventh grade, but was never the same wrestler after the lost letter episode.
“For some reason, I never regained a real desire to excel after 1959.”
Many of his opponents might take issue with the lack of his fire in the belly as Ward re-joined the team as a freshman and won back-to-back state championships as a junior and senior to help Red Bank win state team titles in 1963 and 1964.
“I wonder what might have been if I had put my all into the sport.”
Build It and They Will Win: Not only did he help the Lions win on the mat, he was a key figure in the building of the team’s first practice room.
“During the summer after my ninth grade year, I, along with state champs Charlie Ayers and Don Downey, plus the Lyons brothers and others help dig out this room below ground on the backside of the school.”
Ward’s dad, Tommy, helped build the concrete walls and Downey’s father helped with the steel supports as “The Lions Pit” was finished in time for the 1961-62 season.
“We took great pride in building our own practice room, rough and bare bones as it was, but it was all we had.
“Lots of state champs came out of that room,” said Ward pointing to the practice room door while standing at the far end of the school parking lot.
While today Ward owns a demolitions company – “I love to tear things apart” – he has also learned to put things and lives back together as he is also a minister.
Through the turmoil of childhood set backs and defeats, Ward has stood strong in his faith in his Lord over the decades, and played a leading role in the building of a dominant wrestling program in the mid 1960s.
Today he is still close with those he battled with each winter afternoon during his teenage years of the 1960s. Each of them fighting for a starting spot on Coach Farr’s championship teams to gain wins, and achieve that important varsity letter which represented hard-earned success and important life lessons learned of discipline, staying the course, sacrifice, disciple and team work.
Ward has had the memories of wrestling success for decades and thanks to good friend and teammate Joe Pate, he now has the all-important tangible evidence of those achievements.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net