Stars align in Butler
Pine-Richland and Butler/Legacy Wrestling joined forces this week — and 35 youth wrestlers benefited from the coalition.
Two NCAA champions and a three-time PIAA champion were at the Legacy Fitness Center in Butler this week to work with youngsters from kindergarten age through seventh grade.
Brock McMillen. a Glendale High School graduate, is a University of Pittsburgh wrestler and a three-time PIAA champion. He was at Legacy working with the kids Tuesday. Jason Nolf, a Kittanning High School grad and three-time PIAA champion — who became a three-time NCAA wrestling champion and four-time All-American at Penn State — was on hand Wednesday. Sonny Abe, another Penn State wrestler who was the 1996 NCAA champion and a three-time Big Ten champ, worked with the kids on Thursday.
“You don’t have to look too far from here to run into guys like these,” Butler High School wrestling coach Scott Stoner said. “Our region is such a hotbed for wrestling. It’s awesome they’re willing to give of their time to work with kids.”
Pine-Richland’s wrestling coaches brought these three mat standouts in, but could not host an instructional camp featuring them due to P-R wrestling facilities being unavailable right now.
“They called me and asked if I’d be interested in joining forces and holding the event here at Legacy,” Stoner said. “We welcomed that opportunity.”
Butler assistant wrestling coach Trevor Gallo, a former mat standout at Slippery Rock High School, was a young assistant coach at Kittanning when Nolf wrestled there.
“He was just a different breed,” Gallo said. “Jason was always at practice early. When practice was over, he did sprints without any of the coaches asking him to. Then he’d leave the high school practice and his dad would take him to another practice, with the club team he was with.
“All of that and he maintained a 4.0 grade point average. That’s just the type of kid he was. You could tell he was going to go on to do great things.”
Nolf went on to become champion at the 2020 Pan American Games.
Now Nolf — who works with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club — spends a lot of time giving back, traveling around the country to teach youths the sport that’s meant so much to him.
“I live in State College, but I’ve gone to California, Indiana, Iowa ... all over the place to camps like this,” Nolf said. “It’s important to encourage the kids, get them to progress and be excited about wrestling.
“The sport should be fun. It’s always been fun to me. If I can inspire these kids in any way, it’s well worth my time.”
Paul Roth has been Butler’s elementrary wrestling coach for 19 years. There were 75 kids in that program last year.
“The creation of this (Legacy) facility, camps like this, they’re making an impact,” Roth said. “We’re picking up more kids.
“The big thing with coaching the elementary kids is patience. Their attention span isn’t as long, so you have to break things up a little bit.”
The youths’ eyes were fixed on Nolf while he spoke to them about wrestling technique. That scene brought a smile to Gallo’s face.
“I love being here to witness this,” Gallo said. “If the kids aren’t going to pay attention to a guy like this, who are they going to pay attention to?
“Wrestling legends have come from all over our area,” Stoner said. “Who knows? One or two (future) legends might be in this room right now.”
Stoner added that First United Methodist Church helps him with the Legacy facility, which has branched out to running programs for tennis, gymnastics and cheerleading, among other sports.
“It’s all about getting kids involved with physical activity and staying fit,” Stoner said.
