HAMPTON BAYS WRESTLING ALUMNI
HISTORY OF BAYMEN WRESTLING
Welcome to the Hampton Bays High School Wrestling Alumni website. Hampton Bays High School is located in the beautiful hamlet of Hampton Bays, NY in the East End of Long Island. Hampton Bays historically is a fishing and resort community. It's population was just under 3,000 residents in 1970 and has grown to almost 13,000 residents today. Summers were spent at the beach, fishing, boating and water skiing. During the winter months, Hampton Bays morphed into WRESTLING COUNTRY!
The Hampton Bays "Baymen" wrestling program's first year was in 1972. The program was first coached by Bill Germann. The program first started as a club. Coach Germann built a solid foundation for the program to grow, winning a league championship in 1973-74, the Baymens first year of varsity competition. Richard McGuckin was the assistant coach and he also coached the junior high team. "McGuck" was excellent at teaching fundamental wrestling technique. You were bound to hear him say "fiddle-dee-dee son" if your effort was not quite up to par!
Coach Fitzgerald teaching technique during a 1974 practice.
Rick Durand, the 1975 League Champion at 138 lbs. Kevin Durand placed 3rd.
Bill Germann left for Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota in 1974 where he posted a very solid 117-83-4, 57.35% career record coaching the varsity wrestling team. Coach Germann fortunately recommended Mike Fitzgerald, his college roommate, to Walter Schumacher, superintendent of schools at HB, for the varsity wrestling coaching job. "Fitz", as he was more commonly known, became the second varsity head coach in 1974-75. The program blossomed. Richard McGuckin assisted Fitz for another decade. Robert Emmons was hired in 1980 and assisted Coach Fitzgerald for 20 years. Coach Emmons' acumen with technique was unmatched. He helped wrestlers accomplish the finer points of a wrestling move. Through the years numerous alumni wrestlers and members of the community assisted the program, most notably, Bruce Doran. Bruce donated the "Most Dedicated" award to the program in 1980 and in 1981. Today, the varsity wrestling program is coached by Mike Lloyd (class of 2008). Craig Mielenhausen (class of 1984) is the middle school coach.
Coach Fitzgerald with his kid wrestling program in the 1990's
During the 1970's Hampton Bays wrestling immediately grew to dominate the East End of Long Island winning the league championship 9 out of Fitzgerald's first 10 years. This occurred despite always being at a disadvantage due to an average turnout of 20 boys, not nearly enough for a varsity and a junior varsity team. Most years the Baymen had to forfeit weight classes. Hampton Bays High School is a small school rarely having a graduating class of over 100 students. There were no more than 50 boys per grade and if the team had two wrestlers per weight class that was a lot! Wrestling is a family oriented sport and HB had many brothers who filled the roster over the years. There were many tournament champions and place-winners amongst the Candela's, Durand's, Pensa's, Tobin's, Villareale's, McSherry's, Lever's, Goleski's, Mancuso's and many others!
One of the many innovations of Coach Fitzgerald was each season he honored the parents of each wrestler with a Parents Night. The parents sat in a special section at the side of the mat and the mothers were each presented with a corsage. Prior to the match Coach Fitzgerald would read that special poem, The Lament of a Wrestler's Mom, written by Mrs. Connie Krueger of St James, Minnesota.
Ben Hill, perhaps the finest wrestler ever in Hampton Bays history, was the first Baymen to place in the Suffolk County, Section XI, Championships, taking 2nd at 155 lbs in 1976. Ben attended Tennessee University and was the first and only Baymen to earn Division I NCAA All American honors. Ben placed 6th in the 1980 NCAA Championships at 177 lbs. Marco Leddy was the Baymens first Suffolk County Champion in 1977 at 138 lbs and he was also the first Baymen to place in the New York State Championships, taking 4th that same year. Remember, during these years, before Division 1 and 2 were organized in 2003, it was very difficult to place in the counties. No matter the size of the school, there was only one county tournament, one state tournament, no wrestle-backs and only 4 place-winners.
Ben Hill, who placed 2nd in Suffolk County at 155 lbs in 1976, was an All American at Tennessee. Ben placed 6th at 177 lbs in the 1980 NCAA Championships.
1977 Conference IV Place-winners. Top row (L-R) Kevin Durand (Champion, 155 lbs), Stu Goodman (2nd Pl,126 lbs), Marco Leddy (2nd Pl, 138 lbs), Carl Berglin (3rd Pl, 177 lbs), Bottom row (L-R) Steve Case (Champion, 119 lbs), Paul Candela (Champion, 112 lbs), Gerard Candela (Champion, 132 lbs)
Throughout the 1980's and 1990's the Baymen were able to compete with the much larger western Suffolk County (Section XI) schools. The 1980-81 team was the first to place in the top ten in the Suffolk County Championships, taking 7th. The 1982-83 team finished 4th in the Suffolk County Championships, the Baymens best performance. Sal Fava, 91 lbs and Tom McSherry, 138 lbs, both NY State place-winners, were the first Baymen to top 100 career wins in 1983. Paul Candela, 1976-1980, was the first 4x league/conference champion. Joe Villareale was the first 2x Suffolk County place-winner; 5th place in 1981 & 3rd place in 1982. John Case, the most successful wrestler in our history, became the first multiple Suffolk County Champion and NY State place-winner in 1995 and 1997. Jay Bedell had the finest season in HB history, placing 2nd in New York State in 1998 at 130 lbs. Fitzgerald's Hampton Bays career spanned 26 years and 205 victories.
1997: John Case getting back points in the League 7 Championship Finals at 112 lbs. John was a 3x League champ, a 2x Suffolk County champ & a 2x NY State Place-winner. John also has the most career wins (123) in HB wrestling history.
1998: Jay Bedell places 2nd in the NY State Championships at 133 lbs. In the history of the program, this has been the finest performance by a Baymen wrestler
FITZGERALD'S TEAMS ACCOMPLISHED:
11 League dual meet championships
09 League/conference tournament championships
10 Top 10 finishes in Suffolk County (Section XI)
90 League/conference champions
33 Suffolk County (Section XI) place-winners
07 Suffolk County (Section XI) champions
06 NY State place-winners
1981 League VII-VIII Tournament Championships, Shoreham, NY, Feb 21,1981.10 Baymen in the finals, a team record at the time. L to R: Sal Fava (91 lbs), Craig Mielenhausen (98 lbs), Mike Mayer (105 lbs), Charlie Nicholson (119 lbs), Doug Matz (126 lbs), Tom McSherry (132 lbs), John Tobin (138 lbs), Dale Durand (155 lbs), Joe Villareale (167 lbs), Tony Villareale (177 lbs).
Coach Fitzgerald demanded discipline, dedication and a strong work ethic from his wrestlers. Each practice was grueling, filled with drilling technique, strength and aerobic training preparing his team for a schedule that always included the counties toughest teams. One of his many motto's was "you must wrestle the best to become the best". He retired from Hampton Bays after the 2000-01 season but returned to coaching as an assistant for Westhampton Beach High School while his son Todd was wrestling there. Fitz came out of retirement for one final year of head coaching in 2004-05 for the Southampton High School varsity wrestling program. They did not have a head coach and probably would not have had a season had he not coached.
April 29, 2011, Marriott Hotel, Melville, NY. Mike Fitzgerald at the podium during his Hall of Fame induction speech to a record crowd of 650 people.
April 29, 2011, Marriott Hotel, Melville, NY. Mike Fitzgerald with Bob Emmons and his Hampton Bays wrestling Alumni
Mike Fitzgerald gave his all to the sport of wrestling and to the wrestlers he coached. For this he received the highest honor in the sport of wrestling. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on April 29, 2011 at the Marriott Hotel in Melville, NY. Over 120 members of the HB community and wrestling alumni were in attendance to honor Coach Fitz. 650 people, a record, attended the Hall of Fame ceremony. BA Schoen, the host of the Hall of Fame ceremony, stated afterward; "How do you get 650, hungry, unruly, chattering wrestlers to stop talking and listen? You introduce Mike Fitzgerald! Thanks to everyone! Great crowd, great inductees, great evening."
You can find Fitz in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame website His profile for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony can be found in the Friends of Long Island Wrestling website. It was written by Paul Bass, the longtime and very successful varsity wrestling coach of Westhampton Beach High School.
This website, when completed, will provide a year by year account of the programs history. Anyone who has any material such as photos, brackets, etc, please leave us a message in the guest book.