The following submission comes from Brian Wright O'Connor?, a Moorestown wrestler from the class of 1974.
Patch Staff
Editor's note: The following submission comes from Brian Wright O'Connor, a Moorestown wrestler from the class of 1974. He is currently a writer who lives in Boston.
The year 1975 was a golden season in the golden era of Moorestown High wrestling, when the team chalked up an 18-0 record and dominated both district and regional tournaments.
Veterans of the undefeated squad recently gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of the achievement by attending a wrestling quad meet at the high school and sitting down at a luncheon where the former grapplers relived the glories of their landmark season.
Of the dozen wrestlers who wore the varsity gold and black that year, all showed up for the reunion, except for the team’s heavyweight — John Wolgamot, who passed away in 2022. Also missing was the late coach Jack Welch, who arrived at Moorestown in the late 60s and won induction into the South Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame after his retirement.
But the rest were there, joined by teammates from seasons before and after who helped mold Moorestown’s championship run. A bit thicker in the body and with less hair and original teeth, most of the sixty-something grapplers still sported the bulging forearms and thick necks of athletes trained in the demanding sport.
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Blow-up photos of team pictures and wrestlers in action hung on the walls of Tommy’s Tavern as teammates rose one by one to laud their fellow combatants and look back through the mist of nostalgia to a more innocent time, when winning on the mat seemed like the only thing that mattered.
“That was an unbelievable season,” said John Adams, the team’s 141-pounder and the main organizer of the reunion. “We worked hard and put in the time. Everyone contributed to our success that year — not just the starters but the guys who pushed them each and every day in practice. That was the crucible of victory, the place where champions were forged.”
Mark Coppola, a junior that year, did not make the starting line-up but in 1976 became Moorestown’s second wrestler to make the state final. Wrestlers from earlier years, like Matt Riedel — MHS’s first fourth-place state finisher — said tough competition in the elevated heat of the wrestling room proved more daunting at times than meet or tournament opponents.
“Look over there,” said Riedel, pointing to 1972 regional champion Sam Allen – Moorestown’s first wrestler to make the state tournament. “Can you imagine going up against him every day in practice?” Allen, wearing a leather jacket barely containing his massive shoulders and biceps, nodded wryly in recognition.
The 1974-1975 campaign came in the middle of a decade of dominance, with Moorestown winning multiple conference championships, sending wrestlers deep into the state tournament and nearly racking up more district and regional titles than the rest of the five decades of MHS wrestling history combined.
The 1975 team featured seven district champions, including its two team captains, Jay Dever, who wrestled at 168 and went on to win at regions and become Moorestown’s first state finalist, and 129-pounder Dan Murnane.
Dever credited Moorestown’s coach for creating a winning mentality. Welch, who led the program for 22 years, was a bantam-weight college gymnast who emphasized hand strength, conditioning, speed and agility in his wrestlers. He brooked little dissent and during meets cut a distinctive presence on the edge of the mat, crouching down and cupping his hands over his carved sideburns to bark instructions to his charges.
“We loved Coach Welch because we respected him. There might also have been a little bit of fear,” said Dever. “He demanded a lot of us and taught us to demand it of ourselves.”
Welch’s dedication was evident at the reunion in the files and charts brought to the event by his former wife Barbara and son Marty. The detailed documents covering every match and tournament sparked memories of near-forgotten bouts for many of the wrestlers in the room.
Jeff Klein, a mainstay at the lower weights throughout the mid-1970s, became Moorestown’s winningest wrestler under Welch’s tutelage, racking up 89 wins, a record that stood for 25 years until broken in 2001 by Mark Thompson, son of the team’s freshman coach during Klein’s era.
“Jack Welch had a profound impact on the lives of everyone who walked through the doors of that wrestling room,” said Klein, who won the first of three district championships as a 98-pounder in 1973 and regional titles in 1975 and 1976. After settling into a dentistry practice in the area after college and graduate school, Klein became a patron of the high school program, joining teammates like John Adams in nurturing the sport.
“Just look at the people here today,” said Klein. “Not just the wrestlers, but the coaches, the fans, the friends. The people who stomped their feet in the bleachers. Under Jack Welch, the team was a family.”
For Mike Verbaro, the team’s 115-pounder in 1975, one of his career highlights was a 1-0 victory over the highly regarded Butch Campbell in a tense showdown against Pemberton late in the season. The match, held at Fort Dix, featured the wrestlers competing beneath a spotlight, with the roaring fans in relative darkness around the edge of the mat.
Verbaro, who won a district championship in 1976 and went to states with his brother Dave that year, used his strength and balance to fend off Campbell’s ferocious attack. The referee awarded Verbaro a single penalty point when the Pemberton captain illegally locked hands while seeking to maintain control during the second period. In the final two minutes, as Vebaro controlled Campbell, Welch shouted to let him go, willing to concede a point and take the tie.
But Verbaro, who had been projected to lose the match, held on for the win, helping to propel Moorestown to victory and preserving the undefeated season.
“It was one of the few times I didn’t do what Coach Welch asked,” said Verbaro. “I wanted that win. I wanted us to win and I wasn’t about to let the team down. No one else did either. Buddy Wright pulled off a big upset that night. It was a true team victory.”
Photo Captions
Reunion photo: Moorestown wrestlers from Jack Welch's coaching era gather at the high school:(front row, left to right) Dave Verbaro, Mike Verbaro, Brian O'Connor, Brendan O'Connor, Joe Speese, Buddy Wright, Don McCrabb; (back row) Tommy Powell, Dave Fricke, Matt Riedel, Ross Epstein, Jeff Klein, Steve Zehler, Jay Dever, Gary Ireland, Mark Coppola, Paul Martin.
Yearbook photo: Moorestown High wrestlers, both starters and key teammates, appear in this 1975 yearbook photo of the championship squad: (bottom row, left to right) Dave Verbaro, Jeff Klein, Mike Verbaro, Buddy Wright, Danny Murnane, Don McCrabb; (back row) Jeff Wolgamot, Joe Speese, Mark Coppola, Mark Sanyour, Mike Willis, Steve Zehler, Ken Long, Jay Dever, Ross Epstein, John Adams, Coach Jack Welch.
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