2002 Wrestling Grand Marshals Named

Four Grand Marshals, each with special contributions to the sport for more than a combined 100 years, will lead the annual Grand March of Finalists Saturday night (Feb. 16) before the championship bouts of the 65th Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Final Individual Wrestling Tournament.

Named Grand Marshals for 2002 are:

• Mark King of LaGrange, who wrestled in high school for DeKalb and has been the head wrestling coach at Lyons Township since 1974.
  
• Terry McCann of Chicago, an Olympic gold medal winner and long time youth wrestling coach, who has served as president of USA Wrestling.
  
• Dr. Joseph Pedersen of Darien, who wrestled at Arlington Hts. (Arlington) and who retired in 2002 after a 35-year career as a teacher, coach and administrator in Hinsdale School District 86.
  
• Dr. Dan Sherman, who wrestled at Deerfield and is associate dean in the College of Administrative Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Begun in 1975, the annual March of Finalists is conducted at the State Tournament by the IHSA in conjunction with the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) and the Assembly Hall. Each year the grand marshals are honored for their contributions to the sport and to the young men who participate in it.

The marshals play an important role in the color and pageantry of the event. They lead the 56 individual finalists and their coaches in a foot-stomping, strobe flash popping, breathtaking Grand March around the Assembly Hall arena floor just prior to the championship bouts. With spotlights shining on Old Glory, and glow sticks in the hands of the fans illuminating the mats and wrestlers, students from Jacksonville (Illinois School for the Deaf) lead the audience in the playing, singing and signing of the National Anthem. The annual crowd in excess of 10,000 is witness to a spectacle of high school athletics seen nowhere else in America.

Here is a closer look at the 2002 Grand Marshals:

Mark King was a member of DeKalb's 1968 state championship team before lettering three years and serving as captain of the University of Michigan team his senior year. He began teaching and coaching at LaGrange (Lyons) in 1972 and became head coach two years later. In 28 years as head coach, his teams have won more than 425 dual meets, 12 regionals, three sectionals and finished third in the 1992 dual tournament. Mark has coached 75 individual state qualifiers, 27 of them place winners including six champions. He was IWCOA Coach of the Year in 1992 and was inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame in 1994.

Terry McCann wrestled for the University of Iowa, where he was twice the NCAA champion and three times names All-American. He won the gold medal at 125.5 pounds in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Later he was coach of the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation teams that won six consecutive Freestyle and five consecutive Greco-Roman national championships. He was one of the founders of the U.S. Wrestling Federation (now USA Wrestling) and is a member of the U.S. Wrestling Hall of Fame. Terry earned his MBA from Loyola University in 1974. His career outside wrestling included being assistant executive administrator and chief financial officer for the Lions International service organization. He then joined Toastmasters International, the worldwide association of clubs devoted to leadership development and public speaking, and recently retired as its Executive Director.

Dr. Joseph Pedersen wrestled for Arlington High School and then captained the first Lewis College wrestling team. He became a teacher, coach and eventually assistant superintendent in the Hinsdale public schools, retiring in 2000 after 35 years of service in the district. For 30 years Joe coached the Eisenhower Junior High team posting a record of 416-58-7. Joe also officiated wrestling for over 25 years, working in the individual and dual team state finals meets twice. Pedersen has been an officer in the Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation, and in the IWCOA. He was president of both and was a Grand Marshal for both. Joe also has served on both the IHSA and IESA Wrestling Advisory Committees, was elected to the IWCOA Hall of Fame in 1996. A volunteer floor official at the IHSA Individual State Final Tournament for the past 19 years, he is the meet's assistant manager this year.

Dr. Dan Sherman was the runner-up for Deerfield at 112 pounds in 1969, and later was a NCAA champion for the University of Iowa. In 1977 he earned his Master's from Yale University and his Doctorate from the University of Alabama in 1981. He since has written for numerous journals and has been the recipient of contracts with the Department of Defense regarding managing systems development.