IHSA

Boys Wrestling Grand Marshals — 2005-06

Four grand marshals, who have combined to contribute more than 120 years to the sport of wrestling, will lead the annual Grand March of Finalists Saturday night before the championship bouts of the 69th Illinois High School Association State Final Individual Wrestling Tournament.

Named grand marshals for 2006 are:

Bernie Botheroyd, head coach for a total of 35 years at Holy Cross and Glenbard West high schools.
Bill Young, celebrating his 47th year of coaching, serving as both head and assistant coach at Naperville Central High School.
Marty Williams, former head wrestling coach at Mahomet-Seymour High School, whose teams won five Class A state championships in the 1980s.
Tim Cysewski, now in his 16th season as head wrestling coach at Northwestern University.

First held 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 and women 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. 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 2006 Grand Marshals:

Bernie Botheroyd, head wrestling coach at Glenbard West High School, started his wrestling career as a student at Holy Cross High School, where he wrestled and played football from 1962 to 1966. He continued his athletic career at the University of Tulsa where he played football for four years and served as team captain his senior year. After graduating from Tulsa in 1970, Bernie signed a contract with the Chicago Bears.

Bernie started coaching in 1971 at Holy Cross High School where he was the head wrestling coach and assistant varsity football coach until 1977. That year Bernie became the wrestling coach at Glenbard West High School. This weekend Bernie is completing his 29th year as head coach at Glenbard West and overall his 35th year as a head wrestling coach. Since 1971 Bernie’s wrestling teams have recorded 454 dual meet wins along with multiple conference and regional championships. He has coached many state qualifiers and several state place winners.

Bernie also served as an assistant football coach at Glenbard West from 1977 to 1988. Those teams won multiple conference championships and in 1983 Bernie and Glenbard West took home the big prize, the IHSA state championship.

Bernie has served as president of the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association, coached several Prairie State wrestling teams, coached six Illinois Junior National freestyle and Greco-Roman teams and has hosted foreign exchange wrestling teams from Japan and Poland. Twenty-two of his former athletes have gone into coaching. To cap his career, Bernie was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bill Young initiated his wrestling career at Thornton Township High School in Harvey under the guidance of former grand marshals Ted Czech and Jack Robinson. Bill was a two-time state qualifier while competing in high school. Bill continued wrestling while attending the University of Illinois and Northern Illinois University, earning an AAU freestyle championship and All-American status.

Upon completing his master’s degree in 1960, Coach Young accepted a position as teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Naperville Community High School. Bill served as assistant to Bob Funston while coaching state qualifiers and two state place-winners prior to being appointed head wrestling coach at Naperville Community High School in 1963. In 22 years as head coach Bill guided the Naperville wrestling teams to over 200 dual meet victories, three IHSA regional tournament championships, one IHSA sectional tournament championship, and a seventh-place finish in the IHSA state tournament.

In 1978 Coach Young stepped away briefly from the athletic arena to accept an administrative position at NCHS. Three years later Bill returned to the sport and has served as an assistant coach to the present day, except for one additional year as head coach in 1992-93 season. During his extensive high school coaching career, Bill has coached 21 state qualifiers and nine state place-winners including one state champion.

In 1990 Bill Young was honored for his many years of service to the wrestling community when he was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

Marty Williams began his wrestling career at Yorkville High School under the tutelage of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. In 1974 he won the IHSA championship at 145 pounds and was voted Amateur Wrestling News All-American. After graduation from high school he continued his wrestling career at the University of Illinois where he was coached by Tom Porter. He was a four-year letterman and in 1978 was co-captain of the U of I wrestling team.

Upon graduation from college Marty coached at Parkland Community College for one season before becoming an assistant coach at Mahomet-Seymour High School under Bob Handlin. In 1982 he became the head wrestling coach at Mahomet-Seymour and held that position for eight seasons. During that tenure his teams compiled a dual meet record of 191-4 and were IHSA state champions five times, winning in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989. Marty's teams still hold an IHSA record for the most consecutive dual wins at 109. He coached 15 individual state champions and 15 state place winners.

Marty left the coaching ranks in 1990 to become assistant principal at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1994 he returned to Mahomet-Seymour High School as assistant principal and athletic director. He has served as the associate principal for the past seven years and will become principal at Mahomet-Seymour High School next year.

In addition to his high school service, Marty served as coach of the Prairie State Games Blue and Gray division for five years and volunteered several years with the Junior National Teams. He coached and organized cultural exchanges for downstate Illinois with Cuba, Canada, and West Germany. In 1992, the IWCOA inducted him into its Hall of Fame.

Tim Cysewski is currently in his 16th season as the head wrestling coach at Northwestern University. Under Cysewski’s direction, 16 Wildcats have earned All-America honors and 60 wrestlers have qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Cysewski has also been active on the international coaching scene. He served as the head coach on the 1985-86 and 1988-89 ESPOIR World Cup teams, as well as the 1985 and 1986 U.S. National Teams. He served as an assistant coach for the 1990 U.S. Wrestling Team at the World Cup Championships and was invited to coach a squad at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival. Cysewski also served for six years on the National Wrestling Coaches Association, as well as four years on the NCAA Rules Committee.

A native of Glenview, Cysewski won the 119-pound championship for Glenbrook South High School at the 1972 IHSA meet. A four-year starter at the University of Iowa, Cysewski earned All-America honors as a senior in 1976. He placed third nationally at 134 pounds that season and was co-captain of the national champion Hawkeyes. During his college career, he won two Midlands titles and posted a 99-23-4 career record.

As a competitor, Cysewski captured many other titles, including the World Cup Championship, the Pan Am Games, the New Zealand Games, the National Federation Championship and the AAU Championship. Cysewski is a member of the Midlands Hall of Fame and the Illinois Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.