IHSA

Boys Wrestling Grand Marshals — 2006-07

Four grand marshals, who have combined to contribute more than 130 years to the sport of wrestling, will lead the annual Grand March of Finalists Saturday night before the championship bouts of the 70th Illinois High School Association State Final Individual Wrestling Tournament.
Named grand marshals for 2007 are:

Bruce Bartosz, longtime IHSA official from Antioch who worked 15 state championships at Assembly Hall.
Lon Gerrish, who coached for 30 years at Sandwich High School, winning 459 matches and four state championships.
Bill Marquardt, IHSA official for 36 years and current board member of the Midwest National Wrestling Tournament.
Mike Portincaso, 36-year veteran official from Glendale Heights who has worked 16 individual state final tournaments.

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 2007 Grand Marshals:

Bruce Bartosz began his professional career in wrestling began in 1968 as an assistant coach for Hall of Famer Ted DeRousse at Antioch High School. Four years later, when the school district was hit with financial problems, Bruce left the coaching side of wrestling and became involved in officiating on a full-time level.

Over the next 30 years or so he refereed for the IHSA, the IKWF, the IESA, and the NCAA in Division III. During that span, Bruce officiated 27 IHSA regionals, 21 sectionals and 15 state championships at Assembly Hall. He also refereed two state championships as well as several regionals and sectionals for the IKWF and IESA, and two regionals and a sectional in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Bruce was selected as the first Grand Marshal of the North Suburban League, Grand Marshal of the Northwest Suburban League, and was nominated for Official of the Year three times. In 1996 he was honored by being inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame.

After retirement, Bruce has stayed involved in wrestling as a weigh-in official and floor supervisor at the state finals and official scorekeeper for Vernon Hills High School. Recently he was honored by Vernon Hills as the first friend of wrestling.

Lon Gerrish started his wrestling career in 1972 at Glenbrook North High School under two Hall of Fame coaches, Walt Sherman and Chuck (Herb) Hanson. During his four years he compiled 107 career victories, highlighted by All-American honors and a silver medal at the Freestyle Jr. Nationals. Lon went on to wrestle at Northern Illinois University, where he was a four-year starter for another Hall of Fame coach, Don Flavin. He was named captain his senior year.

Lon started his coaching career at Sandwich High School in 1982, developing Sandwich into one of the state's elite Class A programs before retiring in 2002. His teams won 17 conference championships, 14 regional championships, and qualified teams for the IHSA dual team state tournament seven times, finishing third twice (1985 and 1989), second once (1996), and winning the state championship four times (1991, 1997, 1999, and 2001). Lon's career coaching record was 459 wins, 62 losses, and 1 tie. All told he coached 93 state qualifiers, 47 state place winners, 15 state champions, and five high school All-Americans.

Lon has been a registered IHSA wrestling official for almost 25 years and has been a IHSA certified body fat tester and an IHSA bench official for the state tournament for the past five. Lon has been involved with the IWCOA for many years and is currently on the Hall of Fame committee. Previously he served as fundraising chairman and earned the IWCOA Man of the Year award in 1994 for his outstanding efforts. Lon was nominated for Coach of the Year 12 times, winning that award in 1991 and 1996. Retired from coaching but not from school service, Lon is currently the Dean of Students at Sandwich High School.

Bill Marquardt began his wrestling career under the guidance of Hall of Famer Jim Bowers at Bloomington High School. Upon graduation in 1961, Bill headed to Eastern Illinois University to wrestle for Hall of Famer Hop Pinther. He capped his career there in 1965 when he won the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and earned a sixth-place finish in the 1965 NAIA finals.

Just out of college Bill started the fledgling wrestling program at Roanoke-Benson High School, then moved moved to El Paso High School, where his teams won 93 dual meets during the next seven seasons. But officiating was Bill’s greatest calling. From 1967 until 2003 he officiated various levels of wrestling in Illinois. In his 36 years of officiating Bill worked a combined number of 22 IHSA individual and dual team state finals and several intercollegiate events. Bill also officiated at many USA Kids and IESA events. In 1997 the IESA selected him as Grand Marshal for its state final tournament.

Bill was honored as Central Illinois Official of the Year during the 1984-85 season and in 1998 as the statewide Official of the Year by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association. One year later, 1999, Bill was inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame.

In the early 1990’s Bill worked with other IWCOA members to start downstate clinics for both officials and coaches. Bill further serves the sport of wrestling by volunteering his time to the IWCOA Executive Board, serving as a weigh-in official at the IHSA state finals, and sitting on the Board of Directors for the newly established Midwest National Wrestling Tournament. To crown his career, in 2006 Bill was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Mike Portincaso attended East Leyden and West Leyden High Schools, where he wrestled for Marty Schwartz and Chuck Farina. After high school, Mike served in the US Army, where he served in the Republic of Vietnam for 14 months and was awarded the Air Medal, Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.

Mike has been an IHSA wrestling official for 36 years. He has officiated 16 individual state finals, 7 dual team state finals, 30 individual sectionals, 10 team sectionals, 32 individual regionals, and 3 junior college nationals. Mike has also worked at the individual state tournament as a bench and weigh-in official for 17 years.

In 1983 Mike was voted Official of the Year, and in 1996 he was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Hall of Fame.

A lifetime member of the IWCOA, Mike has served as a wrestling officials' clinician for the IHSA and the IWCOA for 20 years. While serving as a clinician he produced the “You Make The Call” officials training videos for 15 years.