Scaled model concept of Perry Wrestling Monument ParkIn late October, InterMat reported that Perry was planning to build a Wrestling Monument Park on the town square with statues to honor its two hometown wrestlers who earned medals at the Olympics -- Jack VanBebber, who won gold at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, and Dan Hodge, silver medalist at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
However, to borrow a phrase ... "there's more to the story ..." The community will be constructing a Wrestling Monument Park to honor its impressive roster of wrestling stars and their supporters over the course of nearly a century of the sport at Perry High School.
The Perry Maroon mat mystique
How can a small community located an hour north of Oklahoma City consistently produce so many wrestlers who have been winners at the state, national and international level?
"The Perry program has been in existence for 93 years," said Chance Leonard of the Perry Wrestling Foundation. "Over the years, the townspeople have supported the program generation after generation. It's a hard-working, mostly agricultural community that values integrity, character and a strong work ethic."
Scott Chenoweth weighed in with a trio of reasons why the Perry Maroons have a legacy of mat greatness.
"The Perry High School program has had a relatively small number of coaches over the years, assuring a level of consistency," said Chenoweth, a Perry Maroon mat champ who, after wrestling at the University of Nebraska, returned to his high school alma mater to coach from 1996-2011. "The coaches all wrestled for the program. They achieved greatness as wrestlers, then were able to turn that into coaching success, giving back to the program that made them who they are."
"Second, Perry wrestling enjoys the support of the community," Chenoweth continued. "Wrestlers are surrounded by people who support them. Other people in the community understand the discipline needed to be successful in wrestling, and reinforce it in various ways. Most communities don't understand and appreciate what it takes to be a wrestler."
"Third, Perry has significant connections to the two major state schools. We're in close proximity to Oklahoma State. And, as for OU (University of Oklahoma), legendary head coach Port Robertson drew a number of Perry wrestlers to his Sooner program who then achieved greatness on the national stage." (In fact, half of the starters on the 1957 NCAA team title-winning Sooners -- including Dan Hodge -- all once wrestled for the Perry Maroons.)
The idea of a park takes root
"About two years ago, Scott asked me to be part of the Perry Wrestling Foundation," said Chance Leonard, who had been Chenoweth's teammate on the Maroon wrestling program.
"The early discussions focused on a way to honor Danny Hodge," Leonard continued, invoking the name of the man who won an Oklahoma state title for Perry High in 1951, then went on to craft a perfect 46-0 record at University of Oklahoma, winning three Big Seven and NCAA titles (1955-57), and, at age 83, still resides in his hometown.
"When we see Danny (Hodge) every day, it's too easy to take his accomplishments and our overall legacy for granted," said Chenoweth.
"We'd go to Del City (Oklahoma) and see the John Smith statue," Chenowith continued, referring to the long-time Oklahoma State head coach who can claim two Olympic gold medals. "We'd go to Ponca City and see statues for Shelby Wilson and Doug Blubaugh (two Ponca High grads who earned gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics). We thought, 'We need to do something to honor our Olympic greats.'"
Few communities can claim to be the hometown of an Olympic medal-winning wrestler. Perry has two. Jack Francis VanBebber won gold in 1932, after winning three NCAA titles for Oklahoma State in 1929-1931 and being crowned an Oklahoma high school state champ, despite having his chest crushed by the wheel of a wagon at age six. Despite passing away nearly 30 years ago, VanBebber's inspiring story lives on in the book "A Distant Flame."
Dan Hodge bronze maquette"Momentum is growing as Danny gets older, with the idea of doing something while he's still around."
"We started with the idea of a statue," said Leonard. "However, we realized the need to honor many people who have been involved with the program in many different ways over the years. It's a tremendous amount of history."
"We talked about creating a museum but there were concerns about rent, and overall sustainability," said Leonard.
It was at this time that the idea of park, with a combination of features, began to take shape and gain momentum.
All about the park
The Perry Wrestling Monument Park will be located on the north side of the town's courthouse square. The park will feature two statues for local Olympic medal-winning wrestlers Hodge and VanBebber, created by local sculptor Jim Franklin. Visitors to the park will enter from the street through an arched entrance, into a circular area that resembles a wrestling mat. Surrounding this circular area will be at least a dozen vertical granite pillars, each about seven feet tall, and approximately 40 inches wide. One pillar, located between the two statues, will serve as a history lesson/overview of wrestling in the Perry community. The other pillars will be devoted to honoring those who have achieved specific honors, such as individuals who have won Oklahoma state titles, championship teams, NCAA All-Americans, and NCAA champs. Names of the individuals will be carved into the granite.
Dan Hodge statueIt's understandable that a project of this size and scope might be completed in sections -- in fact, the idea of making the park a phased project to be built over time was discussed over the course of several meetings, according to Chenoweth and Leonard -- but the Perry Wrestling Foundation instead decided to do the project all at once. Plans are to complete construction on the Perry Wrestling Monument Park next spring, with a public unveiling to coincide with Dan Hodge's 84th birthday in May 2016.
Both Leonard and Chenoweth emphasized the uniqueness of the concept of the Perry Wrestling Monument Park.
"Realize that this is a project to honor a high school wrestling program," said Leonard. "Most colleges don't have any sort of permanent tribute like this for their wrestling programs."
The venture has the support of some significant figures within the wrestling community in the state of Oklahoma.
"Both John Smith (Oklahoma State head coach) and (Oklahoma coach) Mark Cody have pledged their support, as has Lee Roy Smith (Executive Director) of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater."
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