By Bill Herr

What was the first Bluffton High School Pirate sports team to win a state championship?

The 1981 varsity wrestling team. In wrestling at Bluffton High School, there have been 48 Pirate wrestlers that qualified for the State Championships in the 46 years between 1975 and 2021. 24 of them qualified multiple times and 7 became State Champions. The high caliber of this sport at BHS reached a peak in 1981 when the varsity wrestling team won the State Championship. This is their story.

On March 19, 1981, the Bluffton News front page had in large print, STATE CHAMPIONS. Below was a group picture of the five Pirate wrestlers that accomplished this along with their head coach, Mr. Bill Lodermeier. The five wrestlers were Bill Edwards, Mark Falk, Don Mathewson, Steve Smith and John Shannon. Tom Falk was the assistant coach.

They were 8-0 in dual or tri-match contests. They won many trophies in invitationals, classics, duals, NWC (Northwest Conference) and tournaments. They outscored their opponents 402 to 109. They entered 7 invitationals or tournaments. They competed against 89 schools and won 5 of the invitationals. They were sectional and district champs. They spent 9 weekends in competition away from home. They usually took 15 wrestlers, 11 in different weight categories, and 4 alternates. Mr. Lodermeier said when they stayed overnight, the 15 boys slept in two rooms (the school administration wanted to save money). He said those that won got to sleep on the beds, while those that lost slept on the floor. Getting home late one year, one wrestler sometimes slept at his home until morning. He said, "These were my boys, we had male baby-sitters for my kids."

In the state tournament Bluffton captured one state championship, three second places, and one eighth place. The eighth place didn't win any points, but if that wrestler had placed higher, his points would also have counted. Despite the high places, the state championship came down to the last match. Mark Falk was to wrestle for the 167 lb. (pound) state championship. In St. John Arena, Licking Heights was ahead of Bluffton in points, 67 to 63.5. Their team had been State class A champions in 1976 and 1977. Superintendent of Bluffton Schools, Mr. Chuck Buroker, told Mark that he had to win in order for the team to win state. Falk had been state champion in the previous year, 1980, and has to be considered one of the great Pirate athletes of all time in wrestling. He proceeded to defeat his opponent in a 7-5 decision. Bluffton High Schools' wrestling team were state champions by one-half point, 67.5 to 67. Coach Lodermeier said, "half a point is as good as a thousand points."

Each wrestler had a compelling story. Falk won the 167 lb. championship the next year, 1982, to become a three-time state champion. His brother, assistant coach Tom Falk, had also been a state champion at 138 Ib. in 1977. Don Mathewson was runner-up at 123 lb. It was his first state competition. Bill Edwards wrestled at 145 lb. He was runner-up. Coach Lodermeier said "Bill was a great, great wrestler." Steve Smith wrestled at 155 Ib. and lost all his matches as a freshman. He improved remarkably and in his junior year, 1981, he was third in the district but qualified and came on at state to become runner-up. He became state champion in 1982. John Shannon wrestled at 175 lbs. He had also qualified for state the previous year in 1980.

Now let's examine the story behind this team's success. Assistant coach Tom Falk had these comments: "We had a talented group of dedicated athletic wrestlers. They practiced and trained against each other and made each other better. We were close. Coach Lodermeier was a great coach and motivator." Mr. Lodermeier was also head football coach. My nephew, Mardy Herr, was one of his running backs. He commented, "Coach Lodermeier knew what he was doing. I knew that right away. I trusted him.

He had a passion for the game." John Cramer was a wrestler that qualified for state in 1982. He said, "I had tremendous respect for Coach Lodermeier. He was a good, tough coach. He and Coach Falk conditioned us so we wouldn't tire in the third period. We wrestled every weekend. One reason we were good was that we wrestled more than most schools. We had great coaches. The success we had was due to Bill Lodermeier and Tom Falk."

I interviewed Mr. Lodermeier and following are some of his comments. "I spent great years there. I loved Bluffton. Wrestling is a grueling, mental and physical thing. It is a tough 6 minutes (three two-minute periods) and overtime sometimes. Recovery from a loss is hard, especially at state when a wrestler has only 60 minutes or less before his next match. I had a great assistant coach in Tom Falk. He is one of the finest men I ever met. We had wonderful support from the community. We wrestled against the best. We wrestled Cleveland St. Edwards who were 7-time state champions.

That was one of the few times that Mark got beat. We were third in the state the year before in 1980. We even wrestled handicapped kids. We wrestled the School for the Blind in Columbus. All our wrestlers worked hard. Each of our seniors would coach an 8th grader. Young kids learn from other young kids. We took our 8th graders to a freshman high school tournament at Findlay High School. Our 8th graders won the tournament. Each of them was coached by one of our varsity wrestlers."

I asked Mr. Lodermeier if he had a favorite wrestler. He said that was hard to say because every wrestler is different. There are the technicians. He always told them to hang in there against the "brute wrestlers" until the third period when they would tire. There are the strong, physical wrestlers. There are short wrestlers that have little leverage but become technically proficient. There are tall wrestlers that have lots of leverage. He said that Mark Falk was a combination of being strong and was a technician. Superintendent Broker hired Mr. Lodermeier. He was the OWE teacher and became the Beaverdam Middle School principal. He was the District Transportation Director. He was the head of the teacher's union for two years. He became superintendent of Shawnee Schools for nine years. He then was hired as Bath Superintendent where he served nine years. He told me that leaving the coaching profession was one of the most difficult decisions he ever made. He loved coaching.

I asked him if he would give comments on each wrestler that won the state championship. He sent me a letter with these descriptions: 

Don Mathewson (132 pound Second Place). Don went out for freshman basketball and prior to the beginning of basketball season joined the wrestling team. He learned a new sport quickly and placed in the top 4 in many 1980-1981 tournaments.

Bill Edwards (145 pound Second Place). Bill learned a style of wrestling that his opponents could not defend against. Bill was beating an undefeated wrestler in the Championships in 1981 before losing in the last period. Bill placed consistently in many tournaments in 1980-1981.

Steve Smith (155 pound Second Place). Steve did not win a match as a freshman. Steve mastered a very difficult Olympic Freestyle move that would win the match. This Head LOCK move was unstoppable. Coaches on opposing teams would warn their wrestlers of this hold, but he would work hard to pin his opponent.

Mark Falk (167 pound CHAMP). Mark had to win his match for Bluffton to win the 1981 Team Championship by a half a point. He was told this just prior to his match by Superintendent Charles Buroker. Mark was great under pressure and worked on mastering even the most difficult moves. Mark was left handed and had equal strength (right and left) attacking, great defense and extraordinary quickness.

John Shannon (175 pound Eighth Place). I once ran John 37 times in a football game. John was a workhorse in football and wrestling. He was a team oriented person. He never knew how to take his foot off the throttle. It was hard to outwork him. He was just somebody that would not quit.

Mark's brother Tom (State Champ at 138 pounds in 1977) was the assistant coach and Mark's workout partner and coached him from the chair next to each match. Tom wrestled at Bowling Green State until it dropped wrestling. He transferred to Bluffton College and became Bluffton High School's Assistant Wrestling Coach. After college graduation, Tom became a successful teacher and coached football and girl's tennis.

Mr. Lodermeier is now retired from education. He was excited to tell me the story of the 1981 wrestling team. I believe that of all his various experiences in education, one of his favorites will always be coaching the first Bluffton High School sports team to win a state championship, the great 1981 State Championship wrestling team.