George Ann and Jim Ritter were named Kids Persons of the Year by USA Wrestling. The award annually honors a leader who has to made great contributions to Kids wrestling in the United States.    The Ritters were honored for decades of commitment to wrestling in their state and region, especially on the youth levels.     George Ann has served as the USA Wrestling state chairperson in Nevada since 1991. She manages the USA Wrestling activities in the state on all levels. Her husband Jim has been a successful and active coach within youth wrestling for 25 years. The Ritters have been known to work together as a team on helping wrestling in many ways.    George Ann served as the event director for the Western Kids/Cadet Regional Championships, which were held in Winnemucca, Nev. for the last two years. The tournament is the largest of USA Wrestling's Regional events, and one of the biggest youth wrestling tournaments in the nation each year. There were 1,881 competitors at the Western Kids/Cadet Regionals this year, an increase from the first year that the tournament was hosted in Winnemucca.    Jim was involved in many aspects of hosting the Regional competition, including organizing the effort to get the mats delivered and rolled out for the tournament. There were as many as 14 mats used at the Western Regionals in Winnemucca. The Ritters also worked closely with the citizens of Winnemucca on hosting the event, including a strong volunteer base organized by the Winnemucca Buckaroos wrestling club. The Winnemucca community took an ownership to running the Kids Regional event and did a tremendous job supporting the event.    Jim has coached the Fallon Outlaws wrestling club and has been actively involved in the Kids program in the state and region for many years.     The Ritters got involved in USA Wrestling when they were wrestling parents for their son Mickey, who started in the program as an eight year old, and continued to compete through high school and into college, where he competed for Cal-State Bakersfield.    The Ritters have had a strong commitment in getting more young athletes attending the Regional and national competitions within USA Wrestling. When Mickey was competing on the Kids level within USA Wrestling, there were only a handful of Nevada athletes who wrestled at the Kids/Cadet Regional Championships. The Ritters have helped build the number of Nevada athletes in the tournament to over 150 athletes each year.     Jim Ritter has made a commitment to helping the talented young Nevada athletes progress through the system, getting involved on the regional and national levels. He is also committed to assisting and encouraging the young wrestlers to go on to compete and pursue an education on the college levels. George Anne's commitment to working hard to strengthen the state in every way possible, encouraging more athletes to train with Senior-level athletes.    Kids Person of the Year  1978 - Bill Knapp, New York   1979 - Ken Coover, Kansas   1980 - Gary Hoyt, Nebraska   1981 - Pat Alexander. Washington   1982 - Dave Gliniecki, Washington   1983 - John Spencer, Idaho   1984 - Jerry Opbroek, South Dakota   1985 - Joe Edmonson, Nebraska   1986 - David Rudrud, Wisconsin   1987 - Virgil Moon, Oregon   1988 - Ron Wagner, North Dakota   1989 - Paul Corder, Missouri   1990 - Ron Reichert, Illinois   1991 - Randy Staab, Washington   1992 - Dan Drinkwine, Minnesota   1993 - Mike McCoy, Florida   1994 - Roger Hanson, Idaho   1995 - Norman Osteen, North Carolina   1996 - Kathy Hopkins, Wyoming   1997 - Steve Wachal, Iowa   1998 - Virgil Moon, Oregon   1999 - Frank Rader, North Carolina   2000 - Sue Siar, Pennsylvania   2001 - Paul DeFosse, Rhode Island   2002 - Steve Knipp, Iowa   2003 - Haswell Franklin, Maryland  2004 - Gregory and Leanna Grater, Kansas  2005 - George Anne and Jim Ritter, Nevada