Tom Knupp of Akron, Ohio was named USA Wrestling State Chairperson of the Year. This award honors a USA Wrestling State Chairperson for service and leadership within the organization. Knupp is retiring as State Chairperson after serving nine years in the position in Ohio. Prior to becoming the State Chairperson, he served a year as the state's Vice Chairperson. He has been active within Ohio USA Wrestling for 15 years. During Knupp's tenure as State Chairperson, the organization has experienced considerable growth. Memberships grew from 3,200 nine years ago to over 5,500 members today. The number of licenced officials has grown from 32 to 103 during the nine years. There are also 500 USA Wrestling registered coaches in Ohio now. Knupp is also an active mat official and pairing official within the USWOA. He first started as a pairing official, and has achieved the rank of P-3. After a few years of pairing, Tom became a mat official, which he has done for almost seven years. He is a M-1 mat official, and works many of the major events on the USA Wrestling schedule. He has served as tournament director for a number of national events held in his state during his tenure as State Chairperson. In 2001 and 2002, Ohio hosted the Central Kids Regional Championships in Dayton. The 2001 tournament also featured the USA Wrestling FILA Cadet and FILA Junior National Championships for women. During his first year as State Chairperson, Ohio also hosted the Central Junior Regionals in Cincinnati. Ohio has tremendous success with its team and individual athletes at the major age-group national events. Two times, Ohio has won the freestyle team title at the National Junior Duals, and placed second on another occasion. The Ohio team has also done very well at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals each summer, placing high in the unofficial team standings each year. Knupp got involved in wrestling on a state and national level when his son Jeff moved through the USA Wrestling program as a youth. Jeff Knupp became a Cadet National champion, and was third at the Junior Nationals twice, before going on to a college career at Penn State. Tom Knupp first served as a team leader with the Ohio Cadet National Team, then joined the coaching staff for Ohio at the Junior Nationals. Among the initiatives that Knupp is most proud of was the development of an active and informative web page for Ohio USA Wrestling. He also helped institute the Madison system for the major Ohio youth wrestling events, where weight classes were not determined until after the weigh in. This new system has helped expand and strengthen youth wrestling within the state. In addition, Ohio is now running a number of popular club dual meet competitions during the season, which has experienced great growth in recent years. In his first year as State Chairperson, the Ohio association became a legally incorporated organization, and formalized its affiliate relationship with USA Wrestling. Knupp intends to continue being active with USA Wrestling as a mat official on the national level. State Chairperson of the Year 1978 - Leroy Evans, California 1979 - Dave Dozeman, Michigan 1980 - Frank Rader, North Carolina 1981 - Ted DeRousse, Illinois 1982 - Dave and Bobby Schneller, Connecticut 1983 - Mick Pickford, Iowa 1984 - Bill Crum, New Jersey 1985 - Tom Canavan, Pennsylvania 1986 - Kay Lacher, Minnesota 1987 - Jack Harcourt, Virginia 1988 - Mark Scott, Wyoming 1989 - Leroy Evans, California and Charlie White, Colorado 1990 - John Welch, New Jersey 1991 - Dave Mellon, North Dakota 1992 - Bob Labat, Minnesota 1993 - Al Kastl, Michigan 1994 - Chuck Elvin, Kansas 1995 - Haswell Franklin, Sr., Maryland 1996 - Archie Randall, Oklahoma 1997 - Fred Lehrke, Wisconsin 1998 - Bob Walker, Florida 1999 - Mike Dowden, Indiana 2000 - Paula McGahee, Georgia 2001 - Tom Shaw, Washington 2002 -Dave Black, Wisconsin 2003 - Jim Considine, Illinois 2004 - Mike Juby, Kansas 2005 - Tom Knupp, Ohio