Louis Rosbottom of Jeffersonville, Ind. was named USA Wrestling State Chairperson of the Year. This award honors a USA Wrestling State Chairperson for service and leadership within the organization. The announcement was made during USA Wrestling’s annual State Leaders Conference, held at the Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City, Okla. last weekend. Rosbottom has served as state chairperson in Indiana for the last five years. He has been a member of the ISWA Board for 18 years. He served four years as the organization’s treasurer before taking over the chairman duties. Other positions with the ISWA has included secretary, team leader, web director and session director. Rosbottom points to the use of technology as a key achievement, including the implementation of Track Wrestling into pairings and event operations. Indiana plans to expand its use of streaming video in the future. He also noted the exceptional work that the state has done in organizing and hosting the Schoolboy National Duals each year. “We have a 35-person Board. They are all very active, coaches, parents, mat officials, pairers, everybody. We have good balance. It helps with our direction. We can listen to the needs of our members, parents and coaches. They have told us that folkstyle plays an important role in our state, in addition to our international program,†said Rosbottom. During the State Leaders Conference this past weekend, Rosbottom was elected as the Vice-Chairperson of the State Chairpersons Executive Committee. He has also served as Vice-Chairperson for the Junior Olympic Wrestling Committee. He has represented the Central Region on the Kids/Cadet level as well as for the State Chairpersons. Back in 1991, he and his wife Sharon founded Team Jeff, a wrestling club in his community which has been very successful. He served as president for the club until about five years ago. Rosbottom was also a coach with Team Jeff during the years he served as club president. His coaching experience includes serving a six-year stint as coach at Parkview Middle School. The Rosbottom family has been been inducted into the Indiana Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In addition to what Louis and Sharon do for the ISWA, they have three children who have been very active in the sport. Their oldest son Robert was a state champion wrestler who was active with the international program. Daughter Patty is a pairing official and assists with club activities. Son Daniel was a state qualifier, an all-state academic selection, and an NAIA qualifier for Cumberland University. “This award was very unexpected and I am very thrilled,†said Rosbottom. “I am very committed to the sport of wrestling in our state and to USA Wrestling, which provides the greatest path for our athletes to success. This award is a thank you and it means very much to me.†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 2006 – Craig Ewing, Missouri 2007 – Bill Grant, Florida 2008 – Shawn Fields, Georgia 2009 – Chuck Bullard, Washington 2010 – Anthony Flatt, Georgia 2011 – Louis Rosbottom, Indiana