It is getting to be crunch time for those who support wrestling in the Jacksonville, Fla. area. Wrestling was among 16 sports programs targeted for elimination when the Duval County School District was faced with a $91 million shortfall this summer.

Back in June, on the high school level, along with wrestling, boys and girls teams in cross country, golf, lacrosse and tennis were slashed, along with the girls softball program. In addition, two junior varsity and four middle school sports were placed on the elimination list.

“The state funding was so low, we had to give up some sports,” said Jon Fox, Athletic Director for Duval County Schools. “Once that happened, we immediately tried to fundraise to get a lot of them back. We are not over the hump yet. But the $500,000 we have to raise is quite a nut to crack.”

Fox said that state funding for education to the school district dropped from over $8,000 per student to about $6,000 per student. That drastic cut affected all program budgets in the district, including sports.

“We had to look at the Title IX situation when we cut spots, and we tried to impact the least number of kids,” said Fox, who has worked hard for the last few months on the fundraising efforts for the dropped programs.

The Duval County school district includes 17 high schools. All of them but one sponsor wrestling as a varsity sport. If the money is not raised in time for wrestling, wrestling will be eliminated in 16 different high schools. The number of wrestlers who will lose the opportunity to compete in the district is projected to be over 250 boys if the programs are not saved. Many others will not have the opportunity to even try the sport for the first time.

“I met with the parents from wrestling,” said Fox. “The wrestling officials are trying to work with the wrestling coaches on fundraisers. Can we get there? Yes, we can. But we need a little help.”

The price tag placed on wrestling was $43,320. This would cover the coaching stipends for each of the high school teams. Although some of the coaches volunteered to work without a stipend, this was not possible due to legal and union issues. 

The deadline set for wrestling was October 1. So far, the wrestling community has raised about $10,000, leaving another $30,000 to be raised in September. There are a number of fundraisers for wrestling scheduled in the next few weeks.

The Florida Amateur Wrestling Association, USA Wrestling's state association in Florida, has been working hard to assist in the effort. They have raised money, hosted tournaments and provided behind-the-scenes support on the political side to make a difference.

"We have already held one tournament this summer and have two more events scheduled to Save Duval Wrestling," said FAWA treasurer John Lawton. "All of the proceeds from the events go to the effort. FAWA is contributing the medals for each of these tournaments. Our next event is September 17, the River City Rumble. It is a shame that sports are taking the brunt of the school budget crisis. We still have a ways to go to help meet the goal."

Duval County is an urban community, which has a large number of low-income and minority residents. Fox said that within the district, over 55% of the students receive free or reduced lunch. Of the 31,000 high school students in the district, 44% are African-American, 39% are Caucasian and 17% come from other ethnic backgrounds.

Andrew McCrary, the head wrestling coach at Ed White High School in the district, talked about being "heartbroken and sick to my stomach" when wrestling was included in the cutbacks, during an interview with News4 in Jacksonville.

McCrary coached two conference champions last year, and believes that wrestling makes a big difference in the lives of the students in his program. 

"You know, the coaches, we don't do it for the money," he said. "We're passionate about it. We do it for the kids."

A few programs have raised enough funds to save their sport for the year, including golf, tennis and cross-country, as well as middle school football. Some sports had help from their professional organizations, the PGA in golf and the USTA in tennis, to assist in the fundraising. 

The sports still seeking funding, including wrestling, have been relying on much more grassroots effort. The wrestling community in the county has been actively seeking support, and will continue to do so right up through the posted deadline, and beyond if necessary.

Lynda Suttles is a wrestling parent from Fletcher High School. Two of her sons started in wrestling while in elementary school. One has graduated from high school, but her second wrestler is entering his junior year and faces a possible winter without wrestling.

“My son told me as soon as he heard about wrestling being cut that he wanted to quit school. Of course, I told him he couldn’t do that. But that shows how much wrestling means to him. He counts on wrestling for his future,” said Suttles.

She has been among the active leaders holding wrestling fundraisers. There was a 15-hour radio fundraiser on a local sports radio station. The wrestling supporters at her son’s high school have had three car washes, two garage sales and a large wrestling tournament where proceeds went to the cause. There are two more wrestling tournaments scheduled for this fall. Suttles hopes to hold a day-long workout fundraiser at the school with every penny going to the sport.

“It is a lot of money. Our kids have gone door to door, sold candy bars, asked for donations. Sometimes it is hard to go back to the same well. The wrestlers don’t know what else to do. But, we keep beating the doors down, holding events, doing everything we can do to raise the money,” said Suttles.

She tells the story of one of her son’s wrestling teammates, a disadvantaged kid who was thrown out of his home by his parent and has been taking care of himself.

“You could write a story about him,” said Suttles. “He is an honor roll student. Wrestling is his passion. He is a very respectful kid. This situation scares me. It is kids like him I worry about. If a kid like him doesn’t have wrestling everyday in his life, where will he end up?”

The school district has set up a way for individuals and organizations to donate money to save the sports programs in Duval County. They are using an existing fund which has been legally set up to accept donations, the Terry Parker High School Alumni Fund, Inc. Donors can specify which sports program that their money will go towards, so those who wish to support wrestling can do so directly.

Please note that your donation is for wrestling if that is your wish. The donations can be sent to:

Save Duval County Sports
c/o Cornelius, Schou, Leone & Matteson, LLC
Attention: Mark Schou, CPA, Managing Partner
Certified Public Accountants and Business Advisors
4496 Southside Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL 32216

Click here for a donation form to Save Duval County Sports

Fox has worked non-stop since June with sports supporters in the community and remains upbeat about the effort.

“By the time we are done here, if we get all the sports back, we will have raised a half-million dollars. That is an incredible amount of money in these economic times,” said Fox. “Wrestling is a bit tougher to fundraise for here than golf and tennis, because the PGA and the USTA were able to help those sports. We can get there for wrestling. Anything anybody can do to help will be appreciated.”