The Perry Wrestling Foundation is proud to announce Dale Kirkhart and Darren and Julie Patton as the 2020 recipients of the Lifetime Service to Perry Wrestling Award
Harry Meshek (Dale’s son-in-law)
Darren and Julie Patton
Each recipient received a picture of the Perry Wrestling Monument Park which was presented by Roger Tetik
Recipient’s names will be etched in granite at the Perry Wrestling Monument Park, forever recognizing their incredible support of Perry Wrestling.
Dale Kirkhart was an avid supporter of Perry Wrestling from the 1950s until his passing in 1983. By day, Dale was a wheat farmer who also served as a county commissioner, but one of his true passions, was cheering on the Perry Maroon wrestlers. Dale, who was a pitcher for Perry’s semipro baseball team back in his time, didn’t have a wrestling background, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of Perry’s biggest fans.
Dale was known for two things when it came to cheering on the team – 1. He was going to be one of the first fans through the doors, so he could make sure he got his seat on the railing, front and center to enjoy all of action. And 2 – early on, his daughter Carolyn Sue was always by his side and then later on, his wife Betty always attended the duals with him. In fact, for a few years, Dale and Betty often times traveled with the team to the away duals.
Dale always enjoyed visiting with and getting to know the wrestlers. It was well known around town that Dale loved to talk wrestling and that any conversation with him would quickly turn to the latest wrestling stories.
Dale’s Christmas present to himself was to attend the Geary Tournament. For those two days, he just loved sitting in Geary’s cracker box gym cheering on Bob Drebenstedt, Lester Seat, Jeff Robinett and all of the Perry wrestling greats from that time.
During the 70s and until his passing in 1983, Dale formed a special bond with legendary coaches Leonard “Shorty” Shelton, Fred Waltermire and Terry Leonard.
It was during this time that Dale started and was the key worker in what became a yearly tradition for the Perry Wrestlers. Each year, Dale and other dedicated fans worked many hours to raise money to send the wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament. This trip was a reward for winning a state championship and was a special time filled with many great memories for the wrestlers. As usual, the businesses and people of Perry always came through, but it was Dale and other supporters that did the leg work to make sure it happened. This was a time-consuming effort, but something that Dale loved to do and his way of saying thanks to the wrestlers.
In 1980, Dale was presented a plaque and belt buckle by the Perry Wrestling team to show their appreciation for Dale’s long-time support of Perry Wrestling.
Dale’s name will be etched in granite at the Perry Wrestling Monument Park, forever recognizing his incredible support of Perry Wrestling.
Darren and Julie Patton are a husband and wife team that has supported Perry Wrestling for the past 30 years and they look forward for doing it for the next 30 years! Darren and Julie got a quick start in their support of Perry Wrestling as they jumped in with both feet right after graduating from Perry High School. Darren, a 1990 graduate, started coaching in the youth program in 1991. Over the next 20 years, Darren coached along-side Don Huff, Eddie Moses and Kyle Klinglesmith in developing the youth wrestlers that went on to win numerous high school state championships.
Not only did Darren develop future champions, he developed life-long relationships with his wrestlers. To this day, wrestlers that he coached, like Laddie Rupp and Dusty Ward, affectionately refer to Darren as “Coach” when they run into each other.
Darren, always working as an unpaid volunteer coach, unselfishishly gave his time to coach his wrestlers. It wasn’t uncommon for wrestlers like Herb Polk, Tris and Victor Atkinson, Homer Thompson, Joel Marler and Tony Kegin to spend the night at Darren and Julie’s house to make sure they would make Saturday’s early morning weigh-in.
Another example of Darren’s passion for coaching was the sacrifice that he made every deer season. Darren loves deer hunting, but for many years he passed up many hunting opportunities to take the wrestlers to the tournaments.
One year, Darren not only served as the youth coach, but he also assisted Tony Macias in coaching the junior high team.
Julie’s support of Perry Wrestling wasn’t serving as a coach but serving as coordinator of a critical part of the Perry Youth Program. Starting right out of high school in 1991 and continuing to THIS day, Julie has served as the all-important coordinator for the concession stand at the Perry Novice Tournament. The concession stand is a vital fund raiser for the program and there is a LOT of work that must be done before, during and after the tournament to make sure everything runs smoothly. Well for 30 years now, the person most responsible for that is Julie Patton. And Don Huff, the person most involved with that program, says she has done it perfectly for all of those years!
Darren and Julie’s support of Perry Wrestling doesn’t stop in what they contributed to the youth program as they have been enthusiastic supporters of the high school team for the past 30 years and like fellow recipient Dale Kirkhart, have traveled the state cheering on the wrestlers. In fact, one year they were named the Fans of Year and recognized by Head Coach Scott Chenoweth at the wrestling banquet.
For many years, they have also volunteered their time working at the Perry JH and HS Tournament of Champions. For coaches, a critical factor in any tournament is the all-important Hospitality Room. Perry, of course, always stocks their Hospitality Room with the most delicious home-cooked food and Julie was certainly a key part of the team to stock and staff the Hospitality Room for the tournaments. Darren was always around helping run the staging area or wherever he was needed during the tournament.
Darren and Julie’s love of Perry Wrestling also extends to their family, as it is not uncommon to see Darren, Julie and all of their family at the duals. Daughters Katie and Makayla served as Mat Maids for many years, with Katie being crowned Wrestling Queen in 2010 and Makayla being crowned Wrestling Queen in 2015. Son Logan was a member of three state championship teams and was a 2019 state qualifier. And the cycle is getting ready to start all over again as 3-year-old son Ryker will soon be on the mat starting his career as a Perry Maroon wrestler!
Like Dale, Darren and Julie’s names will be etched in granite at the Perry Wrestling Monument Park, forever recognizing their life-long support of Perry Wrestling.
Click here to see past recipients of the Lifetime Service to Perry Wrestling Award