PERRY WRESTLING FOUNDATION IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE Janet Wilhelm and Mark Kirk AS THE 2024 RECIPIENTs OF THE LIFETIME SERVICE TO PERRY WRESTLING AWARD
Photo by Spencer Tetik
Watch the video to see the presentation to Janet Wilhelm and Mark Kirk, our 2024 recipient of the Lifetime Service to Perry Wrestling Award.
We are proud to present this award to two worthy honorees; it would be hard to find anyone that has done more behind the scenes for Perry Wrestling than these two.
The Foundation is proud to announce Janet Wilhelm as a recipient of the 2024 Lifetime Service to Perry Wrestling Award.
Janet’s involvement with Perry Wrestling began back in high school when Fred Waltermire had her doing the work of the Mat Maids before the Mat Maids even existed. As a senior in high school, she was crowned the 1974 Perry Wrestling Homecoming Queen.
Since then, she has continued to be involved with Perry Wrestling including serving as the President of the Takedown Club while her son Russell was wrestling for Perry.
Janet was a founding member and very instrumental in getting the Perry Wrestling Foundation started. It would take an hour to mention all of the things that Janet did for Perry Wrestling while serving on the Foundation.
Mentioning just three:
She worked to prepare and submit the required documentation to enable the Foundation to be a 501(c)3 organization.
She did exhaustive research to create a Perry Wrestling Alumni contact list.
Always the energizer bunny, Janet was a key member of the committees that planned the 90-year reunion in 2012 and that built the Perry Wrestling Monument Park in 2016.
Although she was no longer a Foundation member, she was a tremendous help with planning of the Perry Wrestling Centennial Celebration in 2022.
The tradition continues with Janet’s son Russell who began wrestling for Perry at a young age and was a 2-time state champion for Perry and is currently the head coach for Deer Creek High School.
Janet continues to help when needed and is dedicated to Perry Wrestling!
The Foundation is proud to announce Mark Kirk as a recipient of the 2024 Lifetime Service to Perry Wrestling Award.
Mark’s involvement with Perry wrestling began when he was a youngster and continued thru high school where he was a member of three state championship teams and he was a state runner-up on the 1975 state championship team. Mark served as the team captain and crowned the Perry Wrestling Homecoming Queen that same year.
Since high school, Mark has continued to have strong ties to Perry Wrestling by serving as the tournament director since 2010 for both the Junior High and High School Perry Tournament of Champions and this year he was the tournament director for the first ever Perry Girls Tournament of Champions.
Mark’s involvement in Perry Wrestling includes:
writing “The Maroon Dynasty – The History of Perry Wrestling”
writing wrestling articles for the Perry Daily Journal since 2009
and proudly serving on the Perry Wrestling Foundation from 2010-2022. He served as president when the Foundation celebrated the 90-year reunion and during the construction of the Perry Wrestling Monument Park. He was vice-president during the planning of the Centennial Celebration.
In 2017, Mark was inducted into the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, where he joined 12 other Perry alumni who have received this prestigious award, including his brother Mike.
Mark continues to help out whenever it is needed and we thank him for his leadership in advancing Perry Wrestling.
As a small token of appreciation for their passion and support of Perry Wrestling, Roger Tetik, President of the Perry Wrestling Foundation will present a print of the Perry Wrestling Monument Park to Janet Wilhelm and Mark Kirk.
In addition to their recognition, the names of Janet Wilhelm and Mark Kirk will be etched in granite at the Perry Wrestling Monument Park, forever recognizing their incredible support of Perry Wrestling.