On Sunday night former Nazareth HS teacher Darwin Brodt and former Blue Eagle wrestler Ryan Nunamaker (for those not in the know, Ryan is my brother and I’m probably not being partial here;-) were inducted into the District XI Wrestling Hall of Fame during a banquet that also honored the year’s top wrestling scholar athletes.
While Brodt coached the Nazareth Junior High team for several seasons (he became coach my 8th grade season), his induction was primarily due to his career at Easton where he won the 1974 State Championship.
Nunamaker became only the 2nd Blue Eagle wrestler inducted, following national champion Rob Rohn. Nunamaker was recognized for his competitive and coaching career in which he was a three time state medalist, won the state title his senior season and lost his junior year in overtime to eventual 4x champion Bobby Crawford (who also defeated our Dan Tashner in their senior season). Ryan was a 3x NCAA qualifier and 2x ACC Runner-up. Twice in the ACC tournament he lost to TJ Jaworsky(during his 3rd and 2nd place runs), an eventual 3x NCAA champion and considered one of the best collegiate wrestlers of all time.
Last season, Nunamaker coached Parkland to its first District XI individual tournament championship and the first by a Lehigh County school in AAA or the pre-split era since 1967 when Allen represented the county. Ryan’s Trojans went on to finish 2nd in the team championships that season. The year after Allen’s district victory, Ryan’s father Ray won his first District XI team title for Nazareth.
This season, the Trojans finished 5th in the PIAA Individual Championships with two finalists and they finished 2nd in the Northeast Regionals with the most finalists and qualifiers.
Joining Brodt and Nunamaker in the 2011 class was former Northampton star Chad Billy and long-time official Tony Phillips.
Winning the AAA Scholar Athlete Award was Parkland’s Michael Ottinger, coached by Nunamaker, and the AA Award went to Saucon Valley’s Ian Gimbar.
Many thanks to all of the alumni of District XI, coaches, officials and fans of the sport for putting on such a great event.
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