“Battle of Waterloo” Hall of Fame Inductees

The "Battle of Waterloo" Hall of Fame reception will be held in downtown Waterloo on Thursday (December 18, 2014).The event is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum, 303 Jefferson Street.

Four former coaches and wrestlers who made their mark on the sport in the Cedar Valley will be honored at the reception. The ceremony is being held in conjunction with the 5th-annual "Battle of Waterloo" high school wrestling tournament.

The inductees are:

Community Wrestling Coach

Bill Tate, Sr. – East High Wrestler / Coach

Bill Tate, Sr. is no stranger to the Waterlo0 wrestling community. He first became interested in wrestling as a junior high school student after being encouraged by his YMCA swimming coach. He continued to wrestle in high school at Waterloo East and was a third-place finisher at 138 pounds at the 1961 state tournament.

After high school, Tate had a short wrestling career at UNI before entering the workforce at John Deere to support his family.

As his children entered elementary school, they began attending the Boys and Girls Club. It was there where Tate's sons learned of other elementary students interested in wrestling. As a former wrestler, Tate decided to check out the program and see if he could help the young boys with their wrestling skills. In 1971, he started a youth wrestling program at the Boys and Girls club. Tate was a volunteer coach for hundreds of young boys until 1980.

They held practices three times a week and traveled to tournaments on weekends. Tate coached students from Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Hudson, Dysart, Independence and many other surrounding communities. His teams had many place winners at the elementary and junior high levels, many of whom went on to become state champions or place-winners. In addition, the Waterloo Club received National honors, was two-time National Champions and had a few students compete in the world championship.

Tate's influence and volunteerism earned him the Sartoma Award, a service honor given to individuals who exhibit positive characteristics while giving back through service to mankind.

Tate resides in Waterloo.

Bruce Woolsey – Wrestler Orange High School

Bruce Woolsey began his wrestling career as a sophomore at Orange High School in Waterloo in 1961. That same year was the first year Orange had a wrestling team, which was led by Coach Ron Burnell.

Woolsey was recruited to be a lightweight wrestler at 103 pounds. The school did not have a wrestling room for practice so the team would often go to West High School to practice with the Wahawks and Coach Bob Siddens.

As a senior in high school, Woolsey became the first state champion for Orange High School. He was honored as the high school's most valuable athlete for wrestling and track.

In 1965, Woolsey was drafted into the United States Army, where he continued to wrestle. He wrestled as a post champion and took 2nd-place at the Fort Manmouth Services Tournament.

Woolsey resides in Chandler, Arizona.

Marty Dickey – West High School / Community Coach Wahawk Wrestling Coach

Marty Dickey began his wrestling career in 1963 at Edison School. In high school, he wrestled at Waterloo West and became a state champion in 1966. He later wrestled for two years at Iowa State University and wrestled for a year in the Army while stationed in Germany.

In 1983, Dickey, alongside Don Huff, started the Junior Wahawk wrestling club. The goal of the club was to extend the wrestling club that was started at the Boys and Girls Club and include freestyle techniques into the program.

Dickey volunteered with the Junior Wahawk Club until 1994 and the club grew to over a hundred youth during the season. The club helped young wrestlers from across Northeast Iowa, many of whom went on to be state place winners, champions and collegiate athletes. The club focused on preparing athletes mentally and physically so when they became freshman they could compete with seniors.

Dickey resides in Waterloo.

Lowell Lange – West High School

Lowell Lange began his wrestling career as a 7th-grade student at Oelwein Junior High School before his family moved to Waterloo. As a wrestler at West High, Lange placed second at the state tournament in 1944 and won back-to-back state championships in 1945 and 1946. The summer before enrolling at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Lange traveled to New York to compete at the National AAU tournament and won his first national title.

While attending Cornell, Lange was a three-time NCAA National Champion and a three-time National AAU Champion. He was poised to become a four-time national champion but was forced to sit out the 1947-1948 season due to an injury from a car accident. Lange was a member of the 1947 Cornell College, which became the first small, private college to win the NCAA Tournament team title and the National AAU Team wrestling title.

After college, Lange was invited to wrestle in Japan for a United States vs. Japan wrestling tournament. He spent one season as the Head Wrestling Coach at Cornell and later became the Head Wrestling Coach at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta,a position Lange held from 1964 – 1993.

Lange is a member of the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He has been elected to the NCAA Rules Committee and National Wrestling Coaches Executive Committee.

Lange currently resides in Canton, Georgia.