KWCA Podcast - Jon Lippelman (KWCA Hall of Fame)

Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association

Thirty-nine seasons in all, Thirty-three as head coach, 25 top 10 State finishes, eight State trophies, five State titles. All at Scott City High School. Meet KWCA Hall of Fame inductee, Jon Lippelman. This one is as entertaining as it is educational. I couldn’t make the following quotes up if I tried…
“They’d bet their apple pies and their pork loin sandwiches to see who had the toughest kid at that weight… and that’s what made dual wrestling back in the old days.”
“Back in those days, it was mop em up and throw em out there and just keep going to see if you could pin em or win by the final bell.”
“It’s alright to mess up, but that doesn’t mean anybody forgave you for it.”
“You would run into athletes that would make us poor little fat farm boys sit there with our mouth hang open just to watch em streak down the field and the fastest thing we had would only look like a puppy dog in the dirt chasing behind.”
“We’d open this book and we’d go to where Joe Seay was telling us how to get ahold of a single leg and put a man to the ground.”
“I knew in order to be successful in high school wrestling, you’re going to have to knock people down”
“A group is what makes State trophies.”
“… being able to practice without just going halfway. What we call ‘brother-in-lawing it.’ You’re going to have to learn to go hard, but enjoy it.”
“Sometimes maybe you stick a finger in people’s chest, but understand you have to have love to go along with the coaching direction that you’re using.”
“No matter which horse tank you go to you’re going to run out of water every once in a while and that doesn’t mean you give up, that means you get on the pump a little harder, but it’s going to take a little while to fill it up so you can have a team again and that’s just the way it works.”
“Leaving on a winner, it sure feels better than having the bully of the room throw you out the door and you have to say, ‘yea, but I did alright the day before.’ It’s always better to go out with the win.”
“My mum told me its sunny out there and you have to drink twice as much water or wear a hat, so by George, I wore a hat.”
Coach Rock Weldon: “I believe you’re wearing a hat.”
A high school Coach Lipp: “Well, so I am. Is that in the rule book?”
Coach Rocky Weldon: “I don’t know, I’ll have to look.”
“Ever since then, I have wore a wrestling cap to wrestling matches, weigh-ins, fancy award things, to NCAA tournament finals. It’s just what I am.”
“I either had to get away or I was going to be just like that cranky old Mother-in-law sitting in the corner saying ‘you can’t cook it that way, that aint how it’s done. You gotta do it the way we always done it.’ And so I got out of the picture…”