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Dear Coaches, Former Coaches, Family Members of Wrestlers, Ex-Wrestlers, Current Wrestlers, Officials. People Who are Fine with Pluto No Longer being Considered a Planet, People Upset about Pluto’s Demotion and (although I hate to include them) Users of the Oxford Comma,

                For several years I have been asked by people I see to write a book on the history of Louisiana high school wrestling.  They seem to think I know everything there is about the sport and seem not to mind that often I use a sesquipedalian lexicon and references that may be considered cryptic. 

They are correct in a general way.  Since I try to cover all parts of Louisiana with the LWN website I probably do superficially more than anyone else.  During the season, well, I have already written a preview to familiarize myself with the names of contenders, and hence someone new who beats them sticks out in my mind, and I learn who they are.                All that allows me to do is write a chronological book of who won when and after specific events, the most earth-shattering being the creations of Division II and Division III, although certain natural disasters count as well.  I know enough to write a decent amount on some coaches, but as far as knowing what practices are like, what kids used to do to cut weight and anecdotes about individual wrestlers, coaches or officials, I can only draw on my experiences.  While I may consider my life extremely interesting, only close family members agree with me, and that usually requires some sort of duress.                I already have over 180 pages written, but too much of it consists of copying and pasting information from the Hall of Fame website I built, newspaper clippings and mild suppositions.  My most insightful idea came in deciding to do the history of all of Division I, all of Division II and All of Division III, rather than attempting to have sections from 1945-1974, 1975 to 1999 and 2000 to present.  To me, both ideas psuque.

               What I need to keep the book from reading like a non-tabulated version of the Archives website is input from others.  For that I require assistance from you.  The list below will include requests for a broad spectrum of things which should make the book more enjoyable but also factually correct.  Here goes:

 Schools and, if you know them, the years in which you wrestled, coached or were otherwise associated with them;

1. Where you learned to wrestle and/or coach;

2. What coaches influenced you the most, and a little about them;

3. What some of your wrestlers taught you;

4. What made a good practice or constituted a bad one;

5. Anecdotes ranging from practices, locker rooms, methods of cutting weight, weigh-ins, matches, etc.;

6. Football player stories – thinking they were already in wrestling shape in November or December;

7. Particular events which made you or your team happy, whether by winning or just doing well;

8. Particular events which made you mad and how you responded via the next practices or events;

9. Anecdotes from officials about matches or coaches;

10. Things wrestlers did to make you extremely proud of them, beyond winning a match;

11. Anecdotal stories about wrestling Moms and Dads;

12. Photographs of the events or winners that surprised you or made you unusually proud;

13. Anything else that you consider good or bad but worth mentioning that happened to you or your teams;

14. Many of you were hit hard by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and by other flooding.  How did you rebound from such disasters?

                If things might be considered embarrassing to some, I do not require names.  I can easily use “One coach said a wrestler…” and variations of the same just to relate the gist of the story.

               Please know that this is not a test and that you need to include something about all 14 items listed above.  Just a few is fine.

               The format will be as a “coffee table” book, which allows me to Insert images and text in various parts of the general flow of the book.  A hardback copy will be expensive, but it should also be available in a magazine-like version and e-versions.

               If you do not have scans of a photographs you can mail them to me, and I will promptly return them.  This has worked before with Craig Seals and Coach Sam.

               The only way this will work is with your input.  Otherwise, I am really writing an autobiography and I’ll have to leave a lot of pages blank due to a lack of memory!

               Please respond via an email and “Attach” any associated photos or other documents.  (You might find writing in Word easier and can just attach the document.)

               If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks!

Martin G. Muller

10510 Clinton Street

River Ridge, LA 70123

(504) 305-1824

Mgmnet@cox.net

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