It was a special night for the world of high school wrestling in Indiana as five wrestlers, five coaches and three contributors were inducted into the IHSWCA Hall of Fame at the organization’s annual banquet in Indianapolis on Thursday evening.
Two Decatur residents, both Bellmont HS graduates, were among those inducted for their decades-long commitment to the sport and to the Bellmont Braves program.
Rex Brewer was state runner-up for the Braves in 1979 and later went on to wrestle collegiately before finding his calling as an official. Brewer spent much of the 1990s as one of the top officials in the state, calling both individual and team state finals for the IHSAA.
The Decatur resident eventually hung up his whistle and was hired by WZBD as a play-by-play announcer, taking over for wrestling, football, volleyball, baseball and softball as the lead voice of the Z-Team in recent years.
Brewer has spent much of the last decade as one of the leading advocates for the sport of wrestling on the girls’ side, donating his time and talent to calling girls’ matches in the infant stages all the way to last year’s very first IHSAA Girls Wrestling State Finals.
Mary Friedt’s relationship with high school wrestling dates back as long as Brewer’s. A fixture in the local wrestling community through her family in Decatur, Friedt has also been an instrumental part of the state youth organization, the ISWA.
Friedt has long served as the PA voice of various tournaments, both involving Bellmont and not. Her voice has called many future state and some national champions at events like the ISWA State Finals over the decades.
Brewer and Friedt were accompanied at the banquet by the area’s biggest wrestling fan – Chad Kukelhan – at the event.
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