Providence Wrestling Club History
Providence Wrestling got its beginning when a co-worker of mine named Jimmy Papas invited me to C.L.C.F.'s gymnasium for wrestling practice. He told me to bring my sons. He explained how they should be dressed and told me all about the wrestling program. When I got there I met Victor Caldarone who was the head coach and instructor. Victor wrestled for U.R.I. and so did I back in the 70's.
They were great to my kids and encouraged them to participate. My sons were a bit shy but they warmed up to the room full of kids. Jimmy Papas became ill and succumbed to cancer. Everyone in the wrestling community stuck by his family and followed his son as he ventured to be a state champion.
I got a job working at the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program where I started a wrestling team. The director, Rob Deblois, supported my idea and wrote a grant that provided us with uniforms and a mat. We wrestled and produced quite a few state champions and finalists. We had a great time back then.
After establishing myself I moved onto teaching high school and began teaching at Mt. Pleasant High School. The athletic director, Ed Pascarella, asked me to be the wrestling coach at Central High School. It was difficult to recruit for wrestling at one school while teaching at another school. The school I taught at was one of my teams opponents. And to make matters worse my two sons (Samuel and Jerry Snead) wrestled for Mt. Pleasant. The kids at Mount Pleasant jokingly called me a traitor. All the wrestling teams in Providence had a difficult time recruiting. The wrestling coaches all taught at Mt. Pleasant but coached at opposing schools. We discussed our problems with recruiting and noticed the larger squads in the state had youth feeder teams. So the coaches decided to begin a youth team in the local neighborhoods of the participating schools. I was the only coach who was successful in finding a home and creating a team. Former U.C.A.P. & Central wrestler Jimmy Paliotti helped me coach my first team.
I went to the local recreation center and met a man named George who was once one of the kids who used to hang out at the Chad Brown Rec. where I used to be the director. George Lindsey was the director of Davey Lopes Rec. on 227 Dudley St. in Providence (only a quarter of a mile from Central). I took an old, dried up piece of a mat and began to train kids how to wrestle.
George Lindsey
I received a new co-teacher (Betsy McNeil) who began to team teach with me that year. She heard my idea and brought her two children (Ian and Donald) to practice with me all the way from Wrentham, MA. She even brought her brothers son Steven with her who drove in from Conn. Her brother (Mark Weiner) came in one day and said if your going to teach my son how to wrestle and not ask for anything I got to help you. So he called Alan Shawn Fienstien and asked him for a favor. Mr. Fienstien gave us money for a mat and uniforms. Betsy brought her husband Andy to practice and told me he was a former champion from Brown University. We fast became friends and he also became a coach.
I asked Bruce Smith, a teacher, at Gilbert Stuart middle school which was near Central High School to help in recruiting kids for the program. Bruce wrestled for Coventry High School and coached in Exeter West Greenwich. I talked him into coming to Providence to coach. Bruce took a job coaching at Mt. Pleasant so it was to his programs benefit to recruit for his middle school. Bruce recruited his cousin, former state champion and present state referee, Rob Smith to help coach. Bruce and Rob have that Coventry wrestling championship expertise and pride to add to the team.
One night at a "Seniors Night" wrestling event Mr. Mets, the Vice Principal, introduced me to his cousin Greg Floyd. Greg used to wrestle in high school in New Jersey and had a real love for the sport. Greg became an avid fan of the team and expressed an interest in helping out with kids so I brought him to practice to meet them. In no time he was picking it up and coaching.
We extended the season that year and went to Johnston High School for Free Style practice. We ran into David Morales who lived in Providence and didn't know we existed. He too had a keen interest in wrestling (another Jersey wrestler) so we picked him up along with his whole family. His wife is extremely helpful as a coach and cook. Dave is a bookkeeper so he prepared a beautiful financial report at the end of our fiscal year. Dave's wife, Inez, made lunches, drove, made breakfasts, and helped us camp out.
This year I picked up Richard (Spider) Davis (former Conn. All Stater) and Jose Trinidad (former Mt. Pleasant wrestler) as coaches. Both men add a new dimension to the team. Jose really reaches the young kids because he is a recent high school grad. and closer to their age group. Spider just loves the kids and enjoys giving back to the community.
We incorporated and are now known as Providence Wrestling Club Inc. Wrestling was dropped as a sport at Central just as my little wrestlers were going on to high school. My last wrestler was a student called Eduardo Hopp. He became a two time state champion and a "one man team" as he wrestled his final two years for Mt. Pleasant High School, the only high school with wrestling left in the city. They have a club at Hope High School and they are trying to make a come back.
I have developed a philosophy along the way to developing my youth team. "Wrestling is great but education is something you'll use for the rest of your life." This is why I added an education component to the program. I make all my youth wrestlers read books to prepare them for their future. I also have a teacher, Donna Casanova from Gilbert Stuart Middle School, come in with lesson plans to help them improve their literacy.
I can't forget about all the contributions my wife Mary Snead gave to the program. She washed all the uniforms, packed lunches, searched for things I misplaced, drove kids all over the place, allowed me to wear my vehicles out, had wrestlers sleep over, and reminds me when to slow down.
In conclusion, we've grown and have gone a long way in developing a program and intend on providing wrestling and education for the children of Providence long into the future. Next year we are going to make an effort to really expand the program to encompass the entire city of Providence. We thankfully announce that the Champlin Foundation gave us a grant to make this possible. We have 70 new uniforms and two new mats. We thank Pinnacle Mats in Canada for giving us larger mats than what we ordered and for giving Mt. Pleasant High School $1,000.00 for new uniforms as a gift for storing a mat. We thank Bill for giving us equipment before being paid and for being trusting and patient We also thank the Shelter for Colored Children for their education grant to help kids read and literacy.
History done by: JIm Snead