By FRED KRONER
Andy Warner didn’t feel like he had a lot of athletic options as he entered Champaign Central High School in the fall of 1968.
“I was not tall enough for basketball and I was too small for football,” Warner said.
One option was enough. He chose a sport that was suitable for someone who weighed 94 pounds as a high school sophomore.
Warner started wrestling.
The operative word is “started.”
There was no kids’ club wrestling during Warner’s childhood and no wrestling was offered at the middle school level.
He started out by being introduced to the basics as his coach with the Maroons, Don Pittman, explained the terminology and how to make the various moves.
Warner eventually began to flourish, recording more than 20 wins as both a junior and as a senior.
Before that, he had to make it through his sophomore year.
He was behind a senior, John Hecker, who was a returning Big 12 Conference and regional champion at 103 pounds.
“He beat up on me everyday,” Warner recalled.
Though he was in line to wrestle varsity at the lowest weight class (95 pounds), Warner wasn’t immediately sure he saw the sport in his future.
“I went home crying and told my mom I was done,” he recalled. “She said, ‘learn to be tougher.’
“I went back the next night.”
He wound up qualifying for the sectional as a sophomore.
Warner’s commitment to wrestling continued beyond high school. He was a high school official for more than four decades (working 41 consecutive regional tournaments as well as 35 total sectionals) and in his ‘retirement’ years, was a bench official at the state tournament for another 11 years before stepping aside in 2014.
He also worked 18 IESA or Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation (IKWF) state finals and 15 times was chosen to officiate at the Midwest Nationals.
He will be honored for his commitment to wrestling on Sunday (Oct. 16) with his induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. The Illinois Chapter banquet will begin at 3 p.m. in Bloomington at Eastland Suites.
Warner is among six inductees who will be recognized in the Lifetime Service category. He will be joined by two other Central Illinois residents, Joe Summerville and Fred Kroner, as well as three others from the state: Rex Branum, Ralph McCausland and Jim Raabe.
When he got the call, he almost didn’t answer.
“It was from a 309 (area code) number,” Warner said.
Warner lives in Savoy, but was a Mahomet resident for nine years. Both of his daughters (Kristi Lietz, 1996, and Sarah Cavazos, 2000) are M-S graduates.
“It’s a really big honor,” Warner said, “when people recognize the time and hard work you have put into a sport.
“I’ve made a lot of good friends through wrestling. To get in is a big honor, and to get in with (previous inductees) like Ray (Cummings) and Bob (Jones) is a really big honor. I enjoyed the sport and the competition.”
In 2007, Warner was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) Hall of Fame.
The early appeal about wrestling was the 1-on-1 nature of the sport.
“I didn’t have to depend on anyone to push me and I didn’t have to go against someone who was 6-foot-5 or 200 pounds,” Warner said. “It was about how much are you willing to put into the sport.
“I could excel at it.”
Warner was a three-year letter winner at Central – and team captain as a senior – moving from the 95-pound weight class as a sophomore to 112 as a senior.
“The kids now are more advanced because they have clubs and can travel to tournaments,” Warner said. “My sophomore year, I learned the position you get in (to start each period).”
For the most part, he enjoyed wrestling.
A growth spurt late in his junior year, however, was tough to experience.
After competing at 98 pounds throughout the regular season, he challenged a teammate for the 107-pound slot for the postseason.
“I lost 14-13 and he went on to make the regional finals,” Warner said. “My junior year, I had to cut weight. That was the one part I didn’t like.
“I’d go five days without eating or maybe have a stick of celery for breakfast and a boiled egg for dinner. Now they (the IHSA) have body-fat testing to tell you how low (of a weight class) you can go.”
Warner graduated from Central in 1971. Though he didn’t wrestle beyond high school, he wanted to remain active in the sport.
“I didn’t have time to coach,” he said. “In 1974, I started officiating.
“Ray Cummings (from Pesotum) and Bob Jones (from Decatur) were my mentors. I’d go with Ray and do the JV matches. Schools didn’t pay JV (officials), but Ray gave me $10 out of his pocket.”
Ironically, Cummings suffered a shoulder injury in 1976 and Warner was his replacement to work the Urbana Regional.
His postseason debut was a memorable one.
“I got my first police escort out of there,” Warner said.
He worked solo the day’s last match, between heavyweights from Urbana and Danville. The one-point victory for the Urbana athlete didn’t sit well with the opposition.
“The Danville coach was in my face and a kid came up from behind and was going to hit me until Mike Dilley grabbed him,” Warner said. “I had to wait until the Danville team left to leave (the officials’ lockerroom).”
Warner was not discouraged.
“It made me want to do it more,” he said. “I knew I had made the right call. I was correct.”
That year was the beginning of a prosperous officiating career which eventually included being assigned to work 10 individual state tournaments and eight dual-meet state championships.
He was one of the few officials to work the state finals in a year he didn’t work a sectional.
In the late 1970s, Warner was assigned to the Clinton Sectional, but had to bow out.
“My daughter (Kristi, who lives in Mahomet with her family) got married,” Warner said.
The IHSA assigns officials for postseason tournaments based on the ratings of coaches. Warner learned early that it’s advantageous to not limit your officiating career to one segment of the state.
“When you’re getting started, you want to do local stuff and not travel very much,” he said. “I wound up working the Clinton Tournament for 25 years, the Quincy Tournament 13 times, the Plano Tournament three times and other tournaments at Deerfield and Fox Lake Grant.
“I was not afraid to drive 2 ½ hours to do a tournament.”
Frequently, he had the same traveling partner.
“From December through February, Ray and I were together,” Warner said. “We rode together and we officiated together.
“The friendships you make are lifetime friendships.”
One example was a call Warner received from former Argenta-Oreana wrestling coach Gary Cook in 1996.
“He had an extra ticket to the Olympics in Atlanta, and asked if I wanted to go,” Warner said.
Cook didn’t have to ask twice.
When Warner gathers for golf events with some of his former officiating partners such as Jeff Bowers, Ron Coit and Jeff Sorensen, they aren’t just enjoying the course and the outdoor weather.
“We talk about (wrestling) situations,” Warner said. “You’re always learning about the sport.”
The inductees from each state will have their profiles and accomplishments displayed at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, in Stillwater, Okla.
Warner, 70, is already planning a road trip.
“I’m going to Stillwater next year to check it out,” he said.
Warner still cares about the sport to which he devoted more than a half-century of service.
“I’m trying to recruit a young man right now to work at kids’ tournaments,” he said. “We need to get more young officials involved.”
