FLOWERY BRANCH — The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma is pleased to announce the Class of 2022 to be inducted by the Hall of Fame in the state of Georgia.
The Georgia Chapter induction will be held on Sunday, April 24, 2022 at The Venue at Friendship Springs in Flowery Branch.
Event and ticket information is available by emailing [email protected]. An online site to purchase tickets will be available at a future date.
Seven individuals will be inducted as part of the class of 2022. All will be inducted as "Lifetime Service to Wrestling" recipients in recognition of contributing at least twenty years to the sport of wrestling as a coach, referee or contributor.
Among those to be inducted is R. Garry Glenn of Oakwood, a former Jefferson youth and Johnson High varsity wrestling coach. In addition to helping start the Jefferson program for elementary and middle-schoolers in the mid-1970s under the mentorship of the legendary Hall of Fame Coach Jack Keen, Glenn helped revive the Johnson varsity program from 2002-2005. In addition to his coaching and mentorship, Glenn was also selected on the basis of his 50+ year career covering wrestling at the local, state and national levels as a journalist and broadcaster.
During his career, Glenn covered NCAA tournaments and meets for national distribution; interviewed numerous collegiate greats; pioneered coverage of local wrestling meets on TV and radio; served as the master of ceremonies for NWHOF-GA Chapter inductions; as well as being the voice of numerous regular/post season tourneys. Glenn also served as a mentor to other coaches; and a number of his former wrestlers became coaches, including varsity coaches such as Chad Cole at Johnson and former Jefferson coach Doug Thurmond, the all-time winningest State Champion Coach in Georgia History and a member of the Hall of Fame himself.
“This is a tremendous honor, one of the highlights of my life,” Glenn said. “To be associated with such an elite group is both flattering and humbling at the same time. These are truly some of the finest people I have ever known. I count myself fortunate to be going in with such a great group of guys and to be included in their ranks.”
Other Georgia inductees into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame are as follows:
Shawn Fields (Flowery Branch) -- 29 years of service as a Team Georgia administrator/coach and USWOA freestyle/Greco (M1 level) and GHSA wrestling official; doubled USA wrestling memberships to 5,000 in his term as leader of Team Georgia; 2008 USA Wrestling national “state chairperson of the year”; 7X GHSA state tournament mat official. He studied at Lumpkin County High, North Georgia College & State University and Brenau University.
Adrian Anderson (Columbus) -- Outstanding teacher and coach with 32 years of service at Dodge County, Sandy Creek, Northgate and, currently, St. Ann-Pacelli Catholic School; charter member/past president of Georgia Wrestling Coaches Assn.; 2002 state coach of the year; founded “Caveman Wrestling Camp” for Coweta County wrestlers.
Tom Fiacco (Marietta) -- 40 years of experience in the metro Atlanta area and North Carolina; served as coach at Walker, Stone Mountain, Harrison (16 years) and Sprayberry; formed AAU/USA wrestling clubs in Charlotte, NC and Cobb County; member of St. Lawrence University (Football), Massena (NY) HS and Cobb County Wrestling Association Halls of Fame.
Steve Gwyn (Grayson) -- One of GHSA’s most outstanding officials throughout his 35 years as an official; valuable trainer of veteran and new officials; 3X Gwinnett/DeKalb County Outstanding Official; a mainstay at post season GHSA events; co-founded/coached “Dunwoody Church Wrestling” program for youth in the Dunwoody/North Atlanta area.
Barry Spector (Calhoun) - 37 years as a GHSA and NCAA wrestling referee; officer in the Rome Area Wrestling Officials Association throughout his career; officiated GHSA state traditional tournament 32 times and state duals 6 times; worked national level USA tourneys including Virginia Beach National Duals, USA Kids State and Kids State Duals.
Jerome Tillery (Covington) -- A driving force in sustaining wrestling in DeKalb County; 33 years as a coach at various levels including teams at Stone Mountain, Southwest DeKalb, McNair, Stephenson and Redan High Schools; several years as coach of Tillery/DeKalb youth wrestling program and Team Georgia’s national schoolboy team.
