“Is there anyone left in Cornwall?” the gentleman in the hotel lobby asked. He was handing out table assignments for the induction dinner for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Cornwall wrestling coach Don Blaine was one of the inductees, and about 70 people traveled to Syracuse to see him get the honor.
When it was time for the presentations, David Blaine stepped to the microphone. Alluding to the magician with the same name, he apologized for not doing any tricks. David then introduced the new Hall-of-Famer, and said that he was lucky to have him as both a father and a coach.
“I didn’t write his speech,” Coach Blaine assured the audience when it was his turn to speak. The large crowd laughed. The coach crammed a lot of “thank yous” into the five minutes he was allotted.
He managed to get a few more chuckles before he sat down. He introduced his future daughter-in-law, Jennifer Nusio, and when people applauded, he told them that the Blaine-Nusio wedding fund was getting low. He also referred to the crowd from Cornwall, and refuted the rumor that he had chartered a bus.
It’s hard to define a person’s impact on a sport or a community. A coach’s victory totals and number of champions don’t tell the whole story. The man in the hotel lobby offered a much better measure. He said that in the long history of the event, he had never seen so many people show up to honor one individual.
