SYRACUSE – It doesn’t smell anymore.

More than a few people remarked about the renovations that have upgraded and improved the Wawasee wrestling room. A sacred ground for a proud program that decided to celebrate its past in hopes of inspiring its future. Those sentiments were shared Saturday evening at the first gathering of the Wawasee Wrestling Open House.

Jamie Salazar, one of the speakers for the very well-attended event in the Wawasee High School annex gym, spoke about his fond memories of growing up in and around the wrestling program. As one of five individuals to go from Wawasee to become a college All-American, Salazar noted a conversation he had with his cousin, Chris Requeno. Among the topics was the very distinct stench from that old room that imprinted every wrestler’s brain and fiber. It wasn’t always a bad thing, but a reminder that wrestling was a betterment.

The room itself, situated upstairs in the corner of the annex gym, has seen a recent effervescent upgrade. A banner highlighting the college All-Americans – nine altogether between Brad Traviolia, Darrell Carr, Jason Carr, Salazar and Erecleo Vallejo – along with sectional champion photos for the 20 title teams. Some equipment upgrades, new match and training mats, some sprucing of the exterior and as current WHS head coach Frank Bumgardner noted, “the smell is finally gone”.

“I grew up around this program,” Bumgardner said. “I remember all of these guys (pointing to the All-American banner), and to see nothing recognizing them, and our history as a program, was a shame and needed to be changed. My goal with the program is to unify us as a program. We want to take that next step and honor those who have done it before us.”

Bumgardner later spoke about some of the highlights upcoming for the wrestling program, including landing the school as an ISWA training location in 2018, which includes girls wrestling. Bumgardner noted his team is currently regarded as the No. 5 team in its class and will compete in the IHSWCA Team State in December. His notation of Wawasee’s nine collegiate All-Americans turns out to lead the state, Fort Wayne Carroll next at eight – four by one wrestler – and the next closest after that with five.

Also speaking Saturday night were Tom Jarman and Traviolia. Jarman has the unique honor to have coached all of the Wawasee wrestlers who became collegiate All-Americans at both Northwestern University, Traviolia’s alma mater, and later at Manchester University where he coached the Carr brothers, Salazar and Vallejo. Jarman offered a phrase he used often in coaching, ‘It isn’t dreaming. It isn’t planning. It’s doing.’

Traviolia, who is currently the Deputy Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, was the keynote speaker, offering his memories of his days in wrestling at Wawasee and how it propelled him into his life outside of Indiana. Traviolia, who with Lance Lantz in 1986 won Wawasee’s first wrestling state championships, spoke of how preparing as a wrestler allowed him to learn about self discipline. But his memories of his alma mater in Syracuse were still fond.

“It’s awesome to see so many parents, volunteer coaches and kids come back,” Traviolia said. His father, Hal, was a longtime athletic director at the high school. “It’s great, awesome. This can be something to really grow on.

“I see nothing but success and I am proud to be a Wawasee Warrior.”

The wrestling room was officially dedicated to Traviolia, who was given an old 1980s singlet and a plaque to take with him back to Chicago.