Published: July 22, 2008 12:15 am            

Eric Knopsnyder | Lazor goes into the Lions’ den

Greg Lazor isn’t worried about trying to replace a legend at Chestnut Ridge High School.

In fact, that’s exactly why the Tussey Mountain graduate joined the Lions’ coaching staff two years ago - he hoped that one day he’d take over for Hall of Famer Jim Clark.

But that doesn’t mean Lazor underestimates the task at hand as he succeeds Clark, who won 342 dual meets in 31 seasons and capped off his career by coaching Gary Pfahler to a state championship last season.

“It’s some awful big shoes to fill,” Lazor said. “The guy did so much for the wrestling team and everything else. It’s going to be interesting, but I have a lot of support from the community. I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

It was no secret that Clark was planning on stepping down after last season and that Lazor, his assistant for two seasons, was his likely successor.

But Lazor was still relieved to know for sure when the decision was made last month.

“It made me feel good that they had accepted me,” he said. “It alleviated some of the concern of what everyone thought. It took some of the pressure off.”

Lazor, who won a District 5 title for Tussey Mountain in 1992 and a Southwest Regional title in 1993, took a roundabout route to the school that is about a 50-minute drive southeast from Saxton.

He went to Lock Haven University, where he wrestled for a team that finished fifth in the Division I championships, then headed to North Carolina for a teaching job. He quickly went about building a program from the ground up at West Stokes High School just outside of Winston-Salem.

He first concentrated on the middle school to build a foundation and then the high school, turning the brand new program into a state power.

“We took an ear-boxing for two years,” Lazor said. “Our third year we got pretty good. The next four years we were in at least the (state dual-meet) semifinals each time.”

Eventually, the desire to return home was too much for Lazor and his wife, Sandra, who is also from the Tussey Mountain area.

“It was tough to leave it,” he said of his West Stokes program. “It was a tough decision. When we started having kids, we wanted to raise our kids with family.”

He found a good fit in Chestnut Ridge, as he knew that Clark was planning to retire in the near future.

Lazor fit in well right away, and his penchant for grueling workouts earned him a reputation as a taskmaster, but also the respect of the wrestlers. They gave him a Marine sergeant’s hat after his first season in honor of his demand for discipline. They also came up with a term for a particularly difficult session.

“They say ‘He went Laz on us,’ ” Clark recalled.

Lazor was impressed by how the longtime coach was open to new ways of doing things and Clark was equally thankful that the young coach brought his own style to the Lions.

“He was a big part of our success the past two years,” Clark said. “He was showing different stuff than I was. He has several good series that he shows that I think were really beneficial to our team.”

This summer, Lazor has hosted three camps and taken some of his wrestlers to Edinboro for another camp.

He knows that he’ll have to be at the top of his game in his first season if he hopes to compete with rival Bedford, which is expected to have one of the state’s top teams. But even so, Lazor isn’t planning on any dropoff from last year, when the Lions went 15-4 and nearly knocked off the Bisons.

“I think we’re going to be real solid,” he said. “Up top, we have the same exact lineup and we were solid there last year. We have some holes in the lower weights, but we have some young talent. I’m looking to be very competitive.”



Eric Knopsnyder is the sports editor of The Tribune-Democrat.

        

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