Oak Ridge launches wrestling program
Back on the mat: ‘Bam’ Thomas to lead OR wrestling
Leterrin “Bam” Thomas (photo:ORHS Sports Media )
Thomas, an assistant football coach at Oak Ridge High School, has been tapped to lead the school’s wrestling program. He’ll be building it from the ground up, as the Wildcats haven’t fielded a team in decades.
“I didn’t think we ever had wrestling. I did some research and couldn’t find anything,” Thomas said. “We’ve had a few of our guys wrestle at Bearden.”
Many at the school, including Athletic Director Joe Gaddis, said they had no recollection of Oak Ridge ever fielding a team.
Gaddis said that adding wrestling has been a goal for him since he became athletic director.
“It took three years, but they finally approved it,” Gaddis said.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever had wrestling, and I know we haven’t since I’ve been here, and I first came in 1988,” he said.
“It always bothered me that our kids had to go somewhere else.”
In recent years, Oak Ridge students wrestled through a co-op with Bearden High School in Knoxville.
Knoxville wrestling historian Chris Vandergriff uncovered a 1954 newspaper article about an Oak Ridge match against Knoxville West, which the Wildcats won.
“That was news to me because I thought Halls had the first team in Knoxville,” said Vandergriff, a former University of Tennessee wrestler and Halls coach.
Oak Ridge was also listed as having a participant in the 1995 state tournament, though that athlete’s name was missing from the bracket.
“I want to invite the community to come watch us, and if there are former Oak Ridge wrestlers out there, I’d love for them to help,” Thomas said. “For us to know where we’re going, we have to know where we’ve been.”
Thomas, a former All-KIL standout at South-Doyle, was a state qualifier and Prep Xtra Tournament champion in 2010. “I plan to bring the same intensity to wrestling that I bring to football,” he said. “We’ve had guys wrestle for Bearden, but there’s something about competing for Oak Ridge, something about having that cat paw on your chest.”
After high school, Thomas played football at Maryville College before transferring to Carson-Newman.
Off the mat, he is a public speaker and family man.
“I have a motivational speaking business, and when I’m not coaching, I love spending time with my wife and two wonderful kids,” Thomas said.
