Letter from Ron Finley
I'm writing you because I need your help getting vital information out to all of your wrestling coaches. Too many college wrestling programs have been cut over the years, which has greatly limited Division-I educational opportunities for athletes who wish to compete at this level, so I've decided to do something about it...
First, let me introduce myself. I'm Coach Ron Finley, and I've been involved in wrestling my entire career. I have coached and competed at every level including the Tokyo Olympics, and was head coach at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. I was the head wrestling coach at the University of Oregon for 28 years before retiring. In 2007, the University of Oregon dropped the sport of wrestling.
As you may already know, since 1972 and the enactment of Title IX, wrestling has been dropped by more than 178 major colleges and universities. Each of these schools represent 27 scholarship (full and partial) opportunities for our youth. That's more than 4,086 lost educational opportunities.
Last year, the world wrestling community united together and were successful in an effort to save Olympic Wrestling. This gave me an idea... If we could unite the U.S. wrestling community in a cause to restore fallen wrestling programs, we could begin the process of restoring these lost educational opportunities, and thus restoring the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our student athletes.
So, I've recently formed a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring fallen wrestling programs; the National Wrestling Restoration Foundation (nwrf.org<http://nwrf.org>). This isn't my organization. It's "OUR" organization. I assure you that I, nor anyone on our board or staff, will make any income from this organization, because we're all volunteers and our bylaws prohibit it. Instead, all the profits go toward reinstating wrestling programs across the nation. By leveraging the market strength of the 500,000 registered wrestlers in the United States, we conservatively project we can fully restore/endow one or two NCAA Division I programs each year, plus maintain gender equity. Imagine the impact. It's transformational. And it's all well within our collective grasp. All we need to do is educate our coaches who can then educate their students about our organization. That's it. Together, we can make this happen. Today, I seek your support to restore educational and competitive opportunities for our youth. Please join us in this effort.
How can you help? I encourage you to forward my email letter to every wrestling coach in your state...including head, assistants and club coaches. The letter, below the double line, will help educate your coaches on a plan to raise the needed funds to restore fallen wrestling programs, one school at a time, and restore the lost educational opportunities for our youth.
Sincerely,
Coach Ron Finley
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Dear Coach,
I'm contacting you because I have something vital to tell you about the continuation of our sport, wrestling.
First, I want to introduce myself: I'm Coach Ron Finley, and I've dedicated my entire life to the advancement of the sport of wrestling. I was the head wrestling coach at the University of Oregon for 28 years. I also coached at the high school level, as well as in the military, and I was honored to coach several world championship teams and the 1984 Olympic Greco-Roman team.
As you already know, wrestling has been saved for the 2020 Olympics because individuals like yourself joined the effort. The decision to drop wrestling in the Olympics hit all of us hard, but we joined together and our advocates got the IOC's decision reversed.
So why can t this work for NCAA wrestling?
We all hate that so many Division I wrestling programs have been eliminated over the years -- more than 178 since 1972. Their loss negatively impacts our youth. I don't have to tell you that. We all have tried writing letters and speaking out, all too little avail. Is Title IX to blame? Some argue it is. But one thing is sure: nobody has come up with a real solution to begin the process of getting Division I programs reinstated. Until now.
"WE" can control the reinstatement of Division I programs. I'll tell you how, but I need you to keep an open mind and read all that follows and then I want you to digest it before making a decision.
Here's the reality:
Every wrestler buys t-shirts and shorts for the practice room--probably 3-4 t-shirts and 2-3 pair of shorts, not to mention socks and other apparel every year. Each time our athletes buy these items, virtually all of the profits from their sale fill the pockets of companies that do virtually nothing to help our sport grow. Instead, what if there was a national organization, where students can buy, that was dedicated to putting every dollar of profit into restoring Division I wrestling programs? If students are going to buy practice room t-shirts and shorts anyway, why not spend the same money and buy them from a wrestling organization that puts every cent of profit from their purchase into reinstating Division I wrestling programs?
Wouldn't you rather buy your practice room gear from a non-profit organization that invests 100% of its profits into an endowment fund devoted to reinstating vital college wrestling programs throughout America? I hope you, and everybody involved in wrestling, would choose to restore fallen Division I wrestling programs.
In conclusion, I want you to consider supporting such a cause. I've recently formed a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring fallen wrestling programs, the National Wrestling Restoration Foundation. This isn't my organization... It's "OUR" organization. I assure you I won't make any income from our organization. Instead, all the profits go toward reinstating wrestling programs across the nation. By leveraging the market strength of the 500,000 registered wrestlers in the United States, we conservatively project we can fully restore/endow one to two Division I programs each year. Imagine the impact. It's transformational. And it's all well within our collective grasp. All we need to do, as coaches and as a wrestling community, is educate and motivate our students to consider purchasing their t-shirts and shorts from this organization. That's it. Together, we can make this happen. Through solidarity, we've saved wrestling for the world. Today, I seek your support to restore wrestling for America.
If you could take 5 minutes to complete my survey, I'd really appreciate it. This survey will give us the data we need for inventory and other logistics. Our launch for ordering t-shirts and shorts will be next summer 2015, and we'll keep you posted on the date via e-mail. Here's the link to the survey.
Sincerely,
Coach Ron Finley
National Wrestling Restoration Foundation
296 E. 5th Ave., 5th Floor
Eugene, OR 97401
(541) 833-0417