Ilion High School - Class of 2013

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Ilion-Mohawk wrestling rivalry remembered and revered

ILION, N.Y. - Friday was a bittersweet day in the history of Ilion Junior-Senior High School. It was the final graduation ceremony for the school, which will merge with Mohawk's Gregory B. Jarvis Junior-Senior High School to become Central Valley Academy in the fall.

There was a time when the doors to a high school wrestling match between Ilion's Golden Bombers and Mohawk's Mohicans had to be locked hours before the first bout of the night because the gym was at (or beyond) capacity.

Not everyone denied at the door, though, missed out on the action. Not at Ilion High's old gymnasium. Not before school officials caught on.

"Some people climbed up on the roof and were watching the match from the windows there," said Bob Turley, a former Ilion athlete, Class of '67, who returned to coach wrestling and football before taking over as the director of athletics. "It was February, and it was bitter cold out, too.

"We always had a good rivalry with Mohawk in everything, really. Wrestling just happened to be the most intense."

Yes, for many years, Ilion vs. Mohawk was a must-see matchup – a spirited rivalry that many will miss now that the Mohawk Valley neighbors have merged to form the Central Valley Central School District.

Those good old days, though, won't soon be forgotten, certainly not by those fortunate enough to experience them up close and personal.

"It was always, 'When do we wrestle Mohawk?'" said 56-year-old Lance Burger, a 1975 graduate of Ilion High School whose wrestling matches with Mohicans star Dan Forbes – a Section III champion in 1976 – are some of the most memorable. "You would talk about it all year. That's just the way it was.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put the (wrestling) rivalry right at the top," he said. "There was never any hatred, just admiration and respect because you knew how good they were."

And team records didn't matter.

"When it was Mohawk and Ilion, it was like they were wrestling for the league or section title," said former Mohawk Central business administrator Chuck Mower, whose son Jeff has coached the Mohicans for several years. "They'd close the doors at 5:30 for a 7 o'clock match; some of the wrestlers' parents wouldn't even get in."

Burger still can see those fans who had climbed on the roof, stacked two and three deep trying to watch a Mohawk-Ilion match that had filled the old Ilion gym and – rumor has it – had Remington Arms workers placing bets on which kid would win what weight class.

"You looked up and there they were on the roof, one on top of the other, shorter people in front," he said. "That was something. That was exhilarating. And when your name was called, the crowd erupted and your body went numb."

Burger's sons Lance Jr. and Jordan and daughter Megan were Ilion High athletes, too. Jordan Burger was a two-time Section III champion in wrestling – with the merger, his 175 wins will forever be the Ilion record.

As much as that means, Lance Burger Sr. is willing to accept change, turn the page, and rally behind the new Central Valley Academy Thunder.

"Now, you've got people from two sports-minded communities, and I'm looking forward to it," he said. "As far as sports go, it's not going to be the same – yet. But are they going to create new rivalries? Yes."