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Father-son wrestling act crosses line By Don Hunt I�ve been watching high school wrestling since the late 1960s when my older brother took to the mat on the Oregon coast. While admittedly not my favorite sport to observe, I�ve always had deep respect for wrestlers. It�s hand-to-hand combat out there. It�s physical. It�s mental. It�s emotional. It can be brutal. And when you put two fearless, equally-matched grapplers out there, you can feel the electricity and the intensity swirl around the gymnasium. Such was the case last Saturday night at South Medford High when Eagle Point�s Chet McBee met Phoenix�s Brandon Sousa. Sousa entered the 145-pound match unbeaten and ranked No. 1 at the Class 3A level. McBee was top-ranked at the 4A level and the only blemish on his record was a 6-5 loss to Sousa at the South Coast Classic last month. Everyone knew this was going to be THE match of the night. And it was. For starters, McBee slapped Sousa on the side of the head. Then Sousa clubbed McBee in the face, causing McBee�s nose to bleed. After that, all hell broke loose. A fervent wrestler to begin with, McBee pushed the emotional envelope. He pointed to the Eagle Point fans. He stood face-to-face with Sousa and grinned after the two had tumbled out of bounds and regained their feet. Much of the crowd, mostly Crater and Phoenix fans, began chanting "Sousa! Sousa! Sousa!" with such volume that it was surely audible outside the gym. A group of Eagle Point students countered with "Hollywood! Hollywood! Hollywood!" meaning that their man � McBee � was putting on quite a show and, hey dudes, just deal with it. But that was only the half of it. Before the first period ended, Eagle Point coach Brad McBee � the wrestler�s father � was getting worked up himself. Coach McBee stormed onto the mat three or four times to protest the official�s calls. He stared at the fans rooting against his son and made it clear that his son was winning. And he shouted at Phoenix coach Harry Mondale, telling him to quit begging for calls. Before the younger McBee had registered a 10-6 victory, a Phoenix fan stormed onto the floor and had to be restrained by security official Sam Pecktol. Phoenix assistant coach Jon Farmer was visibly incensed over the demeanor of the match, and several coaches from other schools were also upset. Mondale said afterward that he had never seen anything like this in 40 years of coaching, and that includes those memorable Phoenix-Eagle Point dual matches in the 1970s when both schools were in the Skyline Conference. Much of what happened wasn�t right, but before everyone castigates the McBees, let�s get a couple of things straight. Unless it�s his own flesh and blood on the mat, Brad McBee is among the most composed, serene wrestling coaches you�ll ever see. Dressed professionally in slacks, a button-down shirt and Hush Puppy-like shoes, McBee often sits on his chair for an entire match and barely raises his voice. It�s typically only when Chet McBee grapples that Brad McBee � Dad � seemingly becomes another person. Former Eagles coach Bob Bergen, who remains legendary in Eagle Point for some of his tirades in the �70s and �80s � they didn�t call him "Bad Bob" for nothing � has no idea how Brad McBee can coach his son. "I remember how intense I got in the heat of battle," Bergen said, "and I just can�t imagine what it would be like to have a son out there. Everything would be cranked up 15 or 20 times, I�m sure." One of my colleagues suggests that the older McBee sit in the stands whenever Chet wrestlers, and allow his capable assistants to mentor his son. That�s not a bad idea, but something tells me that Brad would have an extraordinarily difficult time making that adjustment, considering he�s been on the sideline with Chet for years. Brad McBee has restored Eagle Point�s program to the shape it was in when Bergen resigned following the 1989 season. The Eagles are ranked No. 1 in the state in dual meets and handed Crater its first Southern Oregon Conference dual meet loss in five years on Dec. 6. By and large, his wrestlers conduct themselves in exemplary fashion, both on and off the mat. Chet McBee doesn�t believe he did anything wrong Saturday night, and to that I disagree. It�s one thing to be flamboyant, colorful, confident and brash, but when you carry it to the limit he did, it�s wrong. There shouldn�t be a problem with a wrestler running around the ring after a match. Or doing a little dance. Or pointing to his fans. Or jumping into the arms of his coach or teammates. Those are all acts of spontaneous celebration. Let the kid have some fun. But it�s wrong to get into an opponent�s face and grin ear to ear. It�s wrong to stick your tongue out. It�s wrong to verbally assail your opponent. Chet McBee appeared to do all of those things � I can�t tell you what he said during the heat of battle, but his mouth was moving � and all of those things are taunting. He said afterward that it�s his style to be emotional, and that�s how he wrestles best. The problem was, young McBee crossed the line between being emotional and being disrespectful. I don�t believe there was a single unbiased fan in the gym that night � those who had no ties to Eagle Point, Phoenix or Crater � who would disagree. Lost in all the commotion Saturday was the relatively calm demeanor of Sousa. Sousa, you might recall, is the Phoenix wrestler whose mother died three days after the Skyline Conference district meet last February. He somehow gathered the will to grapple at the Class 3A state meet the following weekend, and finished runner-up in his weight class. Sousa was obviously unhappy with McBee Saturday, but, curiously, not as perturbed as the Phoenix fans. "They say you learn more from a loss than a win," he said. "Other than that other match (against McBee), I really haven�t been tested much." Because Sousa and McBee don�t wrestle in the same district, they won�t be seeing one another again this season. "Maybe I�ll meet up with him in college," Sousa said. "I�d like that." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.