Like a circus, wrestling directs your attention to one, two, four, or more rings with participants in the center, officials and coaches directing the action. . . .and a small army of contributors that make the spectacle go. While they often come in husband-and-wife pairs, our volunteer honorees this year are a brother-sister team from Roanoke, Joyce and Jeff Edmondson.

Jeff posted an excellent record as a two-time state qualifier for Northside High School, graduating in 1977. A loyal Viking, he returned to his school as an assistant coach for the upper weights. During this time, he also built a durable career working for the railroad.

There was a hiatus for both Jeff and Joyce when they stepped back in the late 1980s to take care of their parents, while both working full time, but they rejoined their sport in the 1990s.

Not surprisingly, Jeff and his wife Sheila produced a wrestling family as son Jason and daughter Heather, a pioneering female participant, both wrestled for Northside.

Jeff’s favorite title seems to be assistant director. He likes to sweat the details, not only the familiar ones, like working the table, but also being responsible for not only lining up workers but also training them.

His list accomplishments is breathtaking, including 15 tournaments, often held for several years, from youth through high school. In 2023-24, Edmondson directed four in-season tournaments, two district tournaments, and a regional tournament.

He has proven invaluable in grunt work, borrowing mats and handling the full cycle of loading, transporting, unloading, setting up, rolling them back up, and doing it all again to return them. After recent heart surgery, he might have slowed down a bit on the late-night lifting and stowing, but he sees to it that the job gets done.

He is a fixture at the Virginia High School League state tournaments that are held in the Roanoke-Salem area, marking his 30th event in 2025.

College wrestling and beyond have also not lacked for his attention. He has run multiple tournaments, including the NCAA Division III Nationals when hosted at Ferrum College, the Hokie Open, and a tournament hosted by the Southeast Regional Training Center, a world-class wrestling organization.

Like his sister, Jeff represents his sport at the administrative level, serving as president or co-president, with Joyce, of the Roanoke Valley Wrestling Association since 2000. His grateful peers inducted him into the RVWA Hall of Fame in 2008.

After being presented his Lifetime Service to Wrestling award, Jeff will return to Roanoke and continue his busy rounds of good works while coming to every Northside match to run a table, just as he did as a teenager.