"Lifetime Service to Wrestling" comes in many flavors. Most fall in love with the sport as competitors; many wind up as coaches, or excel as officials and contributors, but Ed Metzger is exceptional among Virginia Hall of Famers as a superlative athletic trainer, known and seen everywhere in Virginia and around the world. Coaches have long praised his innovative technique for healing that notorious wrestling injury, the "cauliflower" ear, by draining and then packing with a polyvinyl substance, producing far better results than previous methods. Edward Metzger, born April 20, 1952 in Dothan, AL, moved to Long Island, NY shortly after. Introduced to wrestling by his dad and his uncle John, he began with limited success in seventh grade: one win, eight losses. "Good thing I won the last match of the season; I probably would have quit. Things got better." At Springfield College (MA), he earned a P.E. degree and made his mark in college wrestling, winning a New England championship in 1973 before his career was shortened by injury. He qualified for an invitation to the 1972 Olympic Trials at Anoka, MN, though he found himself in Dan Gable's weight class. Graduating in 1976, he put on his coaching hat, assisting at Sayville HS for eight years under Bill Fitzgerald. Coach Metzger would also officiate for Suffolk County for six years. Having enjoyed wrestling, coaching, and officiating, Ed went in a new direction: he entered the University of Florida to earn his athletic training certification. By 1993, he had moved to Richmond, quickly becoming the premier athletic trainer in the state for wrestling. Just a bare listing of his commitments from local to international leaves one breathless: athletic training coverage over the years for Chesterfield/Hopewell Youth Wrestling; coverage in every big-school state tournament (except one) since 1993; 26 trips to Fargo, ND with VA USA Wrestling teams; and a high-profile post as athletic trainer for the Senior Teams of USA Wrestling, which included such luminaries as Kyle Snyder and Rulon Gardner and trips to more than a dozen countries across Europe, Asia, and South America. During these 26 years, he couldn't stay away from coaching--24 years in the wrestling rooms of Cosby and Clover Hill High Schools, along with 10 years of youth wrestling.