NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME - GEORGIA CHAPTER - CLASS OF 2024

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma is pleased to announce the Class of 2024 to be inducted by the Hall of Fame in the state of Georgia. The Georgia Chapter induction will be held on Sunday, April 21, 2024 at the Venue at Friendship Springs in Flowery Branch, Georgia. Seven Individuals will be inducted as part of the class of 2024. All will be inducted as "Lifetime Service to Wrestling" recipients in recognition of their years of service to the sport of wrestling as a coach, referee or contributor.

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The Georgia Chapter Inductees into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame are as follows:

Jeff Carman - (McDonough, GA) - Throughout his 37 years of service to Georgia wrestling, he has proved to be outstanding as a mat official and a key figure in local and state wrestling circles. He served the Georgia Wrestling Officials Association as either treasurer or president for 26 seasons while being a mainstay at USA, local, area, sectional and state level tournaments. Recognized as the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association's (GACA) Official-of-the-Year, he has also named the Atlanta Takedown Association's (ATA) Volunteer-of-the Year for his longtime service at the GHSA state tournament.

José Helena - (Decatur, GA) - A fixture in a coaching chair in the east Atlanta and Gwinnett County areas since 1989, José has been a driving force in sustaining wrestling in DeKalb County high schools. Recognized by the National Wrestling Coaches Association for garnering over 500 career coaching victories, he has coached teams to numerous county/area titles and led numerous individuals to state championships and places. He served as an international wrestling ambassador through sponsorship of field trips to the Dominican Republic, even starting a club (Lucha Olpimpia) in Monte Cristo, DO.

Marianne Hennebaul - (Braselton, GA) - A dedicated behind the scenes wrestling contributor in both Pennsylvania (Lake Lehman HS) and Georgia (Parkview and North Gwinnett HS) she has filled the gamut of roles in the wrestling community for over 55 years. That includes coach's wife, wrestler's mom, team bus driver, booster club officer and fundraising coordinator, youth and high school tournament director, and tournament concession manager. A longtime member of the Atlanta Takedown Association, she has coordinated hospitality at the GHSA state tournament for the past 23 years.

Sean Moistner - (Douglasville, GA) - After a stellar competitive collegiate career, Sean has had outstanding success coaching at the high school level with stints at Perry, East Paulding, North Cobb, Alexander and, currently, Temple. With over 532 career coaching wins in his 29 seasons, he has guided squads to two GHSA state traditional and one dual meet championships and 18 county titles. His commitment to wrestling and student-athletes is evident through his 27 years of service as leader of Georgia's USA Wrestling program, coaching wrestlers from across the state to success at the cadet and junior national levels.

Pete Murphy - (Marietta, GA) - After six years as an assistant coach at Lassiter and Walton High Schools, Pete led the Walton HS program to new heights in his 24 seasons at the helm. With 9 consecutive seasons with top ten finishes in Georgia's always tough largest classification, his teams also garnered three state runner-up finishes while winning three area titles. He coached ten GHSA individual state champions, 18 runners-up and 30 Cobb County champions. A Cobb County Wrestling HOF inductee, Pete founded/hosted the Walton Duals, a premier dual meet event, and the annual Jr. Raider USA Wrestling tourney.

Randy Steward - (Plainville, GA) - Amassing 41 years of service to wrestling, Randy is currently in his 8th season as coach at Sonoraville HS, where he has led his squad to three GHSA traditional titles. Prior to "moving south", he served as head coach/asst. professor at the college level for 25 years with two at Ellsworth Community College and 23 at Loras College in Iowa, where he coached six NCAA D3 national champions and 56 D3 All-Americans. The NWCA D3 Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee is a highly sought after clinician and camp instructor across the country.

Ed Wright - (Dawsonville, GA) - This southern California native and decorated/retired US Army officer has spent 55 seasons as a head/assistant coach at the high school level. After serving for nine seasons as a head coach mentoring some of California's best, his profession life led him to the metro Atlanta area where he has spent the past 46 years serving as a highly regarded assistant coach with stops at several schools in metro/north Georgia, including the past eight seasons at Lumpkin County HS. In addition, Ed also served for five years as an outstanding mat official for the Georgia High School Association.

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Its goals are to preserve the sport of wrestling's history, recognize extraordinary individual accomplishment's and inspire future generations to participate in the oldest sport known to man. Full bios and event/ticket information for the Georgia Chapter induction will be posted and made available at a future date.