STILLWATER, Okla. – Eight contributors to the sport of wrestling will be honored Sunday, Oct. 10, by the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Darryl Clark, Roger Frizzell, Don Gray, Bobby Jefferson, Allan Long, Ed Sheakley, Jim Shields, and Shirley Walton will be honored with a banquet and induction ceremony in Oklahoma City at the Jim Thorpe Museum. A cocktail hour will begin at 3 p.m. with dinner and the ceremony to follow at 4 p.m.
Reservations are $45 per person and are available online at www.nwhof-ok.ticketleap.com and are being accepted at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater.

Six of these honorees will be inducted with Lifetime Service to Wrestling Awards, an honor given annually to those coaches, officials and contributors who have given a minimum of 20 years of service to the sport of wrestling, to their communities, and most importantly, to the young people they have coached, taught and inspired.

Darryl Clark will be inducted as the Medal of Courage recipient, someone who has overcome what appear to be insurmountable challenges, which may be physical, mental or other disabilities that make their achievement all the more uplifting.

Roger Frizzell will be inducted as an Outstanding American, someone with a wrestling background that has excelled in other walks of life.

Don Gray has officiated tournaments across the state including more than 20 high school state tournaments and 21 regional tournaments. Gray officiated mostly for the larger schools in the state including Geary, Yukon, PC North, Lawton Ike and MacArthur. He also refereed for several schools at the 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A divisions. Gray also served as head official and assigning coordinator for Youth League Sports. He retired from his officiating career in 1996 to pursue work as a realtor.

"If given a choice, I would work wrestling again because I ended up enjoying the coaches and the participants," said Gray.

Bobby Jefferson began coaching at Muskogee High School in 1979 and continues to this day. He has amassed a career record of 288 dual meet wins as he enters his 30th year as Head Coach and Athletic Director for the Roughers. He has led his team to 15 district titles and four final four state tournament finishes. In 2010, the Roughers had a perfect 12-0 dual record and became state champions. Jefferson was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association Oklahoma Coach of the Year, the Oklahoma Officials Coach of the Year and the 6A Head Coach of the Year in 2010.

Allan Long coached for 26 years at Geary High School. During that time, Long coached eight state champions, eight Geary Tournament champions, and led the Bisons to a second place finish at the prestigious Geary Tournament. Long was nominated for the National High School Wrestling Coach Hall of Fame in 1973 and was honored as the National High School Wrestling Coach of the Year in 1975. He also served as President of the Oklahoma Wrestling Coaches Association in 1963 and '64. Long retired from coaching in 1975 and currently supports the Geary Chamber of Commerce and Geary schools.

Ed Sheakley started coaching in Iowa in 1979, but moved to Oklahoma to coach for Madill High School in 1982. At Madill, Sheakley led the school to a fourth place finish in the state in 1985 and coached two three-time state individual champions. In 1986, Sheakley moved on to coach at Clinton High where he coached until his coaching retirement in 1990. He was honored with the Region I Wrestling Coach of the Year in 1988 and was selected to the All-State Wrestling Selection Committee in 1988 and '90. Sheakley also served as the State Director of Oklahoma High School Wrestling for 17 years. During that time he implemented the Oklahoma High School Weight Management Program for wrestlers. Today, he leads the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association as it's Executive Secretary.

While Jim Shields did not win every match in high school, he went on to become a great wrestler and coach for the sport. Wrestling under Tommy Chesbro at Oklahoma State University, Shields took the Heavyweight spot and the team earned the Big 8 Conference title, and the 1971 NCAA Team Championship. He has coached high school wrestling in Kentucky, Oklahoma and California. He led East Central, Catoosa, and Bishop Kelley High School's to a number of State team titles. His success in the high school arena eventually led him to join Joe Seay's staff at OSU from 1988-'91. During his time there, the team won two NCAA championships and two NCAA runner-up finishes. Shields now coaches as an assistant for Jenks High School wrestling team and continues to advance his successful coaching career.

Since 1975, Shirley Walton has been involved with wrestling. Her passion for the sport came about when she started supporting the Oklahoma City Athletic Club. She, then, utilized her skills and abilities to help with AAU registrations in 1978. In 1988, Walton continued giving back to the sport by becoming a registered Pairer with USA Wrestling. She was awarded the Ivan Olsen Award in 1990 for her pairing abilities and in 2006, was named the Pairing Official of the Year. She has served as the Oklahoma Pairings Director, participated with the Bomber Mat Club, and continues to assist with the Oklahoma Open Tournament held annually in Norman, Oklahoma.

Darryl Clark will be given the Medal of Courage award for overcoming the challenge of balancing his epilepsy with his wrestling career. But Clark did not let his seizures keep him from being a winner. In junior high, Clark was an Oklahoma Junior High All-State Champion, a Junior High State Champion, and was a Tulsa National Champion. Still unable to control the seizures with medication, Clark managed a 34-2 senior high school record and became a state champion at 157 lbs in 1984. In that same year, he made the All-State Wrestling Team and the Gatorade All American Team and became an All-State champion.

Roger Frizzell will be honored as an Outstanding American. As an athlete, he was a two-time High School State Champion for Midwest City High School, and went on to become a four-time NCAA Wrestling All American (1980-'83) for the University of Oklahoma. He was a national AAU freestyle champion and earned a silver and bronze medal in the US Senior Freestyle National Championships. Today, Frizzell is the Chief Communications Officer and Vice President of Corporate Communications for American Airlines. He has been awarded more than 200 industry awards for excellence during his career, including the nation Effie Award for advertising effectiveness and the Silver Spur by the Public Relations Society of America for the top PR campaign of the year. Frizzell still continues to support wrestling by serving as a volunteer coach and clinician.

"Wrestling provides us with a foundation that serves us well throughout our lives," said Frizzell. "The lessons we learn about determination, commitment, hard work, discipline and goal setting are the very same principles that provide a framework for success in business and in other areas of life."

For more information on the honorees or to purchase tickets for the banquet, contact Victoria Stuettgen at the NWHOF by phone at (405) 377-5243 or email at info@wrestlinghalloffame.org.

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