Trying to Save Piggy Sneed (14 page)

I had spent so many hours of my life at wrestling tournaments, and so many more hours in wrestling rooms. After Exeter and Pittsburgh and Iowa and Windham, there were the hours in the wrestling room at Amherst College and at the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School — and at Harvard, at the New York Athletic Club, at Northfield Mount Her-mon, and at Vermont Academy, too. It was the perfect closure … that it should end at Exeter, where it began. I knew I would still be a visitor to the occasional wrestling room, and that I would still put on the shoes — if only to roll around on the mat with Colin or Brendan, or with another old ex-wrestler of my generation — but my life in wrestling effectively ended there.

The Phillips Exeter Academy wrestling team, 1961—Captain John Irving (front row, center). Irving's regular workout partners were Mike McClave (front row, second from right) and AI Keck (front row, second from left). Larry Palmer, who ate the famous half-pound piece of toast, is seated to Irving's right. The man in the coat and tie is Coach Ted Seabrooke. P
HOTO: ‘61 PEAN

John Irving (on top) at 133 pounds in ‘61. Despite two undefeated dual-meet seasons, he never won a New England title. P
HOTO: ‘61
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Larry Palmer (on top) at 121 pounds in '61 —he failed to make weight at the New England Interscholastic tournament that year. In '62, six inches taller and 26 pounds heavier, Palmer won the New England Class A title at 147 pounds. (Larrry Palmer is now Professer of Law at Cornell Law School.) P
HOTO: '61 PEAN

Ted Seabrooke coaching 137-pounder Al Keck in ‘61. The fans are draped on the rails of the overhanging wooden track that circumscribed “the pit” at Exeter. P
HOTO: ‘61
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EAN

Cliff Gallagher coaching in the Exeter wrestling room in 1966. It must be before practice, because the door to the wrestling room is partially open and there are so few bodies rolling around; Cliff always came to practice early. The boy sitting on the mat must be a first-year wrestler— he's not wearing wrestling shoes. P
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In the University of Iowa wrestling room, 1973: Dan Gable catches John Irving with a foot-sweep. P
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Irving's son Colin, a 1983 prep-school All-American for Northfield Mt. Hermon at 152 pounds— Colin was also the 160-pound New England Class A Champion in ‘83. P
HOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN

Colin Irving completing an upper-body throw in the ‘83 New England Class A finals. Both the referee and the mat judge (upper left) are anticipating the pin. P
HOTO: C.F.N.I.

Colin driving his Exeter opponent's shoulders to the mat in the 160-pound finals. P
HOTO: C.F.N.I.

A legal headlock: the head encircled with an arm contained—in this case, Colin has his opponent's head and
both
his arms contained. Colin's pin in the finals at 1:45 of the first period won him the Ted Seabrooke Memorial Trophy for the Outstanding Wrestler in the ‘83 New England Class A tournament. P
HOTO: C.F.N.I.

Summer '84 brothers—Colin with Brendan in Bridgehampton, New York. Colin is 19, and at his heaviest—about 195 pounds. Brendan is 14; he weighs about 105 pounds. P
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