08/12/2026
The Stucker Stories
August 2026
THE CITY LEAGUE: Rising from the Ashes
Written by Hall of Fame Coach Mike Henry
Workouts will soon be getting underway for the 2026 Shawnee City Wrestling League. This activity has a long and storied tradition that has produced some of the program's top competitors.
While the achievements of former Wolves head coach Mark Leen are well documented, many are unaware that he was the creator of the original blueprint for the City League in the spring of 1982.
Even though he had a plan in mind to build a program in Shawnee when he was named as the program's head coach in 1979, it didn't originally include the City League.
During the 1981-82 season, Mark had been revisiting his childhood days as a youth growing up in the wrestling rich community of Blackwell. During that time, the grappling mecca sponsored an all-city elementary wrestling league where local grade school youngsters were divided into teams. They wrestled duals and concluded with a season ending tournament.
It was run by Tommy Chesbro who, before his own Hall of Fame tenure began at Oklahoma State in 1970, was the head coach at Blackwell High School. The concept was a tremendous success for exposing youngsters to wrestling who might otherwise never have had an opportunity to get on the mat.
One of those who took part was local product Mark Leen. When he became the head coach of the Wolves, he remembered how several kids got their start in Blackwell's city league and thought,
" Why not Shawnee ? "
The six week program was open to 4th-5th & 6th grade boys which drew over 120 participants in its first year. Each school at the time (Acme, Franklin, Grove, Horace Mann, Pleasant Grove, Sequoyah, South Rock Creek, Washington, Will Rogers, and Wilson) had a team and everyone who finished the abbreviated schedule received a free t-shirt. There was a tournament with a team championship trophy and medals for the top 4 individual placewinners at each weight. Dual meets were held on Friday evenings in March and April at the Union Street Fieldhouse.
The goal was to make it as competitive between the schools as the community's most popular elementary event, the Little Olympics. But its primary objective was to introduce those who had never experienced taking part in the world's oldest sport. All expenses were incurred by the Takedown Club with no out of pocket costs to participants and their parents.
Leen could never have believed how quickly his new activity would pay dividends for the Wolves. Among that first group in 1982, were two future high school state champions, Juan York and Darrien Gordon, who got their start in that inaugural campaign.
Many members of the 1986 and 1988 state championship squads got their starts in Leen's original City League.
Unfortunately, due to a shortage of coaching personnel, the activity was suspended in 1987. For the next 11 years, the successful endeavor was in a coma...however, it never died ! When Jeff Chamblin and Larry James arrived in 1998 to revive Shawnee's mat fortunes, one of the first things that they addressed was the reincarnation of the City League.
Coach James had taken part in that first City League in 1982 and was a champion for Sequoyah. Ironically, his coach that season was Mark Leen who was eventually one of his school coaches. Upon his return, Larry would now become part of the new group that would attempt to revive the once successful program.
It didn't take long for the newly installed coaching ensamble to produce some healthy fruit. James, the head junior high coach, visited each of the town's elementary schools and quickly discovered that certain aspects of the community had scarcely changed since the days of his own participation nearly two decades earlier. There were a number of athletes in town but only a limited number with any mat experience. That changed quickly as he recruited three of Shawnee's best young competitors in Eugene Young (Horace Mann), Gary Frazier (Horace Mann) , and Wesley Grant (Jefferson).
Dr.Young, who today is a business professor at the University of Oklahoma, said of his own experiences years afterward of wrestling while growing up in poverty, " We (along with teammates Grant and Frazier) stuck with it (wrestling) because it was free. There was no way that we could even afford twenty bucks." Each of them went on to become a state champion in high school.
The three young amigos helped bring Shawnee Wrestling back to the level where they had resided during the '80s with top five state team finishes which became possible with the return of the City League. Since its restoration in 1999, the League has continued to play a non-stop role in the success of the program.
Another well known local also got his start in the City League at about that time and later placed at high school state before becoming the Wolves head coach. Early on, Andrew McCune, learned about the sport as a member of the Sequoyah team.
Philosopher Michael B. Johnson once said, “On your way to greatness, you will fall, but like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, you too shall rise again.”
For more information on this year's City League, contact Coach Andrew McCune at the Shawnee High School 405-275-3084
[email protected]
By the way, the City League, along with the high school and junior high teams will be moving into the new Stucker Wrestling Complex (below) next season. Details will be forthcoming.
