North Mason dedicates wrestling center

North Mason’s wrestling gym was renamed the Amick Wrestling Center at a ceremony Saturday at North Mason High School in Belfair.

According to organizer Milo Smith, about 200 people attended the ceremony, including a dozen from the wrestling team’s beginnings in the 1960s. Three of the four state champions under former coach Ed Amick were there, and the fourth had to work but called in to show his support.

“I would like to thank the Bulldog boosters for their help with this and Superintendent Dana Rosenbach and the North Mason School Board for making this happen, as well as all the Bulldog alumni who made this happen,” Smith wrote to the Journal in a text message.

Amick was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a lifetime of service to wrestling in Washington. He coached North Mason wrestling for 42 years from 1964 to 2006, compiling a record of 409-179-4. North Mason was a state participant for 36 years in a row during that span, with more than 100 wrestlers competing in the state tournament. Four wrestlers became state champions.

A GoFundMe for the Amick dedication will go toward purchasing two wrestling mats with Amick Wrestling Center printed on the corner. It will also pay for signs on the east addition of the community gym inside and outside, and a trophy case for Amick’s Wrestling Coach of the Year awards.

To donate, go to http://www.gofundme.com/f/d-amick-wrestling-center.