Hackman humbled by hall of fame induction
Ken Hackman was just minding his own business in high school. All of a sudden, he was in love.
Hackman, a lifelong resident of Derry who didn't worry much about playing sports, found himself practically married to the sport of wrestling after never previously giving it a thought.
Today, as he reflects on a career that includes a 95-23 record in three seasons at Derry Area High School, a respectable 15-13 showing as a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh and a 101-10 mark in three years at California University of Pennsylvania, he says it is difficult to imagine that he has earned a spot in the NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame.
"It's weird. I'm a little bit overwhelmed by it," said Hackman, 36, a technology education teacher at Derry Area High School.
Hackman is one of five individuals selected by the NCAA Division II Coaches Association to be inducted into the hall. Ceremonies will be held Thursday in Wheeling, W.Va.
The others being inducted are former standout wrestlers Stan Dziedzic of Slippery Rock University and Jeff Esmont of Ashland (Ohio) University, and present coaches Pat Pecora of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and Vince Monseau of West Liberty State (W.Va.) College.
Dziedzic wrestled at Slippery Rock from 1968 to 1972, compiling a record of 118-2, and Esmont at Ashland from 1978 to 1982, finishing with a combined 116-15 mark. Since 1976, Pecora has led Pitt-Johnstown to national prominence, with his 1996 and 1999 teams winning national championships. Monseau has coached at West Liberty State since 1973, and his 1995 team finished as NAIA national runner-up, shortly before the school joined the NCAA level.
Just as his induction into the hall, Hackman's introduction to the mats was unexpected.
"In my home room (at Derry Area), our seats were arranged in alphabetical order, by last name," Hackman said.
"A lot of my friends were into wrestling, and they were telling me what weight class they needed." They were relentless, so, I just decided to try the sport.
"I can remember the guy who was pushing me the hardest to go out for the team. When I got to practice, he proceeded to beat me out. But it really didn't get me down. Hey, I was the new guy. I fell in love with it," he said.
Hackman, despite possessing little experience in the sport, placed third at 184 pounds at the 1984 PIAA Class AAA in Hershey as a senior at Derry Area. That summer, he won the Pennsylvania Freestyle Championship at 191.5 pounds and placed sixth at the Junior National Freestyle Tournament.
He enrolled at Pitt and made the starting lineup as a freshman, putting together a winning record and placing fourth in the Eastern Wrestling League at 190 pounds. Amateur Wrestling News magazine ranked him as the fourth-best freshman wrestler in the nation.
But he was unable to find the academic courses he wanted and wound up transferring to California.
"I was thinking about teaching when I got out of school, and it seemed like the one thing I wanted to do (technology education), they didn't offer," he said of Pitt.
Hackman had to sit out one year at California because of a transfer rule, and then had to join the team as a walk-on. He insists he didn't mind, though.
"I didn't get any money. I was wrestling for fun. There wasn't much money for them to offer and I wanted them to get other recruits, so I just told them not to worry about it," he said.
Over the next three years, Hackman mowed down most of his opponents. He was 21-6 as a sophomore, placing second at the Division II meet and eighth at the Division I meet. He posted identical marks of 40-2 in his junior and senior seasons, when he captured Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships and Division II national titles while acting as California's team captain. He was also named the squad's most valuable wrestler those two years.
His two national titles were enough to get his name inscribed in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. He's been there to see it for himself.
"All national champions are listed," he said.
California, which dropped its wrestling program several years after Hackman graduated, enjoyed its highest national rankings during Hackman's time there, finishing No. 11, No. 13 and No. 7 in succession.
Following his graduation from California in 1989, Hackman accepted a teaching position at Derry Area. He also served as the head wrestling coach for seven years.
During the 1998-99 season, the school produced its first PIAA Class AAA champion, Mike May, at 119 pounds, and the next season, Hackman was named Pennsylvania Section I coach of the year after the Trojans posted a 15-0 regular-season dual-meet record.
"When I began to coach, I thought a lot about what makes a good wrestler," Hackman said. "What seems to strike me is that it was harder work than you would imagine, but it never dawned on me or appeared to be work. It was probably the success in wrestling that made me feel that I had potential in everything else I wanted to do."
Hackman paused long enough to further reflect on his accomplishments before continuing.
"I was looking for an education," he said, "because I knew it would lead to something. But at the same time, I was just doing the wrestling for fun. I never got injured seriously. I don't have any long-lasting effects. I got lucky. I was just a kid playing a game. It's sort of weird that wrestling is something that I didn't even push for but I still got a lot out of it."
