Hall of Fame News and Sentinel I - Tyler Westbrook

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MOV trio set to join National Wrestling Hall of Fame
September 18, 2021 Parkersburg News and Sentinel
By Jay Bennett, at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

PARKERSBURG — A trio of locals from the Mid-Ohio Valley will be inducted into the West Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame during a Halloween afternoon banquet at the Embassy Suites in Charleston.

Tyler Westbrook, a 2002 graduate of Williamstown High School who died in 2015, will be honored posthumously with the “Outstanding American” award. Joining him as “Lifetime Service to Wrestling” honorees will be his former Yellowjacket coach Jeff Givens as well as longtime area coach and official Dean Moore.

“I’m going to accept the award for him,” said Tyler’s brother Will. “It was pretty cool. It’s a big honor. Jeff was our assistant coach and Dean Moore we knew from wrestling through peewee and everything. I got to set up a display for him down in Charleston.”

After finishing his career with a 116-27 record, which included being a state runner-up at 140 as a junior as well as winning a state championship at 152 pounds as a senior when he went 45-4, Tyler then earned his degree in sports management at West Virginia University. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2006 and then enlisted in the U.S. Army the following year.

Tyler, a heavily decorated soldier who was a Green Beret and also excelled as a sniper, served two tours in Iraq. He also was in Africa and was deployed thrice to Germany.

“It’s actually kind of strange. Jeff Givens was actually my third (state champ). He dates clear back to the beginning and Tyler was my last act as wrestling coach,” said former Williamstown head man Bob Pickens. “Tough, tough young man. I know his mother told me when I had the other two boys, and they were older, you wait until you get Tyler. He’s different. He’s really tough and I thought all those boys were tough.

“His mom told me that and as it turned out that was true. When I use the term tough, not just a tough young man, but a mentally tough young man. He was a very tough young man and a good leader. He was focused on everything he did. I’m talking about his grades in school and going through the training he did in the military. You have to be totally focused.”

Coach Pickens, who was inducted into the W.Va. Chapter in 2004 and will watch the area trio be recognized permanently at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma, said he was blessed to coach the Westbrook brothers.

“He was just a great young man to work with. His brothers and his family were always there, always behind him,” coach Pickens added. “He was just a very good young man to have as part of my program. Whenever I had to step out of the room or was going to be a little late going to practice, by the time I got up there he already had them warmed up, ready to go and lined up in their spots.

“The only discipline that needed to be done was taken care of before I got there. He was a fine young man for me to be able to look back, and I’m glad to say that his state finals match was the last match I coached as a wrestling coach.”

The Sunday, Oct. 31 banquet will start with a social hour at 1 p.m. with dinner following at 1:45 p.m.

Cost to attend the ceremony is $55 and more information can be found online at http://wvmat.com/hallfame/hfreg21.pdf

Full Article: https://www.newsandsentinel.com/sports/ ... l-of-fame/