By Seth Schmidt
Times have changed a wee bit since a Tracy-based wrestling team last earned a state tournament trophy.
When the Tracy Scrappers were state wrestling runner-ups in 1962, their hometown didn’t have dial-up telephone service. Calling someone required picking up the receiver, and asking a telephone switchboard operator working downtown to place the call. The wall-mounted or desktop telephone didn’t have a dial or buttons with numbers.
This past week, a wrestler from that 1962 Tracy squad, used a palm-sized smart phone to follow Panther wrestlers in the state tournament over social media from home in Trinidad, Texas.
“I watched the team bus follow the fire trucks out of town last week on Facebook,” said Dean Jensen, the Scrappers’ 127-pounder in 1962.
Now a retired accountant, Jensen is thrilled about the Panther wrestlers success this year.
“I want to congratulate all of them for how well they’ve done,” Jensen said.
Jim Keul, the 138-pounder for the ’62 Scrappers, adds his kudos.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.