After our nationally acclaimed senior wrestler George DiCamillo put together his record second consecutive undefeated state-championship season (see the story below), the corner decided to get a reaction from Mike Buddie of the Class of 1989, who is currently an Associate Athletic Director and Administrator at Wake Forest University.

One of the greatest wrestlers in Saint Ignatius' rich athletic history and easily one of the top five all-around athletes (wrestling, football and baseball) ever to graduate from the Jesuit Preparatory School, Mike went undefeated as a state champ at 189 pounds during his senior season and lost just one match as a junior, when the Wildcats won Ohio's big-school state team championship. Mike was also a state champ as a junior at 171 pounds and en route to that 171-pound title he pinned the wrestler who had defeated him during the regular season.

Mike, who also helped lead the Wildcats to their first of a record 11 state football championships as an All-Ohio wide receiver and punter during the fall of 1988, went on to pitch in the Major Leagues for the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers. On a side note to baseball, Mike also hit the big screen with a role in the Kevin Costner movie "For Love of the Game." Costner played a Detroit Tigers pitcher named Billy Chapel and Mike played the opposing New York Yankees pitcher.

I had the privilege and pleasure to cover Mike throughout his career at Saint Ignatius and the honor to do the story in The Plain Dealer on Mike when he signed with the Yankees.

Here are Mike's comments on George's incredible accomplishments. I wanted to share them with George, his family, Coach Mark Sullivan's program and the entire Saint Ignatius family.

Eddie - It's great to hear from you, especially under this circumstance. I have enjoyed watching George's journey to two consecutive state championships.

It has not been as fun having to read about the dominance of St. Eds- but still very encouraged to read about George.

I am excited to see that he will be joining the ACC next year by enrolling at Virginia. A great choice of schools, and I hope to be able to see him in action, even though Wake Forest doesn't sponsor wrestling. I am also glad to hear your 'take' on George as a person, sounds like a true "Man for Others".

I have thoroughly enjoyed tracking George's success over the past two years. To be able to go two full seasons in Ohio without losing a match is an incredible feat. As someone who is well aware of the level of commitment and sacrifice that it takes to be successful in the sport of wrestling, what George has accomplished is quite amazing.

As a Saint Ignatius Alum, it makes me very proud to see that Blue and Gold standing on the trophy platform. Several people in the area have told me that George is a great representative of the school, a hard-working, personable, selfless teammate, which makes me proud to have him be such a high profile student-athlete. That type of person tends to do well in life well beyond their years on the mat.

I regret not having the chance to watch George wrestle live over his dominant HS career, but I know that he is headed for even brighter lights at the collegiate level, and look forward to watching him progress at UVA over the next four years.

Saint Ignatius wrestling is a brotherhood, and it makes me very proud that a young man of George's stature was able to rise to the occasion of defending his title, and to do so without losing a match is incredibly impressive.

It is a great time to be a Wildcat wrestler, the new wrestling facility project will hopefully allow our program to compete for the team title in the future as well as provide the team with a state-of-the-art training facility to pursue their dreams.

Hope all is well with you Eddie- always great to hear from you!

Mike