John Bennett, left, and Bernie Nasser, who have been both inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, stand in front of the state chapter kiosk at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma earlier this year. (Photo courtesy Bernie Nasser)
Every three years, the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame inducts deserving men and women who have helped the sport of wrestling prosper and grow in Connecticut into the chapter.
It’s part of the state chapter program established in 1993 by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum to honor and recognize those coaches, officials and contributors who represent the best qualities of what the sport of wrestling has to offer.
Nearly 600 men and women attended the most recent Connecticut Chapter induction ceremony at Foxwoods in April with another six individuals being honored. An additional 44 men have been honored by the chapter beginning in 2003.
Each Hall of Fame member honored by the Connecticut Chapter and other chapters around the country can be accessed at a computer kiosk at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Two Hall of Fame members from the Connecticut Chapter – Bernie Nasser and John Bennett — traveled to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Oklahoma earlier this year.
It started as a 70th birthday present for Nasser from his sons. The trip was postponed in 2020 thanks to knee replacement surgery for Nasser and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 kept the party home.
But this year, everything fell into place. Nasser’s two sons – Bernie, Jr., and Danny – coordinated the trip. Both wrestled in high school at Fitch. Also on the trip was Dave Laffargue, a 1975 Fitch High graduate and a former assistant coach at Ledyard under Lou Gabordi.
Keith Hall, who won a CIAC District 3 championship in 1975 under Nasser’s coaching, attended along with Hall’s son, Justin, a two-time placewinner in Kansas where the Hall family lives today.
Ricky Hauser, a 1977 graduate of Fitch and a three-sport athlete, joined the tour. Hauser, who played on Fitch’s 1976 state championship football team and was a state placewinner on the mat, lives in Oklahoma City.
Bennett attended along with his daughter, Vicky Bryka and grandson, Raylan.
The group received a tour from Lee Roy Smith, executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Jack Carnefix, the Operations Manager of the HOF. They also visited Gallagher-Iba Arena, home of the nationally-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team.
The group got to attend a OSU wrestling practice, met the Cowboys’ Hall of Fame coach John Smith, who has led OSU to five NCAA championships since taking over as head coach in 1992, and watched practice for an hour.
The next day, the group saw Oklahoma State, ranked No. 3 in the country on that evening. wrestle at the Gallagher-Iba Arena and saw the Cowboys get upset by Northern Iowa, 19-15 in front of 4,300 fans. The defeat snapped a 26-match home winning streak for OSU, dating back to 2018.
“It was an absolutely amazing experience,” Bernie Nasser said of the overall trip. “It was awesome.”
