The Little Falls wrestling program boasts a storied history filled with dedicated coaches, talented athletes, and remarkable achievements. From individual accolades to team championships, the program has left an indelible mark on the sport. This article explores the key figures, defining moments, and the enduring legacy of Little Falls wrestling.
The Passing of a Leader: Remembering Coach Simon Waltman
The Little Falls wrestling community experienced a profound loss with the passing of head coach Simon Waltman at the age of 46. Ballou, a 1996 Little Falls graduate and assistant wrestling coach, learned of his friend and Flyers head coach Simon Waltman's passing.
Ballou, who coached with Waltman for 10 years, was later named Waltman’s replacement as head coach. “It was really emotional. I still have a hard time talking about it,” Ballou said. “Within 10 minutes I had 20 phone calls. Once our (activities director) Kevin Jordan called, that's when I knew it was real. Thankfully, most of the kids knew before I did, so not having to break it to them was good for me. But it was a hard week for everyone. It’s one of those things that’s just unfair.”
Ballou called Waltman a leader not just in the wrestling room, but in the school, where he taught math at Little Falls High School. “We played baseball together. We wrestled together. We wrestled on the same state tournament team,” Ballou said. “We went to the same community college for a year. I’ve known him since I was 10, 11 years old. His passing just wasn’t fair. His main sport wasn’t even wrestling, it was baseball.”
Little Falls senior captain Beau Robinson saw Waltman a day before his passing. “I remember watching (Waltman) wrestle around with Gabe and not even thinking anything like that. He was totally fine,” Robinson said. “Then the next day I went to the hospital to get my knee checked out and I was getting messages from students in my class that weren’t even wrestlers saying something about it. It caught me off guard. I was at a loss for words.” Robinson cried for a few hours.
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Junior captain Ivan Petrich remembers meeting with the team the day of Waltman’s passing. “We came up with a plan to support Waltman’s family moving forward,” Petrich said. “There was just a lot of sadness.
Little Falls’ first match was a home triangular Dec. 5 with Alexandria and Moorhead. “Simon’s wife brought the shoes and we put them on a chair and boy did the kids really perform well,” Ballou said. “There have been a few times even in the wrestling room if the kids are getting out of line the first thing I’ll say is ‘would coach Waltman…’ and they straighten up right away. The kids know the expectations and they want to perform for him."
Continuing the Legacy: Dwight Ballou Takes the Helm
Ballou’s main priority as the head coach is to build on Waltman’s success and the program’s trajectory. “We had a good thing going and I’m just trying to keep it going,” Ballou said. “I tell a lot of people that the hardest part of the job for me is to keep the train on the tracks. Things have been going good and the hardest part is the kids know what the expectations are and they’ve been drilled with Simon for three years since he took over. It’s been relatively easy for me because Simon really laid down the foundation for these kids.”
Senior captain Mason Rausch remembers hearing the news and thinking it was another Simon Waltman -- not his wrestling coach. “It didn’t really make sense,” Rausch said. “Waltman was just such a healthy guy and you never see it coming. It hit everyone pretty hard. He was just a good, serious down to earth guy. He was serious with his faith and was a phenomenal coach.”
The Flyers reached the Class 2A state tournament last season under Waltman. Currently, the Flyers are Class 2A’s 11th-ranked team which is the best ranking in Section 7-2A. “That was Waltman’s dream,” Robinson said. “He wanted to be the first Little Falls wrestling team to make it to state back-to-back years. We just want to make that happen.”
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Little Falls is currently 6-0 with wins over Foley, Pine City, Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus and Dassel-Cokato. It also won the Edina Invite. “Dwight is always positive and keeps everybody in a good mood,” Rausch said. “We just have a good mindset in the room right now. Wrestling without Waltman as a coach is crazy. Ever since I’ve been in high school he’s been there. He was an assistant and then he was my head coach the last couple of years. On the whiteboard in the Little Falls’ wrestling room is a poster collage of Waltman to remember him.
“His mindset is missed in that wrestling room,” Petrich said. “We as captains have tried to get team morale up. Coach Ballou has done a good job of rallying us together to work for Waltman.” Ballou praised his team for how much they’ve grown since Waltman’s death. “The captains are captains, but they are still kids,” Ballou said. “They’ve really taken their leadership role personally and have taken the reins. Hanging on the wall in the Little Falls’ wrestling room are all the state teams in Flyers’ history with the names of all the kids who represented those teams.
Recent Success: The Rise of the Little Falls Mounties
Four years ago, the Little Falls Mounties Varsity Wrestling Team was struggling to find wrestlers to fill its roster. Today, it is a Section III powerhouse and the reigning Class D champions. Brynn Shepardson and Matt Verri were a big part of the Mounties’ rise to the top.
Both just completed their senior seasons in Little Falls and were recently featured on an episode of the Small Town Life podcast on the Studio 25 Podcast Network. The pair discussed their wrestling careers, the rise of the Little Falls wrestling program, future plans, and more.
“It’s been a long time coming, I’ll tell you that,” Verri said of the Mounties’ success in 2024-25. “The coaches and the team, it’s just a tight-knit group, you know I mean everybody says that but I think that we’re all friends and that makes it more fun to win as a team.”
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“Iron sharpens iron,” Shepardson remarked about how their team pushed and motivated each other to their success. “You want the best people in your room to make everybody else better, and I think that’s really what we have here.”
The iron certainly sharpened the iron like never before for the Mounties this season. They finished with an 18-3 record and won the program’s first-ever Section III, Class D title. They also finished second at the Section III Duals and third in the Section III Individual Tournament, both of which are the team’s highest finishes ever at those events.
Shepardson and Verri will go down in the history books as two of the most prolific wrestlers in Little Falls’ history. Verri won numerous honors throughout his four-season varsity career and set the Little Falls record for career wins with 169. This season, he had a record of 42-5, won the 160-pound weight class at the Section III, Division II Championships, and finished fifth in that weight class at the New York State Championships.
Shepardson was a trailblazer in her four seasons as a Little Falls varsity wrestler - wrestling on both the boys and girls teams. Like Verri, she has received a number of honors for her wrestling excellence throughout her career. She went 28-13 this season, won the 185 pound weight class at the Section III Girls Championships, and finished second in the New York State Tournament.
The pair also discussed their plans to wrestle at college. Verri has committed to wrestle for the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons. Shepardson will continue her wrestling career for the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks.
Verri and Shepardson have also been involved with the Little Falls Wrestling Club and youth wrestling since their days in elementary school. Both gained their love for the sport at a young age, and have a tremendous respect for their current coaches and the ones they have had in the past.
“I think we have the best coaches in Section III, to be honest,” Verri stated. “Youth through modified through varsity.” Shepardson echoed those sentiments, saying, “I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you probably without the coaching staff that we’ve had. They’ve been instrumental in I would argue all of our success, you know, they’re just one of the most knowledgeable groups of people about wrestling about how to get kids involved, about how to make everybody better - even at different skill levels and strength levels. Just accommodating everybody and fostering a love for the sport.”
To see the entire interview on YouTube, search “Studio 25 Podcast Network”, and click on Small Town Life, Episode 34 - Little Falls Wrestling.
Legends of the Past: Robert Feldmeier and Wilbur Crisp
The history of Little Falls wrestling is also marked by the contributions of legendary figures like Robert Feldmeier and Wilbur Crisp. These individuals have not only excelled in their own right but have also dedicated their lives to promoting and supporting the sport.
Robert Feldmeier
Robert Feldmeier learned to wrestle more than 70 years ago at the YMCA in Little Falls, NY. As a high school senior in 1938, wrestling at 125-lbs., he won the New York State Interscholastic Championship Tournament at St. Lawrence University, defeating an opponent from Mephem, Long Island, in the finals.
For more than fifty years this company has developed, patented and marketed innovative products and services for the dairy, beverage, food, egg processing and pharmaceutical industries. It currently has five manufacturing facilities located in Syracuse (NY), Little Falls (NY), Shell Rock (IA), Montgomery (AL) and Reno (NV). It employs more than 400 people, many of whom are former high school and collegiate wrestlers.
Still C.E.O. of the company, Bob Feldmeier is emphatically not retired and still going to work every day at the age of 86. The company is a true family enterprise. Bob Feldmeier is a tireless promoter of amateur wrestling at all levels. In 1969 he purchased some 200 acres in the Adirondacks and built a wrestling camp that drew kids and top coaches from across the country for ten weeks each summer of superb teaching and training. He has traveled widely to attend events such as the World Championships, Olympics and NCAA Championships in many corners of the world. Individual members of that latter-most organization have benefited from Bob's generosity with help in travel expenses for foreign exhibitions.
Bob Feldmeier's other contributions to our sport include: wrestling mats for St. When collegiate wrestling programs, and the programs of other "smaller" sports, came under budget pressures, Bob Feldmeier stepped forward. First, he contributed considerable time and money to help save the program at Princeton. Two years later, he was less successful backing the effort to keep wrestling at Syracuse. Nevertheless, Bob's contributions to that cause were enormous.
Most recently, Bob Feldmeier has undertaken to bring the excitement of amateur wrestling into homes across the country by establishing Live Sports Video, an internet web casting company dedicated to Olympic sports which receive no, or inadequate, television coverage. Enter www.livesportsvideo.com into your computer tonight and see what's coming up. Past wrestling events covered include the Chicago Cup, Olympic Trials, NCAA All-Star matches, the National Duals, and the Dave Schultz Memorial. Free web casts! On your home computer - or even connect it to your flat-panel TV!
The New York State Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is proud to honor Robert H.
Every year the Upstate New York Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame presents the Robert Feldmeier Outstanding Wrestler Award to the individual that the Board of Directors select as being the outstanding wrestler in the upstate area. The award is based on wrestling excellence, academic record and community contributions.
Robert Feldmeier wrestled at Little Falls High School and in 1938 won the post season St. Lawrence wrestling tournament which was considered by many at this time as the high school state championships. Most of the best teams in New York including Sprig Gardner’s Mepham team would travel to Canton to wrestle in the championship. Following a year at the Taft School, Bob commenced his college career at Princeton University. In 1940 Bob was presented the Hooker Trophy as the freshman wrestler who demonstrated the greatest improvement for the Tigers. He received his last two at the age of 92. In 2008, he was inducted into the MACNY Hall of Fame to honor his many accomplishments. Bob has also been actively involved in high school wrestling his entire life in many different areas, including his support of the Mohawk Valley Wrestling Club.
Additionally, he sponsored two Olympic wrestling in their quest for the gold - Jamill Kelly, who won a silver medal, and Syracuse University wrestler, Jason Gleasman.
Wilbur Crisp
Star college basketball player, outstanding high school coach, prolific inventor of sports aids, Wilbur Crisp lived 44 years of his life in Little Falls, N.Y. In 1967 the high school gymnasium was named after him.
Wilbur C. Crisp was born in 1891 in Camden, N.J. He was raised in Cortland, N.Y. where he was an outstanding basketball player in high school and at Cortland Norman School. Later, at Syracuse University, he was considered the best of his era, leading the Orangemen to their only undefeated season.
After graduating with a major in chemistry in 1916, Crisp started a career in that field. Gradually, however, he gravitated to high school coaching and teaching (science and mathematics) starting at Canastota in 1919 and arriving at Little Falls in 1926. After 21 seasons, with an overall record of 263-127 and a New York State Championship in 1929-30 in basketball, Crisp took a hiatus from coaching. He returned at age 62 in 1953 for six more seasons for a record of 71-40 and three straight league championships in 1956, 1957 and 1958. His total record at Little Falls for 27 seasons was 334-167.
Wilbur Crisp used his scientific talent to invent a remarkable number of sports aids, not just for basketball, but for wrestling, boxing and horseshoes as well.
Achievements Summary
The following table summarizes key achievements in Little Falls wrestling history:
| Achievement | Details |
|---|---|
| New York State Interscholastic Championship | Robert Feldmeier won in 1938 |
| Section III, Class D Title | Little Falls Mounties won in 2024-25 |
| Section III Girls Championships | Brynn Shepardson won the 185-pound weight class |
| Little Falls Career Wins Record | Matt Verri set the record with 169 wins |