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Dr. Wayne Edkin

Class of 2007
Camden Blue Devils
Dr. Wayne Edkin is a graduate of Oneida High School where he was coached by Hall of Fame member Bill Fariel. Fariel steered him to Springfield College, one more in a long line of Oneida wrestlers who went on to Springfield with Fariel's guidance. After Springfield, Edkin experienced his first taste of coaching as a graduate assistant at the University of New Hampshire where he continued study in English literature. Edkin became the head coach at Camden in 1974, taking the reins of a program that had never had a winning season. When he retired in 2005, "Doc" Edkin's teams had twenty-two winning seasons in his thirty-one-year career. In 1985, Edkin earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from Indiana University of Pa. He did all his doctoral work without missing a wrestling season at Camden.

Along the way, Edkin posted 307 wins, the most wins ever for any coach in the Tri-Valley League or the Central NY Wrestling League. When he retired, he was the seventh winningest coach in Section III history and among the top thirty in New York State. His teams finished in the top three of the TVL sixteen times and in the top two of the CNYWL seventeen times. Camden was CNYWL division champions twelve times.

Blue Devil teams won thirteen tournaments under Edkin and twenty-two of his wrestlers earned Section III Class Championships. Twenty-six of his wrestlers placed at the Section III Interclass Championships with eleven earning their way to the finals. Four earned a trip to the states. Brice Kelley, a three-time Section III Champion, and winner of 166 matches at Camden, was Edkin's most notable wrestler. Among other outstanding Blue Devils, fans may remember Craig Hedgecock, totally blind and a solid three-year starter for Edkin. Hedgecock went on to earn two varsity letters at Springfield College where another Camden product, Joe Woodcock, was team captain. Five other Blue Devils besides Kelley recorded over one hundred wins.

In addition to establishing the Blue Devil program as a solid competitor, Edkin coached seventeen teams that were honored with the TVL Sportsmanship award and two squads that were named John Arcaro Sportsmanship Award Winners, an honor given by the Syracuse Wrestling Officials Association. A four-time TVL coach of the year, Coach Edkin was that league's wrestling chairperson and member of the Section III Wrestling Committee for more than twenty-five years.

Since 1984, Edkin has been affiliated with the Mohawk Valley Wrestling Club as a freestyle and Greco-Roman referee and rules clinician. In addition to his work in New York and the Northeast Region of USA Wrestling, Edkin has officiated over twenty national championships, three Pan Am Championships, and four World Championships. Among his most interesting officiating experiences include events in South Africa, Egypt, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Switzerland. "Doc" has been the assigned head official or clinician at seven National or Regional USA events; he was a technical results official at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Still active as a Level I USA Wrestling official, Edkin is one of America's thirty international FILA Level I officials. This year, he is slated to officiate at the Schultz International in Colorado, the US Open in Las Vegas, the Junior Nationals in North Dakota, The Canada Cup, and the Pan Ams in El Salvador.