Russ Snyder ’74
Career Record: 50-13-2, 2x D11 Champ, NE Regional Champ, Medalist
Tournament Championships: Easton Invitational
1974 – 138 lbs.: District Champ, Regional Champ, State Third (25-3)
1973 – 132 lbs.: District Champ, Regional Runner-Up (16-4-2)
1972 – 127 lbs.: (9-6)
Russ Snyder was a captain and state bronze medalist for the 1974 team that is amongst the greatest Easton teams of all time.
As a sophomore, Snyder cracked the lineup at 127 pounds, earning his first varsity win in the second dual of the season against William Allen. After an 8-5 regular season, Snyder won his opening match at the D11 tournament before falling in quarterfinals.
Snyder came back as a junior one of the most improved wrestlers in the Lehigh Valley, showing his mettle early by forcing a draw with returning D11 champ Terry Reese (Nazareth), then blitzing the field at the Easton Invitational, pinning his way to finals then forcing a medical default to win his first championship. He survived a two-match losing streak in January and came back with a vengeance, ripping through the D11 tournament with two pins, then three blow outs in the final three rounds, 8-2, 11-4 and a 6-2 win in the finals over Jim Fink (Liberty). At Northeast Regionals, Snyder majored Rocky Snyder (Jersey Shore) in the semifinals before falling to Dave Puchalsky (Dallas) to finish second in the region and earn a berth to the state tournament. In his first state tournament, Snyder dropped an 11-5 decision to Bill Vollrath (Hatboro-Horsham) in the quarterfinals.
As a senior, Snyder opened the season with three straight falls and established himself as one of the dominant middleweights in the area. He fell in semifinals of the Easton Invitational to Dan Lechner (Saucon Valley), whom he had knocked off in the D11 semis in 1973. He won his five of his next six matches by fall, sandwiched around a major of future state champ Rich McIntyre (Freedom). In Easton’s epic dual with Lock Haven, Snyder squared off with state champ John Eichenlaub, falling 4-3 on a third period takedown. At the D11 tournament, Snyder pinned his way into semis, where he had a rematch with McIntyre, which he took again, this time by 9-2 score. In the finals, he got his rematch from the Easton Invitational finals with Lechner (Saucon Valley), and flipped the script, hammering the Panther 7-1 for his second straight D11 title. He was one of eight Easton finalists and five champions in an epic tournament for the Red Rovers. The following week, Snyder won his first regional title through the same group, beating Lechner in semifinals and pinning McIntyre in the finals. At the state tournament, Snyder opened with a 9-3 win over Dave Geil (Shaler) and a pin of Joel Hoffman (Dallastown) in quarters to make him one of four Red Rovers in the semifinals. There, he’d have a rematch with John Eichenlaub (Lock Haven). Both wrestlers scored in regulation and traded escapes for a 3-3 tie after six minutes. In overtime, both wrestlers earned an escape, but it was Eichenlaub who converted a takedown to punch a ticket to state finals with a 3-1 overtime win. Eichenlaub would lose his finals match in the final five seconds, while Snyder wrestled back to hammer Chris Harmatta (Lebanon), 8-2, for third place.
History of Easton Wrestling 