Chip Easterday ’81
Career Record: 53-12, District Champ, State Finalist
Tournament Championships:
College: Millersville
1981 – 167 lbs: District Champ, Regional Third, State Runner-Up (30-4)
1980 – 185 lbs.: District Third (15-6)
1979 – 167 lbs.: No postseason (8-2)
Chip Easterday was one of the premier Easton upper weights and the final leg of the “Magnificent Seven” that won the Rovers the 1981 state title, with Easterday’s state finals run putting them over the top.
He broke into the lineup in January of his sophomore season as Easton was looking for an answer at 167 pounds. He started emphatically, pinning Rich Heiserman (Emmaus) in the third period. He piled up two more pins before surviving a 6-5 over state qualifier Joel Umberger (Lower Dauphin). He also posted a highlight victory in an 11-9 win over New Jersey state qualifier Ray Folino (North Hunterdon). He won his first eight varsity matches before dropping bouts against Northampton and Phillipsburg to close the year. But when it came time for Districts, Brian Collins made the cut down from 185 and eliminated Easterday from the postseason lineup.
As a junior, an injury held him out for much of December, but he returned for a third place finish at the Reilly Invitational at 167 pounds. Easterday dropped and went undefeated locally, with his only loss coming to South Central Regional champ Eric Christophes (Lower Dauphin). He ended his season by beating New Jersey bronze medalist Mike Margeson (Phillipsburg) 9-8 to avenge his loss to the Stateliner as a sophomore. At the D11 tournament, Easterday pinned his first two opponents to earn a semifinal date with eventual state runner-up John Connelly (Allentown Central Catholic). Easterday dropped that match 8-4, but stormed back to punch a ticket to Regionals with a 10-0 win over Steve Humma (Liberty) and a dramatic overtime pin of Tom Chamberlain (Northampton). Easterday went 0-2 in his first regional tournament as Easton disappointingly only sent two of their six qualifiers to Hershey.
As a senior, Easterday won his first five bouts, including a 5-2 win over state medalist Leroy Schannauer (Wilson West Lawn). After a disappointing Top Hat, Easterday went to the Reilly Invitational finals, where he lost 7-5 to D11 champion Cos Ritrievi (Bethlehem Catholic). From there, Easterday won twelve straight, including the match clinching 13-6 win over Bob Cook for Easton to upend Shikellamy in the Braves’ home gym and his fifteen second fall put the Easton-Phillipsburg match out of reach for the Red Rovers. He cut to 167 pounds for the D11 tournament and wrestled like a man possessed, going fall, 13-8 win, fall to make his first D11 final. There, he took Kris Knecht (Pocono Mountain) down four times in an 8-5 win. Unfortunately, the D11 win did him no favors as Shikellamy star and future NCAA qualifier Greg Fatool was upset in the D2 finals to slot him in with Easterday as a quarterfinal match up. Fatool took it to Easterday on their feet in a 12-6 win, taking the Red Rover star down six times in the win. Easterday had to go the long route to states, winning three straight do-or-die matches, finished with a 6-2 win over Irzinski (Emmaus) to make it seven Red Rovers in Hershey. And for as poor as his draw was at Regionals, the bracket fell in his favor for states, where Fatool and returning state champion Eric Brugel (State College) were paired on the opposite side. Easterday opened with a 10-8 win over South Central regional champ Jan Johnson (Governor Mifflin), then turned back WPIAL runner-up Bernie Roell (Mount Lebanon) in the quarterfinals to complete a 4-1 round for Easton. In the semis, Easterday took Southeastern Regional champ Steve Smith (Marple-Newtown) down three times in a 7-4 win to make him one of two Red Rover state finalists. In the other semifinal, Eric Brugel earned a tough 9-6 win over Greg Fatool. Brugel, the retuning champion and future NCAA All American, was too much for Easterday in a 13-4 finals match, after which Brugel was named Outstanding Wrestler of the state tournament.
Easterday went on to wrestle at Millersville.
History of Easton Wrestling 