We are so very sad to see Phil Lercher moving on from the rankings after all these years. I think Phil is/was the senior ranker here since I retired from that a few years ago. We have a couple of others like Jeff Cox and Marshal Cox that have been on here for close to a decade. We couldn't do it with out guys like there and all the others that have stepped up in the past and in the present.

Phil was my right hand guy in the ranking department and is also the person responsible for developing the team ranking formula that produces the very popular team rankings from the individual rankings. Phil was also a WOA high school wrestling official for many years and I even remember him coming to a few USAW folkstyle tournaments and working with me maybe 15 years ago. If Phil reads this maybe he remembers the "biting incident" up at an Anacortes tournament I was head official at? Good times and good memories.

Phil is truly irreplaceable but based on my experience over the years, the wrestling community always steps up and gives us the people we need to keep things going. Although we don't know what the upcoming season will bring, or even if we have one, but we are preparing as if we will. ALL the other rankers have informed me that they are onboard for the coming season and one even volunteered to continue his and take over for Phil! That is a lot but it buys us some time to find the next ranker for the mix.

Phil was also my guy with all the local newspaper reports that we post daily on the WWR. He would go to all the websites each day and look for results of duals, etc and then cut and paste it to the WWR website. This is another position that we will need to fill and is a position I did for many years until Phil started to do that for me.

I really can't put into words how much I appreciate all that Phil Lercher has done for the wrestling community (and me!), on the mat and on this site. I understand that Phil Lercher is at the stage in life where he has retired from work, retired from officiating and now is stepping down from the rankings to spend time with family and grandkids. I get it. Phil and I are close in age and although I do have a few more years of "life experience" than Phil, I too can start to see the end. I'm not there yet but I do start to see it.

The next big step for me over the next few years is to find the right person that is willing to take over the web site. I seem to lead a lucky life and have people walk into it that can do extraordinary things. My office manager walked into the office 30 years ago looking for a job with me. I didn't have any openings but I knew something was special and I needed to hire this young lady. She is still at the office three decades later. My partner at the clinic (Dr. Doerge hates when I call him my “boss”) called me up 4 years ago and wanted to know where I was at in my career. My practice wasn't for sale at the time but I knew he was the right guy to take over so he came in and bought the practice. He kept me around enough to have a smooth transition. Some patients still like to see the "old guy".

I'm lucky with people approaching me that I need at a certain time in my life. I know that someone will approach me that has the burning desire to continue this website and service to the wrestling community. When that happens we’ll take the next step. Until then it is full speed ahead.