After 40 years of officiating 74-year-old referee Brooke Yeager is calling it quits.
"Coaching takes an awful-awful lot of time. Officiating you can officiate a match then you are free. I had a young family at the time. I wanted to stay involved in the sport and officiating kept me into it," said Brooke Yeager.
Yeager got his start in this sport in 9th grade at Meyers high-school in 1954.
"We didn't have this type of mat in those days. We had horse hair mats and at Meyers we wrestled right next to the pool, and if you did something wrong you got thrown into the pool," again said Brooke.
Earning a district title for the Mohawks-Brooke wanted more.! He earned it at Wyoming Seminary in his next stop winning several National YMCA Championships.
"It did hone in on my skills and I was looking for a college to go to," added Brooke.
And Brooke chose Wilkes with legendary head coach John Reese where he finished 2nd in the NCAA's his senior year.
"Brooke is great. When I first got on campus in 1994 I remember meeting him and him showing moves as an alumnus and obviously seeing him referee the same year," said Jon Laudenslager.
"He always dedicated himself to wrestling. Brooke was much more dedicated than most people. He worked very-very hard at the sport and the talents that he had he developed them over that time," said Ned McGinley.
After earning his masters degree from Columbia University in secondary education Brooke got into teaching and then returned to Wilkes to help coach the Colonels to the 1974 national title.
"That year was tremendous. It was a very close team," added Brooke.
Once Brooke retires he plans on taking up some ball room dancing with his wife then a long extended vacation in Florida where he plans on attending several Major League Baseball
"I always wanted to be perceived as being non-biased. I never wanted to know the records of the guys that I was referring. I really didn't want to know their names. I just wanted to do the best job that i could as an official," added Brooke.
"I'll put my arm around him when we are done here," again said Ned.
"Thank you. I don't think you can say much more," again said Jon.