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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Fifteen men stood from end to end on the mat, hiding the Scranton wrestling team from view. Spanning five decades worth of Meyers wrestling and clad in mostly royal blue and gold, the Meyers alumni palled around each other, arm in arm, as if they grappled on the same team all along.</p><p>Meyers introduced James Geiger and Dave Ellis as its 34th and 35th members of its Wrestling Hall of Fame prior to Saturday&#8217;s meet versus Scranton. Geiger and Ellis join the elite ranks of one of the most historically touted wrestling programs in the Commonwealth.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of those guys were guys I looked up to,&#8221; Geiger said. &#8220;I read about them in the paper when I was a little kid. And now, to be standing up there with them, it&#8217;s an honor.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not Canton, Ohio but the same kind of reflection goes through your body,&#8221; Ellis added.</p><p>Geiger, currently an assistant principal at Coughlin, was a district champion in 1999 and a three-time regional place winner from 1997-99. He twice qualified for states and won the Times Leader Wrestler of the Year laurel in 1999. In addition to coaching track and wrestling at his Alma mater, Geiger took third at the Middle Atlantic Conference championships while at King&#8217;s College.</p><p>His experience in the program set the framework for his career as an educator.</p><p>&#8220;The coaches that I had, from junior high coach Mike Elias to my high school coach Dave Kuhl, those guys were huge role models and mentors,&#8221; Geiger said. &#8220;Today, they&#8217;re great friends. They really molded me into a better person.&#8221;</p><p>Meyers wrestlers were treated to the tale of its top wrestler of its first team to win sole possession of a district team championship. Ellis was a two-time district champion in 1970 and 1972 at the 127 and 133-pound weight classes, respectively.</p><p>In 1972, he went undefeated throughout the regular season and was the No. 1 regional seed before bowing out to the eventual state champion. He was a winner of the James Schilling award for most pins in the least amount of time, a Wilkes-Barre Invitational, and the coveted Hooper Award for most outstanding wrestler in the Wyoming Valley Conference.</p><p>&#8220;A Hall of Fame award can&#8217;t be owned by an individual because it takes a support system,&#8221; Ellis said. &#8220;And in my case, a support system anchored in love. And for our family, all of my brothers and sisters (Judy, Steve, Joe), we had that luckily. So by definition, it&#8217;s a shared award (for my father, mom Anne and aunt Fran).&#8221;</p><p>The return to the mat was bittersweet for Ellis, who had his wrestling career cut short due to an injury. On what ironically was the day he met his wife Pam in November 1972, Ellis said a Dallas football fan &#8220;cold-cocked me twice in the face&#8221; while changing a classmate&#8217;s tire.</p><p>The damage blocked both of his nasal passages; however, a month later, armed with a mask made of hot wax, Ellis returned to the mat at Wilkes to beat defending national champion Navy in his first collegiate meet. It set the stage for an undefeated freshman campaign. An invasive nose surgery right before his sophomore year sidelined Ellis the same season Wilkes won a Division III national championship.</p><p>A resident of Rochester, N.Y., Ellis dedicated his award to his mom Anne for her support to his wrestling career. Anne, now 92, came home from work after two jobs to their Grove Street residence (just 10 yards from the Meyers-GAR border) to wash three loads of laundry for his siblings&#8217; sports gear.</p><p>&#8220;My mom endured more than any of us. She had 12 consecutive years of wrestling. I remember the worry on her face every time (he and his brothers) stepped on the mat or any time we couldn&#8217;t eat her wonderful meals because we had to make weight.&#8221;</p><p>Now, having received the highest wrestling honor at Meyers, both men remarked on the distinction that Meyers offers its current crop of grapplers.</p><p>&#8220;You sit here at look at a small school like Meyers that graduates 140 kids on average,&#8221; Geiger said. &#8220;With that many kids on the bench, it&#8217;s a big testament to coach (Ron) Swingle for getting those kids out there. A lot of programs around here can&#8217;t fill a lineup. Meyers almost has enough to fill two-deep in every weight class. That&#8217;s really impressive in this day.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jim Geiger is inducted into the Meyers High School hall of fame by Meyers principal, Mike Elias, at Meyers High School gym on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021416MeyersWrestlingHOF2-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jim Geiger is inducted into the Meyers High School hall of fame by Meyers principal, Mike Elias, at Meyers High School gym on Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021416MeyersWrestlingHOF1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former Wilkes University wrestling coach, John Reese, looks through a scrapbook spanning Dave Ellis&#8217;s wrestling career before the induction ceremony at Meyers High School Gym on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021416MeyersWrestlingHOF1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Former Wilkes University wrestling coach, John Reese, looks through a scrapbook spanning Dave Ellis&#8217;s wrestling career before the induction ceremony at Meyers High School Gym on Saturday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021416MeyersWrestlingHOF3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dave Ellis is inducted in the Meyers High School hall of fame by Meyers principle, Mike Elias, in Meyers High School gym on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021416MeyersWrestlingHOF3-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Dave Ellis is inducted in the Meyers High School hall of fame by Meyers principle, Mike Elias, in Meyers High School gym on Saturday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jay Monahan</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Meyers inducts Geiger, Ellis to wrestling hall of fame