Erie Times-News sports writer and columnist John Dudley absolutely loves wrestling. He's a former wrestler himself, some of his children wrestle, and his deep affection for the sport has never abated.

First and foremost, though, Dudley is a hard-working journalist. When door after door kept slamming in his face recently, he never gave up. The result is an in-depth report in today's Times-News on the recent transfer of state-ranked, 215-pound wrestler John Mangol from Union City High School to Corry High.

Dudley writes that officials at both schools confirmed that Mango, a senior, enrolled at Corry last week after serving a 10-day out-of-school suspension from Union City after a shouting match at a dual meet last month.

Wrestling is a huge sport in that part of Erie County, and top wrestlers are preparing now for upcoming PIAA matches.

If you've ever tried to pry information out of high school administrators or PIAA officials, let me tell you: it ain't easy. You might have better luck plucking eyelashes from a gnat (my apologies to the late, great Bob Prince for borrowing that analogy).

It's clear that coaches and school officials circled the wagons and told Dudley they couldn't comment about Mangol or the transfer. You can glean as much from his story. In sports reporting, it's always difficult to get people to talk on the record. Oh, they'll tell you the whole story off the record, but before doing so they swear you to secrecy.

Frankly, that's of no use to newspaper readers. It used to drive me nuts during my years as a sports editor when our reporters would return to the office after checking out a big story and relate in great detail what had happened. "Terrific work," I'd say. "Can we go with the story tomorrow?"

"Oh, no," they'd reply. "I got all this off the record." Sometimes a reporter needs to go off the record to get key background information, but if, by doing so, you get the whole story, but can't write it, you've botched the assignment.

On this fascinating wrestling saga in Corry, Dudley came through. Big time. He kept poking and prodding until he got enough solid information from good sources to tell the story -- the complete story. It's one reason why he's one of Pennsylvania's top young sports writers and columnists.

I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the John Mangol saga, and I'm equally certain that John Dudley will be there to keep us fully informed. Reporting the facts to readers is what John does best.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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