Estep Recognized as Petrofes Honoree

KENT, Ohio - Kent State senior Chris Estep was honored as this year's wrestler representing the Jerry Petrofes Memorial Endowed Scholarship.  A donation toward future wrestling scholarships was made in Estep's name.

On two separate occasions, Estep overcame career-threatening injuries and was able to contribute to a Kent State squad that has been among the nation's Top 20 teams in recent years.

"It's not often you see guys stick it out for five years after everything someone like Chris went through," Head Coach Jim Andrassy said.  "But he's shown great leadership and he's a great kid to have on our team.  Last season, he had a shoulder injury early and rehabbed the whole year to come back and help us this year."

A committed husband, father, son, sibling and friend, Jerry Petrofes was the head wrestling coach at the high school level and spent a significant portion of his life teaching and coaching.  Last year, the scholarship was created by Kathy Petrofes, Jerry's widow, as a way to both honor his memory as well as his deep and abiding love of Kent State University.

Kathy's wish was to honor a wrestling student-athlete who has overcome medically related odds to perform at a high level both academically and athletically.  Jerry lived a full and productive life in spite of having polio.  That same type of courage and commitment has been displayed by Estep.

"Two years ago, Chris played a major role in our MAC regular season championship," Andrassy said.  "He wrestled with a torn hamstring for part of the season.  He probably shouldn't have been out there, but he wanted to help us win and he did a great job competing."

Later that season, Estep placed third at the MAC Championships.  This season, he won four matches during KSU's sixth place finish at the Southern Scuffle and has continually pushed his teammates in the practice room.