Lee Pamulak*

Lee Pamulak is currently the AAU wrestling director for the Iowa District of AAU. He began Iowa AAU wrestling in 1988 with 70 registered wrestlers. He held the first Iowa AAU Kids State Tournament with 1200 registered wrestlers in 1989. By 1990 the Iowa AAU Kids State had to move to a larger facility in Cedar Rapids. In 1999 Lee expanded the Iowa Kids State to include a separate Super Pee Wee State for 2nd grade and under. Currently, Iowa AAU Kids State hosted just under 1500 wrestlers in 3rd through 8th grade who qualified at eight district tournaments. The Super Pee Wee State involved 600+ K-2 grade wrestlers.

Always ready to take on new challenges, Lee hosted the first AAU Folkstyle National Tournament (now called AAU Worlds) in 1993. He has been the host for the AAU National Middle School Duals for the past 5 years. In 1999 Lee became a member of the AAU Wrestling Executive Board, and still holds that position today.

Lee continues to work to increase the number of AAU wrestlers in Iowa. Under his leadership, Iowa has been the district with the highest number of registered wrestlers for several years. From the original 70 in 1988, Iowa was just short of 6,000 AAU wrestlers in 2005.

Lee served USA Wrestling as the local organizer from 1984 to 1988. He is a member of the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association. Lee is a past president of Indianola Baseball Inc. and a member of their hall of fame.

Joe Scalzo, Jr.

Joe Scalzo, Jr. has been a huge contributor to wrestling in the United States at the State, National, and International level as a coach, referee, and tournament director.

He began wrestling at a YMCA Kids’ Program in Toledo. He continued wrestling in high school and at Toledo University in college. During his college years, he placed yearly in the Mid-American Conference. He won the National YMCA championship in Las Vegas and several Ohio State YMCA and AAU Championships.

Joe Jr. became an international referee-judge and traveled the world officiating World Cups, Junior World, and Senior World Championships. He is the only FILA Referee-Judge to gain the highest international officiating awardExceptionelle- on four different occasions.

Joe Jr. was also his father’s assistant tournament director at every World Cup held in Toledo, its home for over a decade.

As a well-known Midwest attorney, Joe Jr. has been in practice for over 30 years. He continues to contribute to wrestling each year by assisting the head coach at Toledo Central Catholic High School and officiating throughout the greater Toledo area. Currently Joe is also a year-round instructor at the Law School of Toledo University.

Wade Schalles

During his competitive days, Sports Illustrated said Mr. Schalles was “the most exciting wrestler to ever walk onto a wrestling mat.” Amateur Wrestling News selected him as the best middleweight of the 20th century. Dan Gable called him, “the greatest pinner he’s ever seen!” Wade is in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most wins and pins of anyone who has ever wrestled. He has won 15 national championships in five different combative disciplines…Judo, Sombo, Freestyle, Folkstyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

Wade was the first Pennsylvanian to be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He was selected during his years in the sport as the country’s “Athlete of the Year” and was later named “National Coach of the Year”. Coaches from around the globe voted him “World’s Greatest Wrestler” for pinning all of his opponents at the World Championships. In 2005 he was selected by the NCAA as one of the top fifteen collegiate wrestlers of all time.

Wade served as Assistant to the President at the Amateur Athletic Union for almost ten years. During his tenure at AAU he oversaw the organization’s wrestling program, Internet, advertising and media relations departments, while managing the company’s various special event programs. In 2002 the AAU named him Man of the Year.

Other achievements include being named Sportswriter of the Year by the National Wrestling Media Association, ranking among the highest rated wrestling officials in America in the 1990’ and being named to the NCAA’s 75th Anniversary Team, a distinction that only fourteen other collegiate wrestlers share with him.

He is currently the Executive Vice President for ISEEsports, a subsidiary of Continental Vista Broadcasting Group. He has authored two best selling books on wrestling and his videotape series are the best selling instructional tapes on the market today. He continues to be one of the countries most popular and only syndicated columnist in the sport. Wade recently started the Star Awards Program, a Florida based LLC whose mission is to provide America’s wrestlers, coaches and officials with national recognition by way of re-introducing martial arts belts into the sport.

Wade and his wife Deb have six children. He is currently living in Orlando, Florida.

Khalil Taha

Khalil, from Lebanon, was a bronze medal winner in the l952 Helsinki Olympic Games in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Prior to that he was a Lebanese National Champion many times.

In the early 1950’s, Khalil came to the United States and settled in the Detroit area. Soon Khalil was coaching for the Ford Motor Wrestling Club (later becoming the Michigan Wrestling Club) and developing outstanding Greco-Roman wrestlers.

When Joe Scalzo was named America’s first Greco-Roman coach, he asked Khalil to be his number one assistant in the pre-Olympic training camp for the Melbourne Olympics. Some say that was the best Greco-Roman team ever to represent America. In 1962 Khalil was asked to be the US World Greco-Roman Team Assistant Coach by head coach, Dean Rockwell. Later, in 1964, he was named the coach of the Olympic Greco-Roman Team. Khalil was also an assistant coach on the 1979 Senior World Greco-Roman Team.

In l987, Jerry Wager, who had wrestled under Khalil, called on him to be his assistant coach for the US Greco Roman Wrestling Team for the cadet age division. They became the first American Greco-Roman coaches to coach a US Greco-Roman team to a world championship. That team remains the first and only team to win a world championship in the classic style.

Khalil Taha has been a benefactor, leader, coach, and administrator ever since he set foot in America. His contributions to wrestling in the United States are immeasurable.

Karen Wilson

Karen has been an AAU volunteer since 1982. She began as a member of the Roseville Wrestling Club in Michigan organizing local tournaments, scheduling practices, and many other miscellaneous jobs. She is still a member of the wrestling club.

Karen is a member of the AAU Michigan State Wrestling Association where she has served as a pairing master from 1988 to the present. She was the Head Pairing Master from 1988 to 2003, and again in 2005. She is also a member of the Michigan AAU Association/District and began her position as secretary/treasurer in 1990. She currently still holds that office.

Karen served as an At-Large member of the AAU National Wrestling Committee from 1993 until 2001. At that time she became the National Head Pairing Master and still serves in that position. She has also been a member of the AAU Executive Registration Committee from 2004 up to the present time.

Karen has received several national awards including: Wrestling Person of the Year in 1991; Outstanding Volunteer in 1996; Outstanding Pairing Official in 2000; AAU/Disney Alliance Volunteer of the Year Award in 2002; and the Presidents Award in 2003.

In addition to wrestling, Karen was also a member of a local baseball and football organization from 1985 to 2000.

Karen is a mother of one daughter and four sons. She is also a grandmother of four.