FLEX TIME OSTRYE HONORED BY GREENWICH OLD TIMERS ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
Living Legend on the Mat By Mike Kennedy ’99
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T ARCHBISHOP Walsh High School — a private, Roman Catholic high school in Olean, N.Y. — Tim Ostrye suited up for the varsity football team as a 98-pound freshman in the fall of 1967.
He was the smallest kid on the Eagles’ roster — but
he could tackle with the biggest and the best of them, relying on his low center of gravity, perfect technique, and sheer toughness to bring the ball carrier to the turf. And, above all, he had a coach, Jim Cleveland, who believed in him and inspired him to play without fear. Cleveland, also the School’s wrestling coach, encouraged his prized protégé to hang up his basketball shoes and join the wrestling team that winter. Ostrye did — and went on to win the All-Catholic Wrestling Championships in his first year grappling on the mats. He’d ultimately earn a combined eight varsity letters in football and wrestling before graduating in 1971 — entirely sure of one thing as he headed off to Jamestown Community College in Jamestown, N.Y., where he became a two-year captain before transferring to Manhattan College (where he also became a two-year captain). He wanted to follow in Jim Cleveland’s footsteps. He wanted to be a coach. And now, nearly 50 years later, he’s turned into a pretty darned good one. Wrestling teaches skills that travel far beyond the mats — and transcend the test of time, Coach O believes. “You’re placed in a one-on-one situation, forced to rely on yourself and only yourself. The wrestling room doesn’t allow for excuses and doesn’t provide instant gratification,” he says. “You have to persevere and rebound from defeat. In the long run, these are life lessons that all must learn.” And they’re lessons that Ostrye has preached for 35 years at Brunswick, arriving on Maher Avenue in 1981 For more photos, visit bwick.org/tob_winter2016
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