Antoine N. (Tony) Bontz, III

Anyone that has developed an interest in age group wrestling in Kansas can appreciate the effort of Tony Bontz. Tony was one of the conspirators that began to develop an excellence in the sport around the Wichita area 15 years ago. The belief that wrestling could be an important sport contribution in the Arkansas Valley, lead Tony to develop a tremendous machine within a 60 mile radius of Wichita, Kansas. As a charter member of the Mid-Kansas Wrestling Association in 1971, an age group wrestling league, Tony has seen a dream come true. The dream was to erode the dominance of wrestling by the Northwest Kansas powers and to see wrestling grow in the South central part of the state to the same level as Northwest Kansas.

Tony wrestled at East High School in Wichita during the days of Ronald “Stub” Mayo. A graduate of East High School in 1948, Tony went to the University of Kansas to study Architecture. The Korean War interrupted his education in 1951. Tony went to war a jet fighter pilot and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with 5 clusters.

This type of spirit lead Tony to achieve many firsts in age group wrestling in Kansas. Tony founded, and was the first President of, the Kansas Kid Wrestling Federation in 1972. This one aspect has seen age group wrestling clubs grow from 0 to 110 clubs across the state. Tony developed the first age group state wrestling tournament that required qualifiers from across the state. Prior to the qualifier format the meet was open to all participants. Tony was the first Kansan to be elected President of the national organization, the United States Kids Wrestling Federation, in 1973. Tony organized the first national age group training camp in the country and the first National Regional Kids Wrestling Championship in the state in 1974.

Tony has received 5 national awards as editor of wrestling publications for high school wrestling teams and was co-director of the first Sunflower Wrestling Classic in 1981. Tony was a tremendous wrestling enthusiast and promoter of the sport.

Kansas is fortunate to have had a man that has donated so much time to help athletes across the state.