I have heard, and do NOT attest to the veracity of this story, that Dodge City offered their Convention Center rent free for the 1A VB and/or BB tournaments. However, as the story goes, the offer was refused because the Convention Center is attached to the casino, which caused concerns. Again, I have no first hand knowledge that any of this story is true. I know there has been at least one wrestling tournament held there. . .Mid-Plains?. . . and those who were there gave the facility rave reviews.

The semi-finals and finals of the MCL BB tour have been played at Gross since the late 70's or very early 80's. The League had always been given one of two weeks in January; basically the second weekend and third weekends. The weekends would alternate back and forth each year; one year the early weekend, the next year the late weekend, and so on. FHSU could schedule and the MCL Schools could schedule knowing "whose" weekend it was. In the past few years those dates became harder and harder to get, and there were requests to reschedule game times on the dates we had been given. This year a completely different week was proposed, which would have played hell with already established schedules of the MCL schools. . . and with no guarantee that the proposed week would be available in the future. At a meeting this year called to discuss the contract the league has with FHSU, the question was asked point blank of the FHSU admin by an MCL administrator: "Is the MCL BB tournament a priority for FHSU?" The answer was "No." So, we are going to take it to league schools and keep the $7000+ it cost us to use Gross Coliseum this year for Friday night and Saturday.

For a lot of reasons, short drive, tradition and some wonderful personal memories, I would rather stay in Hays; as Dylan so eloquently put it, it is "hallowed ground" for 321A wrestling; but the love is no longer being reciprocated.