HS Wrestling: Kindig family, Trusky enter District 11 Wrestling Hall of Fame
From left, Corey Keener, Kristi Kindig (wife of the late Tod Kindig), Josh Kindig, Sam Julian, Jim Trusky, Alex Gosch and Harry Myers gather at the District 11 Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame Banquet on April 26, 2026, at the Steel Club in Hellertown. (Submitted photo)
HELLERTOWN — The late Tod Kindig and his son, Josh, sparked one of the greatest eras in Blue Mountain and Schuylkill League wrestling.
Sunday, they were honored for their accomplishments as they entered the District 11 Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame at a banquet at the Steel Club. Jim Trusky, a state champion wrestler at Mahanoy Area and retired head coach at Blue Mountain, became a Hall of Famer as well. Nazareth’s Joe Caramanica and Parkland’s Derek Jenkins completed the Hall of Fame class.
Tod and Josh Kindig, along with other greats like Corey Keener, Tyler Rauenzahn, Cort Choate, Brandon Choate and Brook Gosch — among others — the Eagles earned back-to-back runner-up finishes in the team race at the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships. Tod Kindig coached five state champions — Josh Kindig (twice), Keener (twice) and Cort Choate (once). Tod Kindig’s dedication to offseason training programs turned good wrestlers into great wrestlers and great wrestlers into champions.
After high school, Josh Kindig went on to success at Oklahoma State, reaching a final at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in 2014 before falling in sudden victory.
Trusky became Mahanoy Area’s first state champion in 1982 and went on to coach at Pocono Mountain and Blue Mountain. He is one of two state champions in Golden Bears history.
Scholarship awards are also a part of the banquet, and Mahanoy Area senior Kyler Quick was named District 11 Class AA Wrestling Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Quick, a District 11 champion and three-time state qualifier, posted a 47-7 record this season and went 141-51 in his career. Quick plans to study biology and pre-physical therapy at Villanova, Ursinus or Misericordia.
Bethlehem Catholic’s Keanu Dillard (3A) and Southern Lehigh’s Mai Graham (girls) also received scholar-athlete honors.
Other local scholar-athlete nominees included North Schuylkill’s Cadyn McGraw, Tamaqua’s William Behun and Williams Valley’s Camron Green in Class AA; Blue Mountain’s Owen Woll in Class 3A; and North Schuylkill’s Phoebe Smith in girls.
McGraw was selected as a winner of the essay competition for what wrestling means to him. East Stroudsburg South’s Fiona Clare (girls) and Easton’s Nick Salamone (3A) also won for their essays.
