Fred Ulmer, Bert McGann, and Gordon Webster – longtime friends and former wrestling teammates in the late 1940s at Upper Darby High School – have been attending the PIAA wrestling championships in Hershey for decades, writes Jason Nark for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

During their time at Upper Darby, all three men, now in their 80s, were District One champions under legendary coach Pete Bernardino. Since then, they have missed the state’s high school wrestling championships only a few times.

Initially, they travelled to the championships in organized buses.

“We started out with a group of about 50,” said Webster of Newtown Square.

Now, Ulmer, a former high school principal from Springfield, drives them to the competition.

Ulmer was the best wrestler of the three. He is a member of the athletic hall of fame at Drexel University.

McGann’s wrestling career at Franklin & Marshall College, where he was undefeated as a freshman, was derailed by injury.

Webster went to Brown University and once wrestled former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

“I didn’t do well,” he said.

Read more about the three friends and their love of wrestling in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.

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