The Gowanda Central School varsity wrestling program has featured several good teams over the past 50 seasons. However, no team has won a Section VI title since the 1965-66 season.

Coming off their only losing record (1964-65) in the program’s first 11 seasons, the Panthers had their work cut out for them once the 1965-66 campaign began. However, the team quickly re-established their dominance in the Southern Tier circuit by winning all of their dual meets until a late season encounter with Southwestern on their home mat. And although Gowanda had won six Section VI titles over the last eight seasons, the Trojans were always one of their toughest foes.

And sure enough, once the matches began, the visiting team from Lakewood again proved to be a tough out. The entire meet was close throughout but the Trojans prevailed by the score of 25-24. When the final Southern Tier Conference standings were released, Gowanda found themselves in second place behind Southwestern.

During the first week of March, however, Gowanda would have the chance to get their revenge at the Section VI meet that was held at Southwestern. And after a full day of competition against all of the Class B schools, it was determined that Gowanda and Southwestern had the same amount of points and were tied for first place. There was even a facetious comment made that the Section VI trophy would be taken down to the school’s metal shop and cut in half.

In the meantime, Gowanda senior wrestler Dave Josephson — who would later become an actuary — was peering through all of the matches that had taken place that day. And there it was, a mistake that the honor student caught and presented to the official scorer. Gowanda was then awarded the title outright by a mere one point. The Panthers did indeed get their revenge and brought home their seventh and last Section VI wrestling trophy. And their final record was 14 wins and one loss by one point. Their “B” team coached by Dennis Crouse also had a terrific season and went undefeated.

The top wrestlers for Gowanda in 1965-66 included: Loren Stafford, Paul Phillips, Mike Miller, Ken Phillips, Howard Parish, Wayne Hall, Don Bray, Dave Josephson, Tim Witherell, John Benton, Joe Gernatt and Kerwin George. Eight of those wrestlers placed in the Section VI tournament. Miller, Gernatt and Parish who were all members of the last Section VI title team still attend GCS wrestling matches.

As for the late Coach Ernie Bareham, he guided the varsity wrestling team for two more seasons but no more titles of any sort were recorded. Bareham was also inducted posthumously into the New York State and Western New York Wrestling Hall of Fame.