CLASS ACT

PALMER — I first met Tommy Class about six years ago.

Class was in the sixth grade at Teeland Middle School. For the most part, Class was a fairly typical 12-year-old.

He was into archery, fishing and riding snowmachines, and he was part of the Teeland wrestling team.

But Class was also legally blind.

The condition, originally diagnosed as retinitis pigmentosa, didn’t keep him off the wrestling mat as a sixth-grader. And his limited sight has not kept him off since.

Class worked his way through the Teeland program, and now he’s ready to cap his high school career in historic fashion. This weekend, Class could very well be, and most likely will be, the first legally blind athlete in Alaska to compete in a state wrestling tournament.

The Colony High School senior is one of 22 Knights who will hit the mat for the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships, which starts today at 9 a.m. at Chugiak High School.

And regardless of where Class finishes in the 16-man, 189-pound bracket, it’s a story that deserves to be remembered long after the final awards are handed out.

“I’m pretty stoked,” Class said before his team’s practice on Thursday afternoon. “I didn’t think I was going to do as well as I did.”

Class, who has been re-diagnosed with Leber Congenital Amaurosis, has stayed active in the sport since a family friend introduced him to wrestling more than 11 years ago.

He’s wrestled three of the last four seasons for the three-time defending state champion Knights, and this year Class worked his way into the starting lineup at 189.

Class took his junior year off and considered skipping his senior season as well. But Colony head coach Dave Booth saw his potential.

“Actually, Booth told me he was expecting me to make it to state this year,” Class said. “He told me, ‘Tommy, you’ve got to come out for wrestling.”

So Class did.

Although legally blind, Class does retain some element of his sight, albeit limited. Foundation Fighting Blindness defines Leber Congenital Amaurosis as “an inherited retinal degenerative disease characterized by severe loss of vision at birth.”

Class said simply that his retinas are messed up, but his condition has stayed stable.

He uses a cane as he makes his way down the Colony High School hallways. Special equipment helps Class keep up with his studies. He’s a good student and is set to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage next year.

On the mat, there are a few special rules that apply to matches with visually impaired athletes. Wrestlers touch hands at the center of the mat at the beginning of every match. There must be constant contact, and if the wrestlers break, the referee blows the whistle and the match is restarted back at the center of the mat.

“As far as the technique and everything else, it’s exactly the same,” Booth said.

Booth said there haven’t been any problems with opposing teams because of the special provisions, and as far as the Knights are concerned, Class is just one of the wrestlers.

“Tommy has had no problem being a member of this team,” Booth said. “They respect him just like any other wrestler.”

Kenny Boykin, a Colony senior and the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 171 pounds, said he doesn’t see other wrestlers taking advantage of Class’ visual impairment.

“They see that he’s blind. They don’t cut him any slack, but they don’t pick out his blindness as a weakness,” Boykin said.

Class said he relies mostly on feel during a match. He’ll listen for his coaches if he can.

“I usually can’t hear because I’m so focused,” Class said. “If I catch what they’re saying, it helps out a lot.”

Last Friday during the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Wasilla High School, Class won his first two matches.

He pinned Soldotna’s Ryan Dahlgren in the first round. In the conference quarterfinals, Class scored a 9-5 win over Alex Rodriques of Skyview.

That win guaranteed that Class would be one of six NLC grapplers in the 189-pound class headed to the state tourney.

After that match, Class said he thought, “Wow, I’m tired. But I’m going to state.”

Class finished sixth in the tourney. He said he would have liked to have done better. But he did enough to bring him back to the mat for another week.

Those around him all share in a sense of pride.

“It’s very cool,” Boykin said. “I enjoy seeing him here and seeing how happy he is.”

Booth said it’s a testament of Class’ effort.

“It validates a lot of hard work,” Booth said. “I’m proud of him. He’s worked hard.”

The achievement also shows Class’ growth. When I first met Class, he was a typical 12-year-old. He was a little antsy, anxious to get out of his seat as I talked to him in the Teeland Middle School classroom of Colony assistant coach Bill Booth.

And on Thursday, Class stood tall, just as any other high school senior who is months away from graduation.

“You look at the kid, when you first saw him, he didn’t look like an athlete,” Dave Booth said. “Now, he looks like an athlete. He’s worked hard.”

As Class makes his way to the mat today for his first match of the state tourney, he’ll not only have his teammates around, but he’ll also have the three coaches who have guided him through the wrestling ranks.

Tony Olivera, who coached Class at the youth and club levels, is an assistant at CHS. Bill Booth, Class’ coach at Teeland, is also on the staff alongside Dave.

“It’s kind of neat that the three guys that are still with him are the three guys who have been with him since he started,” Booth said.

As far as anyone can tell, Class will be the first visually impaired athlete to compete in an Alaska state wrestling tournament. Booth, who has been involved in some capacity in wrestling in Alaska since his days as a prep grappler at Palmer High School in the mid-1980s, said he never heard of another legally blind athlete advancing to state.

A quick Google search reveals there are other stories of legally blind athletes having success on the mat. Last spring, C.H. Flowers High School (Prince George’s Country, Md.) senior Michael Spriggs advanced to the Maryland state tournament.

That’s just another example. Now Class can be added to the list of visually impaired athletes who have had success on the mat.

But Class hasn’t spent much time thinking about the significance of his achievement.

“Not really,” Class said. “I’m just a wrestler.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.