Legendary NFA wrestling coach Snitkin passes away at 72
Art Ziegler thought about weighins when discussing Carl Snitkin, the father of Norwich Free Academy wrestling.
“I don't want to tick a lot of people off, but back in those days, we had things called ‘honor weigh-ins',” said Ziegler, the former Montville wrestling coaching great. “Carl was always one of those guys who I could always trust that his kids had made weight. Some other guys, you didn't know if (their kids) had made weight. “Carl was always a gentleman.”
Snitkin, who started NFA wrestling and built it into a behemoth, died Friday. He was 72.
“I pretty much modeled myself after him and had high expectations of dedication and commitment to the sport,” said Roy Wentworth, who both wrestled for and coached under Snitkin before becoming NFA's head coach. “I tried to get my wrestlers to reach higher expectations than what they initially expected from themselves, that they thought they were capable of doing, but, at the same time, pursuing academics and readying yourself for the future.
“My best assessment of him is that he practiced what he preached. He led by example. When I wrestled for him from 1980-83, he was at the height of competing in powerlifting and he won the worlds at that time.
“Carl quickly established some of the roughest, toughest, most physical wrestlers in the area. Along with being tough wrestlers, they were very difficult to beat. He built a great legacy of wrestling.” FORMER WINDHAM WRESTLING COACH BRIAN CRUDDEN
He coached us, then he'd go home and train himself.”
Before Danbury wrestling became one of the greatest programs in state high school history, there was NFA. Snitkin began the program in 1974 and coached for 25 years.
The Wildcats won 13 conference titles and nine CIAC Class LL state championships. That included winning six straight from 1983-88, a state record at that time. Only Danbury has won more successive CIAC titles (14).
“He commanded respect without having to be in anyways seen as a big scary guy,” said Dave Nowakowski, who wrestled at NFA for Snitkin and is a consultant for the CIAC wrestling committee.
“He was one of those coaches that you didn't want to let him down. And I know that's the case for a lot of coaches, but there are certain ones you really felt like you weren't just doing it for yourself and didn't want to let the coach down. I think that was probably the thing I remember most about him, everyone striving to do their best.”
Snitkin coached 63 wrestlers who won either a Class LL, State Open or New England championship.
He had a 471-80-7 record in dual meets, the most in the state when he retired. He was in the charter class of the Connecticut chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003 and was also elected to the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Snitkin's Wildcats were known for their power. He was a four-time national collegiate powerlifting champion (1969-72) at Springfield College and a member of the United States world championship team in 1971. He won gold in the super heavyweight division at the 1976 Pan American Games, and North American championships in 1980 and 1981.
“Carl quickly established some of the roughest, toughest, most physical wrestlers in the area,” former Windham head coach Brian Crudden said. “Along with being tough wrestlers, they were very difficult to beat. He built a great legacy of wrestling.”
Nowakowski said, “I think the impression from other teams was NFA was just a bunch of weightlifters because of what he embodied. In other people's mind, we were a bunch of muscle heads that maybe were not as technical. I always perceived our team as being as skilled as anyone else. … To be honest, I should've lifted then, but I lifted infrequently.” n.griffen@theday.com