Gone, Lost & Forgotten: Their Best = Moravian

The Greyhounds of Moravian at one time provided a Division III home nearby Division I powerhouse Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The 1993 Middle-Atlantic conference champions, who also placed eighth at the NCAA Division III tournament were a team of inspiration.

177 lbs
Dave Mucka

The most well known grappler in Greyhound history would have to be Dave Mucka.  Taking runner-up honors for the Greyhounds at the 1966 Division II tournament, Mucka would place fifth at the Division I tournament.  As a senior in 1967 Mucka took fourth at the Division II tournament.  Normally only the champion & runner-up got an invitation to the DI tournament,with an occasional wildcard given certain third place finishers.  Mucka is one of the only wrestlers to finish below third, who still got an invite.  He finished in sixth place at the DI tournament.  He was also selected as a participant in the East vs West All Star dual.

Post college Mucka immediately went to work for NASA and was part of the team that sent Apollo 11 to the moon in 1969.  He was also the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers  & he taught Chemistry and Physics.

150, 142 lbs
David Yonnery 

A great for Greyhounds, Yonnery twice placed third at the NCAA Division III championships in 1991 & 1992.

177, 167 lbs
Anthony Spagnola 

Spagnola was a two time All American for the Greyhounds.  He placed eighth as a sophomore at the 1992 NCAA Division III championships & then took fourth as a senior in 1994.  Today he is the head of the Beca Junior Hawks youth program.

150 lbs
Andy Koch 

Andy Koch began his career wrestling in the NJCAA for Northampton Community College (Another program we've lost) before coming to Moravian.  He had a standout senior season for the Greyhounds winning the Middle-Atlantic conference title and placing seventh at the NCAA Division III championships.

142 lbs
Mike Froehlich 

In four years of high school wrestling at Pleasant Valley high school, Mike Froehlich was known to his coaches and his teammates as the hardest worker on the team.  A leader and a motivator, Froehlich put together a 92-20 record and finished sixth in the state as a senior.  He was determined to have a standout collegiate career.

Only he was met with nothing but adversity and disappointment.  He began his career at Wilkes where he had a mediocre freshman campaign.  A series of serious injuries completely kept him off the mat & out of the weight room his sophomore season.  Unable to work out, when he came back his junior season, he was well over the weight class he had been recruited to wrestle.  He transferred to Moravian for his senior season.

He got his health back to where he was on the mat again, but he was still having mediocre results.  To make matters even worse, he was given some of the worst news of his life.  His father's health was failing and their was a chance that he might die.  Froehlich told his coach that under the circumstances that he was quitting the team.

His mother spoke to him one day after visiting his father.  She told him that his Dad wanted him to wrestle & that he should go back.

Two weeks after telling the coach he was done, Froehlich showed up in the Moravian wrestling room.  He told his teammates and his coach that they were going to win the conference title in March.  He started off by defeating two opponents, one of which had majored him earlier in the season.  He went on to win an individual Middle-Atlantic title while the Greyhounds won the team title.

At the NCAA Division III championships, Froehlich wrestled better than he ever had in his life making the finals.  Wrestling for the championship at 142 lbs, Froehlich was taken down in the first period.  He responded by whipping his opponent over to his back and winning by a decisive score.

When he returned to the hospital to visit his father, his father was in the best shape and in the best spirits he had been in, in a long time.  He gave his father his championship gold plaque, in which his father kept with him at all times.  From the doctors, to the nurses, to the custodians and even people just walking by, everyone knew that his son, Mike Froehlich was a National champion.

Altogether that season Froehlich had twenty seven victories, sixteen of which were pins.