By Mike Brohard
(March – 1994)

Dedication, Spirit, Inspiration

Those are the three things most people remember about Ron Kness as a Loveland High School wrestler in the late 1950’s and early '60s. .

Those three words adorn the Ron Kness Award, a scholarship 'presented annually to the LHS senior wrestler who best exemplifies those qualities.

For Larry Chrisman, 48, the founder of the award, it's a way to remember his late friend; who made a difference in his life. The Ron Kness Scholarship is now given to make a
difference in the lives of Loveland athletes.

Larry, who now is president of Colorado Steel and Wire Co. in Loveland, was a junior when he and Kness attended LHS. Larry didn't really know Kness back then, but he knew of him. Who in the school didn't know about the two-time state wrestling champion? nIt wasn't until both were going to junior college in Sterling that their paths crossed. Larry and his roommate were moving into their apartment. Kness happened by, looking for a place himself. Kness moved in with Larry, and they became fast friends. "He was a very friendly, outgoing person," .Larry said. "He's a person I knew in a manner of speaking, for a fairly short time period, but basically we just hit it off real well. He was one of my best friends."

From that time up until Kness marriage in 1968, Larry and Kness roomed together, both here in Loveland and back in Sterling. When Kness got married, the two remained friends. Larry even made a minor repair to Kness' Jeep one day in 1969 - the day before Kness died in an off-road accident on Aug. 9, 1969. It is something that Larry said he has thought about, but not dwelt on. What he has dwelt on are the memories of "one of my best friends."

Larry wanted to do something to keep the memory of Kness alive. "He was a good friend. And so I thought, try-to think of a way for him to be remembered," Larry said. "And I thought the wrestling was what he stood out at, as far as his abilities, and I thought that would be a good place to run ... to start something for him. "He was probably the first close
friend of mine to die and I think it has something to possibly do with my first go-round with death, and I didn't want it to just disappear. I wanted to keep his memory alive." And the family of Ron Kness has found it to be a touching way to remember someone close to them. "I thought it was real nice of Larry to do that," said Jean Boekel, Kness' mother. “I thought it was a great idea and it helps out a young person. It is an honor that Larry would do this. I feel really good about it."

So, in 1981, with the help of Vi Wickam, the Ron Kness Scholarship was born. Larry said he related best to Kness in other ways but knew' the best 'way to keep his memory alive was in local wrestling circles. That is how most people identified with him. Since Larry didn't run in those circles, he asked for Wickam's help. Wickam was the assistant wrestling coach at LHS when Kness wrestled, and he also was Larry's shop teacher. It was Wickam who came up with the three-word tribute to Kness. "I have. a lot of memories of
Ronnie," Wickam said, "These are key words, spirit in particular, a frame of mind or an inward.atttude. And there wasn't any question as far as the dedication. As far as practice, he was the first person there, and he wasn't the type of person to be sitting against the wall waiting for the coach to crack the whip and say get out there.

(Larry Chrisman sits with Vi Wickam, who helped Chrisman set up
a scholarship in honor of his friend)

Wickam also remembers Kness started out slowly. As a freshman, Kness was closer to 70 pounds than the 92-pound mark for his weight class. And while Kness took his beatings the first couple of years, he took notes – notes that paid off when he won his last 44 prep matches and became the first two-time state champion at LHS. Wickam was quick to join the project. Papers were drawn and criteria developed to give out the award - a $1,000 scholarship from Colorado Steel and Wire Co. The company was started in 1968 by Larry and his father, Monte, who moved here from Omaha, Nebraska 'in 1956.. Larry's father stepped down from the operation - which had outgrown its previous location and spawned a second plant in Brigham City, Utah - in 1982. Since then, Larry has served as president of.the company that produces steel T-fence posts, gates and corral panels. Larry and his wife, Jody, live in west Loveland, where the two raise horses.

Senior wrestlers at LHS apply for the award, and it is voted on by Larry and Wickam, the coaches, an' LHS counselor, the principal, two additional faculty members at LHS and two members' from the community who are well acquainted with wrestling and Kness himself. So far, 12 former Loveland wrestlers have.taken the scholarship and used it to further their education. For all, it has been a big help.

Mike Donovan. and Mark Tovar each won the award' back in 1987, after the 1986 scholarship wasn't used. Donovan used the money to help pay for part of his first year at the University of Wyoming. After his freshman year, Donovan earned an athletic scholarship and. wrestled for four seasons for the Cowboys, once winning a Western Athletic Conference championship and twice competing at the national tournament. "It definitely helped," said Donovan, who is now an assistant coach at Thompson Valley High School. "I used it to help pay for my first semester at Wyoming. I know it helped Mark a lot. I still would have gone, but I think it was the push that made him go to school."

The Ron Kness Award was the first time that Larry had done something to help out in the community, but not the last. A few years later, Larry helped set up the Front Range
Tennis Classic in Boulder. The tournament serves as a fund-raiser for the Bal Sawn Children's Center in Broomfield. The center helps handicapped and learning impaired children. Larry was drawn to the project because one of his employees' sons attended the center.

"I have a lot of memories of Ronnie. These are key
words, spirit in particular, a frame of mind or an
inward attitude. And there wasn't any question as far as
the dedication. As far as practice, he was the first
person there, and he wasn't the type of person to be
sitting against the wall waiting for the coach to crack the whip and say get out there.”

. Vi Wickam