The name “Brohard” has become synonymous with the sport of wrestling at Stony Brook. During Class Night each May, the most excellent performer and contributor on the wrestling team is given the Thomas W. Brohard, Jr. ’25 Wrestling Award. This morning, eight teams and well over 100 athletes competed in the 27th Annual Brohard Wrestling Tournament. Yet, this legend from Grafton, West Virginia, never wrestled for the Blue and White because no such team existed during his years at the Brook.

Instead, Brohard was a captain on the football team and a standout for the basketball, baseball, and track squads. After graduating, he attended Davidson College where his interest in wrestling was first piqued and in the fall of 1932 Tom returned to the North Shore of Long Island and established our school’s first wrestling squad.

The team’s maiden voyage was replete with struggles and they went 0-6 on the season, but rapid improvement was witnessed in the 1933 squad that finished 6-1. The Blue and White grapplers continued to gain traction in 1934 as the team went 11-2 and won the inaugural Suffolk County Wrestling Championship. Additionally, four County Champions were crowned as Stony Brook Hall of Famers Julius Ward and Philip Voegelin, along with Lane Patterson and Doug Watt, emerged victorious.

In 1936 and 1937, four of Brohard’s protégés, Arthur Elliot, Jr., Paul Landis, Norman Aarseth, and Paul Bickford became the first and only individual Long Island Champions in Stony Brook athletic history. Tom Brohard would, incredibly, go on the establish wrestling programs at fifteen other Long Island high schools. In 1990 the Long Island Invitational tournament was renamed in honor of Tom Brohard for all he contributed to Stony Brook athletics.

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