Westgate Celebrates Weighty Donation
Jun 7, 2016
On Tuesday, June 7, Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute will be welcoming and thanking a very special Tiger Alumni. Former Westgate Tiger Wrestler Wyatt Wishart will be visiting the school and the special weight training room that he personally funded. The weight room with approximately $20,000 in equipment was opened to students this past February.
“We are extremely pleased and proud to welcome Mr. Wishart back to Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute,” says Coral Charlton, Principal at Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute. “The entire school is grateful and thankful for this incredible donation. Mr. Wishart has made an everlasting positive impact on students for years to come.”
Wyatt Wishart was inducted in the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the following is his bio posted on the Sports Hall of Fame website:
“A star athlete at Thunder Bay’s Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Wyatt shone both on the football field and the wrestling mat during the 1970s. Following in his father Sherry’s footsteps in football, Wyatt twice earned Outstanding Junior Linesman awards from Westgate, played middle guard for Concordia University and signed a contract with the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL in 1981.
It was in the sport of wrestling, however, that Wyatt would leave his mark on the international sporting scene competing successfully in Greco-Roman, freestyle and sambo classes for close to 10 years. Westgate’s outstanding wrestler in 1974 Wyatt was named to the junior National team the following year. In 1976 he earned what would be his first of 8 Canadian wrestling titles competing in the 220 lb. (100 kg) and Heavyweight classes at the junior and senior levels. An exceptional master of Judo Wyatt also earned Quebec and Canadian team championships in this sport.
Representing Canada on the international and world stages starting in 1977, Wyatt’s abilities truly shone, earning two gold medals at the Pan-Am Junior Wrestling Championships and a bronze at the World Junior Freestyle Wrestling Championships that year.
For the next five years, Wyatt continued to represent his country with distinction earning three World Cup bronze medals, two more Pan-Am Junior Wrestling gold medals, a bronze medal at the 1979 Pan-American games and a gold medal at both the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games.”
