[Men's Wrestling] Williamson Mourns the Loss of Former All-American Wrestler Phil Carbonetta 0W2
The Williamson athletic community is mourning the sudden passing of former standout wrestler Phil Carbonnetta 0W2, who died unexpectedly on April 6.
A graduate of the Class of 0W2, Carbonetta made a name for himself and put Williamson wrestling on the map with his performance at the 2001 National Junior College Athletic Association's national championships in Bismark, North Dakota. Ranked last in the field of 64 participants in the 141-pound weight class, Carbonetta stunned the collegiate wrestling world, as he pinned the #1, #7, #8 and #2 seeded wrestlers to advance to the national finals. He eventually lost the national championship in double overtime on a controversial call to the #4 ranked wrestler, but drew the attention and admiration from everyone who was in attendance.
"When you consider that Phil barely qualified for nationals and then drew the #1 seeded wrestlers in the nation in the first round, the odds of him making it to the second round, let alone the national final, were as close to zero as you could get. The funny thing was that no one told Phil that," reminisced long-time Williamson athletic director Dale Plummer.
"It wasn't just that he beat all the ranked wrestlers he did to make it to the finals, he pinned them all! People who were there simply could not believe what they were seeing."
His coach at Williamson at that time was current West Chester Henderson coach Rob Beighley, who reminisced about Phil as well.
"Phil loved the 'rawness' of wrestling. I nicknamed him 'terror' because when he was on, he was a terror on the mat. He was the type of guy who would run through walls for his coaches and teammates.
"When he made his nationals run it all started the week before. He had a gun slinger mentality and just wanted the opportunity to qualify and see what he could do. When we were at Nationals his quote was that 'the hand of God was running through him.' To do what he did was beyond incredible.
"After he got robbed in ultimate overtime, he actually consoled me after he was on the podium which was funny cause that was definitely a role reversal. But that is the type of guy and competitor he was."
After he lost in such a controversial fashion in the championship bout, Carbonetta handled things so well that he was awarded the Joseph A. Reichenbach award for outstanding sportsmanship for the national tournament.
In 2009, Carbonetta was inducted into the Williamson Athletic Hall of Fame. The school also retired his singlet at that time, the only Williamson wrestler to date to achieve such an honor.
"To this day, I'm not sure everyone fully understands the magnitude of what Phil accomplished at nationals that year. Have other unseeded guys at the very bottom of a weight class made it to a national final? Perhaps. Has anyone pinned the #1, #7, #8 and the #2 seeded guys to do so? No. And chances are that will never, ever happen again. He truly made history in 2001," explained Plummer.
Carbonetta also made news off the mat, as not long after he graduated from Williamson, he donated one of his kidneys to his mother who was in desperate need of a new one.
"Again, that is who Phil was," shared Beighley. "He had a way of making everyone feel special and he proved that in the way he was always willing to help anyone he knew who needed it. He will be forever missed."