Penn State Wrestlers: Friends for Life
Ted, how did you three meet?
Bob and I knew each other in high school since our respective high schools were rivals in the Syracuse, NY area. We became friends while we were being recruited by Penn State and came down for a wrestling picnic in the spring of 1970. The picnic was at Stone Valley and that was where we met Chris. He almost killed us on the road down Tussey Mountain coming back from the picnic. People had warned us about him and I guess we should have listened. It was the start of a torturous 40 year friendship. 
Talk about life at Penn State in the 70s, on and off the mat.
We entered Penn State in the fall of 1970. You have to remember that the early 1970's was essentially an extension of the 1960's with all the protest and social upheaval of that era. The Vietnam anti-war movement was at its height and in the spring of '70 protesters took over the administration buildings and the whole University closed down early. There were anti-war rallies, feminist rallies, gay rights rallies, Earth Day rallies, etc. You name it and someone was protesting it. Compared to today the town and campus was a frontier town. In terms of wrestling and sports in general, the whole atmosphere was more laid back. We had trimesters back then and wrestling was a fall and winter sport only. We had the spring and summer to relax. Nowadays the sports bar has been raised so high that it seems that every Division 1 athlete is consumed by their sport 12 months of the year. We admire the intensity, but, in a way, it is too bad. Penn State wrestled in the ECAC back in those days. Navy and Lehigh were our main rivals.
What are your best memories from the years you spent as Penn State Wrestlers?
The best memories were getting to campus for the first time and meeting all these great wrestlers that were already there like Andy Matter, Clyde Frantz, Dave Joyner and Don Stone. Then forming close friendships with our era guys like Charley Getty, Dan Brenneman, and John Fritz. The practices, wrestle-offs, matches, tournaments and road trips all cemented permanent friendships. As we said above, there was plenty of time for the team to socialize in the spring. We lived in this wrestling apartment at Golfview Apartments. It had been a wrestling apartment for years.
Tell us about the paths that each of you has followed since you graduated from Penn State that ultimately led you to MCK.
I left Penn State and went to Virginia Tech to get a Masters in Urban Planning. I was assistant coach on the wrestling team there and graduated in 1976. 
Upon graduation I married the former Kathy Kummer of State College and after living for six months in State College, I took a position with a land development company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Bob came up to Syracuse University to go to grad school. He got married in college to his high school sweetheart, Judy Candee. (Kathy, Ted, Bob and Judy in photo at left)
Judy's father later became the "C" in MCK Building Associates. Bob was assistant wrestling coach at Syracuse University. After grad school he taught high school and opened a Mexican gift shop in a mall in Syracuse. In 1978 I called Bob from Kalamazoo and said " let's start a construction company". Bob said "Let' s do it" and MCK Building Associates was born. Meanwhile Chris was teaching school and coaching wrestling in Ridgeway, Pa. for several years. In 1983 he packed his bags and headed to Syracuse to join the wrestling construction company.
What does MCK do?
MCK Building Associates, Inc. was founded in 1978 by Bob, myself and Bob's father-in-law. We started out as a small residential general construction company. During the 1980's we had rapid growth and evolved into one of the larger commercial contractors in Central New York completing many projects for local school districts, universities and commercial office developers. Around 1990 we started to buy property and develop our own projects. MCK and its development affiliates have completed many large commercial and residential developments in Upstate New York and have retained ownership in many of them. In 1995 we started The Ultimate Goal Sports Center, a 50,000 s.f. indoor sports arena that we still own and manage.
What does each of you do at MCK?
Bob is the President of MCK. He is in charge of the banking, accounting, insurance, bonding and contracts. I am Vice President and in charge of new development, client relations and design. We are both involved with the financing of new projects. Chris is Vice President in charge of estimating and public project procurement.
Ted, tell us about the John Dau Foundation. Talk about your work in the Sudan constructing the Duk Lost Boys Clinic.
During the past decade I have befriended several Southern Sudanese "Lost Boys" who emigrated to the U.S. from refugee camps in Kenya. In 2007 I led a construction team that traveled to Duk Payuel in South Sudan and built a medical clinic in the home village of his Sudanese friends. It was the first medical facility within 500 miles. The medical clinic is still in operation and growing. I am on the Board of Directors of the John Dau Foundation, named after the Lost Boy who founded the clinic. (Ted in the Sudan in photo at right)
Note: in 2007 Ted received the Penn State Alumni Association Humanitarian Award for his work in South Sudan.
You three certainly live life to the fullest. Tell us about your upcoming trip to Tanzania, Africa to climb Kilimanjaro.
On January 12, 2011 Bob and I are leaving for Tanzania, Africa and are going to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. At 19,340 feet, Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain Africa. It is a seven day climb. We have been planning the trip for over a year and have hired guides and porters. We have limited high altitude climbing experience; I have made some climbs in the Andes and Bob has climbed in the Rockies. We will also be crossing the Serengeti and Great Rift Valley on safari after leaving the mountain. We have been trying to get these old wrestler bodies in shape to be able to make the climb. Hopefully, it will go all right.
I understand Chris doesn’t stay inactive during his off time either.
Chris has become a life-long kayaker and skier. He has kayaked all over the United States and is actually pretty famous (if you listen to him). He was one of the founders of the American Whitewater Association. He has a camp in the Adirondack Mountains that he uses constantly to support his kayaking and skiing habit. (Chris in photo at left)
How has the Penn State Wrestling experience impacted your lives/careers?
Obviously, the Penn State Wrestling connection has affected our lives tremendously. We are still friends and business partners 40 years after that first party at Stone Valley. We still return to Penn State frequently. Bob and I remain very close friends with John Fritz and actually own a house with John in State College. Bob has two daughters who both graduated from Penn State and played on the national caliber soccer teams that Penn State always fields. He has a grandson and two more grandchildren on the way. I have three children, two of whom attended Penn State and played on the ice hockey team . My daughter was team captain. I have two grandchildren. Chris has two high school age daughters. Chris's brother Rob is the #1 ranked Cornell head wrestling coach. Chris's legendary father Bill Koll was our coach at Penn State. Over the years, all of our kids have had to live with the hashing and rehashing of all the old PSU college and wrestling stories. It's who we are -- "old Penn State Wrestlers." Wouldn't have it any other way.
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