Jason Gilligan, 29, died Sunday at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. Gilligan lived in Allentown and was a physical-education teacher at nearby Palisades High School. He was the head wrestling coach for four years before stepping down.
His full obituary is on page A9.
Last February at the District 9 Wrestling Tournament at Clarion University, Gilligan became the first Raiders wrestler to be inducted into the District 9 Wrestling Hall of Fame, following coaches Les Turner and Lenny Ferraro.
His accomplishments on the mat made it an easy choice. Gilligan became the first Raider to win four district titles - Eli Morres has since joined him - and is one of just seven Class AA four-timers in District 9 history.
Gilligan won a regional title as a junior and is the program's only three-time state medalist. Gilligan placed third as sophomore and junior at 135 and 140 pounds respectively.
Then as a senior, capping off a season that also included a state team dual meet title, Gilligan won the 145-pound state title.
It was his drive for that state title that left a mark on current Raiders head coach Dave Klepfer, who was an assistant at the time.
"So many great memories come to mind when you talk about Jason and his wonderful career as a wrestler, especially seeing the look of satisfaction and joy on his face as a stood atop the podium with a PIAA gold medal around his neck," he said.
"One of my most vivid memories of Jason is when he was a freshman winning the District 9 title over a returning PIAA runner-up (Jeff Miller of Cameron County)," Klepfer added. "He was such a fierce competitor and refused to back down from anyone."
Gilligan brought that memory up when talking about his Hall of Fame induction in February.
Gilligan finished his four years with the Raiders as the team's all-time winningest wrestler with a 118-24 record, which now ranks second behind Morres. He and his father Jere, who won a title in 1969, is the school's only father-son district championship duo.
Matt Park, a former Raiders assistant and junior high coach who now coaches at Penn State-DuBois, was impressed by Gilligan's drive despite tough setbacks, especially at the state tournament.
"He was the biggest competitor with the most perserverance of any athlete I've been around," he said. "Watching the character of him coming back for third two times in the state tournament when his dreams of winning a state title were just crushed shows the type of individual and person he was."
Gilligan was 16-2 in three years at Hershey.
"I saw it in junior high that you knew he was going to have an outstanding varsity career," said Scott Park, one of Gilligan's junior high coaches. "During his sophomore year, he lost his opening match at states and battled back through the losers' bracket by winning five straight bouts to take third. It didn't surprise me that it was Gilly."
Gilligan, who also said he'd like to get back into coaching again this spring, hoped that he'd be joined someday by some teammates in the Hall of Fame, including close teammate and college mat rival Jeremy Reitz, another Raiders state champion in 1999.
With Gilligan at Lock Haven and Reitz at Clarion University, the two tangled more than once. While Reitz won the overall matchup by a slight margin, Gilligan won the last bout between the two.
"The weird thing about it was knowing how Jason hates to lose and knowing I did too just as bad," Reitz said during an informal get-together of the 1999 team in February. "Someone was going to lose and that was the hardest thing for me. I didn't want it to be me, obviously."
Gilligan finished his career at LHU with a 63-46 record and 15 pins. He was a two-time NCAA Division I national qualifier in his junior and senior seasons (2003 and 2004), finishing third and fourth at the Eastern Wrestling League Championships those seasons. He was second and third respectively at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships.
Gilligan's 35-second pin during the 2001-02 season ties him for fifth place on the team's all-time list.
"It's very easy to reference a guy like Jason when we talk about excellence, leadership and most of all being good people and good citizens, because in the end when we see each and every senior walk out the door, those are the qualities we as coaches want to instill into each young man," Klepfer said. "Jason obviously has all of the medals to prove that he was one of, if not the best wrestler to come out of Brookville. He was a great wrestler, great teammate, a great leader and most of all an even better person."
Brookville's 1999 championship team now has lost three of its starters. Clint Puller and Matt Geer died in 2001 and 2006 respectively.
Head coach Lenny Ferraro died in 1998, the year before the Raiders' title run.
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