[Sly Fox]

4 Dernlan brothers teamed for 10 state championships
Wrestling was a way of life for this West Liberty-Salem family.

By David Jablonski, Staff Writer
Updated 10:42 AM Saturday, August 14, 2010

WEST LIBERTY — Dave Dernlan remembers how it all began. His oldest boy, Jeff, came home one day after basketball practice in middle school, asking, “Is there anything I can do where I can touch a guy and the ref won’t blow his whistle?”

“We can think about wrestling,” Dave told him.

Dave didn’t have a farm, so the wrestling mat became the place where his four boys developed the work ethic, integrity and honesty he wanted them to possess. By winning 10 individual state titles between 1985 and 1993, the Dernlans of West Liberty-Salem High School also built themselves a permanent place in the record books.

“Jeff kind of blazed the trail,” said Dave Dernlan, a pastor for many years at Grace Chapel in West Liberty. “Right after that conversation, he told me, ‘I want to be a state champion.’ I remember his sophomore year when he lost in the finals, he had big tears in his eyes, but I gave him the thumbs-up and said, ‘It’s going to be OK. We’re going the right way.’ The next year, he won, and it was an exhilarating feeling.”

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