Posted at 9:05 a.m., Thursday, February 15, 2007
Dad tosses son's foe out of ring in prep wrestling
Associated Press
AURORA, Ill. — A father bounded into a youth wrestling match, picked up his son's winning opponent and launched him out of the ring, an episode caught on a home video.After tossing the 11-year-old boy into the air Sunday, the angry father headed toward the cameraman, the father of the airborne boy.
"I was just wrestling, then the guy throws me," the boy, Nick Nasenbeny of suburban Aurora, told WMAQ-TV in Chicago. It was not known if the boy was injured.
Ray Hoffman, the father in the video and a part-time wrestling coach, told the television station he regrets his behavior and feels embarrassed. He said his son's shoulder was injured. Hoffman also said he will no longer be allowed to coach.
Dean Bogess, a wrestling coach who attended the meet, said Nick was using a legal move to pin his opponent and that the referee was about to stop the match when Hoffman intervened.
"The match was being stopped. He had blown his whistle already," Bogess said.
Nick's father, Dan Nasenbeny, said he was stunned by Hoffman's actions.
"I mean, there is a lot of different ways to stop a match. Not to pick up my son and launch him 5 feet, 10 feet in the air," Nasenbeny said.
Hoffman did not return messages left by The Associated Press.
