KALISPELL — A family from Kila is attempting to honor their young son Maverick with a specially designed mat at the upcoming state wrestling tournament held at Flathead High School.
Maverick tragically passed away from complications from a rare condition in January after touching the hearts of thousands of supporters while in the hospital.
MTN News talked with Maverick’s dad Logan, who says the Montana High School Association (MHSA) is not budging in its hard stance against outside recognition during state tournament events.
“All of these schools converge on Maverick’s hometown. Just seemed a little bit too coincidental not to try to honor all the families and wrestlers that have honored Maverick and my family,” Logan told MTN News.
Logan says one of his son’s first true loves was the sport of wrestling. Prior to his illness, Logan and his wife Colleen would travel with Maverick and his four brothers across the State of Montana and the northwest, competing in wrestling events.
When Logan found out the state championships were being held in Kalispell this March, he came up with an idea to purchase a specially designed mat that would be used to honor Maverick, his supporters, and the sport he loved.
“My wife and I just felt to have something like that, that would be around for 30 years, there’s no better way to honor Maverick like that is to have kids go out there and do what Maverick loved to do,” Logan told MTN News.
After purchasing the 42-by-42-foot mat which cost more than $12,000, Logan said he was caught off guard when the MHSA said the mat would not be approved for use due to existing policy that prohibits outside recognition during state tournament events.
MHSA Executive Director Mark Beckman responded to MTN News via email about Maverick’s wrestling mat.
“The MHSA expresses our deepest sympathies to the Bench family on the loss of their son Maverick. MHSA’s longtime policy has been to keep post season events as neutral events and not to recognize individuals and causes during those events,” Beckman stated.
“The reason for the longstanding policy is that when we bring multiple communities together for the many post season activities we sanction, we know that there are many families that have lost loved ones or are dealing with family member health issues and we don’t want to slight anyone by not recognizing those individuals also,” the statement continued.
This neutrality may seem callous but the hurt of people after an event when their loved ones didn’t also get recognized is real,” Beckman stated.
“Over the years this policy has worked well as the MHSA encourages and supports our member schools to do these recognition events during their regular season contests and invitational tournaments where their specific school and local community can be intimately involved.”
The MHSA expresses our deepest sympathies to the Bench family on the loss of their son Maverick. MHSA’s longtime policy has been to keep post season events as neutral events and not to recognize individuals and causes during those events. The reason for the longstanding policy is that when we bring multiple communities together for the many post season activities we sanction, we know that there are many families that have lost loved ones or are dealing with family member health issues and we don’t want to slight anyone by not recognizing those individuals also. This neutrality may seem callous but the hurt of people after an event when their loved ones didn’t also get recognized is real. Over the years this policy has worked well as the MHSA encourages and supports our member schools to do these recognition events during their regular season contests and invitational tournaments where their specific school and local community can be intimately involved.
Maverick’s Army has more than 28,000 members on social media and continues to grow in size each day. Logan says wrestling communities from all over the state of Montana have shown support for the use of Maverick’s mat.
“I think there definitely should be a grey area and the ability to allow the communities to come together to show solidarity and support for each other,” Logan said.
Logan says seeing the mat in use at the state tournament would help bring closure to his family and Maverick’s supporters.
“It would bring some closure and some happiness, it would be the final time little Maverick is on a championship mat, that’s all we’re trying to do,” Logan said.
Logan says Maverick’s Mat will be loaded in a trailer and ready for use at any wrestling tournament no matter skill or age level moving forward.
The two Class AA state wrestling tournament takes place at Flathead High School in Kalispell on March 5 and March 6.
