April 9, 2009 Wrestlemania: Teachers, Rotarians battle in ring during fundraising event By BOB VOSSELLER Staff Writer LACEY — It was a battle royale between teachers and Rotarians who wrestled at the Lacey High School gymnasium recently. No matter who won or lost, the Forked River Rotary Club and its high school level organization, the Interact Club proved victorious. Proceeds from the event went to the two organizations which perform various community service projects in the township and in other areas of Ocean County throughout the year. On March 21, the two organizations joined with school teachers from the township school district to hold the second wrestling match event which, along with matches between Rotarians and school teachers, also included several professional wrestlers. The event was promoted by the National Wrestling Superstars and featured several experienced wrestlers like former wrestling star Rikishi, who holds the title "Master of the Stinkface." Other stars included The Blue Meanie, Sal Sincere, The Patriot and some local wrestlers. "Rikishi is a world-wide star and this was a rare east coast appearance for him," said Rotarian Charlie Ziegler, who was known as "The Official." East Coast Wrestling League wrestler, The Equalizer, faced Ocean County resident Ryan Blackheart in a Lacey hardcore tables bout. Lacey's own home-grown wrestling champion, Rhett Titus, returned for the event to defend the title he gained during last year's Rotary wrestling event. "It is cool to come back to the area. I still live in Lacey. I went through the whole Lacey school system. I went to Cedar Creek, Mill Pond, the middle school and graduated from Lacey High School when I was 17 in 2005," he said. Titus said he was not part of the Lacey High School wrestling team, but played some football during his high school years in the district. "I went to wrestling school after I graduated," he said. Titus defeated his arch-rival Nicky Oceans of Barnegat during last year's event. Lanoka Harbor Elementary School teacher David "The Leprechaun" Leonard wore white shorts with green shamrocks, green socks and sported a red beard and green hat for the occasion. Scott "Bonecrusher" Boedigheiner is a physical education teacher at the Forked River Elementary School. He wore a black T-shirt and a necklace fashioned as bones for the event. Tom Dorso is the director of student services in the school district, but for this occasion, he was "The Manager." "We have trained by eating pizza, ice cream and we pumped iron to bulk up," he said. Ziegler said the Rotary's secret weapon was Lacey High School teacher Bunny "The Energizer" McGauley. McGauley is a long-time Rotary member and also serves as the advisor to the Interact Club. "The Rotary helps feed the poor at Thanksgiving, provides gifts during the holidays and gives dictionaries to third-grade students, as well as provides scholarships to high school seniors," Ziegler said. Interact President Jenna Caroccia said she enjoyed the event. She said about eight members of her club helped paint a house being used as a group home in Bayville as a community service project last month. "It was really a great event," Rotarian Kathie Nelms said. The Rotary Club has an event coming up on May 3. "We are doing a child saftey day with the police departments from Waretown, Lacey and Barnegat. We will have the child ID program, bike saftey, car seat inspections and much more," Nelms said.