Established in 2009.
Bill Pruitt graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in 1952. He won the Indiana State Wrestling Championship in the 119 pound class that year. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and was on the All-Navy wrestling team.
Upon returning to Indianapolis, he attended classes at what is now IUPUI.
Bill became a Journeyman Lather and was co-owner of Indy Walls and Ceilings, a lathing and plastering company.
In 1958, Bill was contacted by his friend, Leo Mahoney, who was the wrestling coach at Cathedral High School. He asked Bill to teach his wrestling skills to the young wrestlers. Bill spent many happy hours at Cathedral.
From 1967 to 1970, Bill was Tom Yaggi’s Assistant Coach in the CYO program at Our Lady of Lourdes.
In 1970, Bob Kirkhoff asked Bill to start a CYO wrestling program at St. Jude’s. He left St. Jude’s in 1979 after several very successful years.
In 1979, Mike McGinley asked Bill to be the Assistant Wrestling Coach at Cathedral High School. He left Cathedral in 1986. From 1979-1986, Cathedral’s record was 112-9-1, for a .926 winning percentage. Some of Cathedral’s highlights during that time are:
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6 City Championships
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7 Sectional Championships
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5 Regional Championships
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2 Semi-State Championships
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2 3rd place finishes in State Championship (1984 and 1985)
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2 State Championship Runner-up (1983 and 1986)
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28 State Finalists
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3 State Champions
Bill spent many happy hours coaching all of the boys at all of the schools. He often said he got a lot more out of it than he put into it.
Bill received many awards, including CYO’s Monsignor Albert Busald Service Award in 1976 and their St. John Bosco Award for Outstanding Service to Youth in 1988.
Bill was inducted into the Arsenal Technical High School Hall of Fame in 2005, and was posthumously inducted into the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame in 2012.
Bill’s family includes his wife, Joan (Jody) Roessle Pruitt, his children Steven (Mary Anne), Sharon Drehs (Scott), Robert (Julie), and David, as well as nine grandchildren.