Ted Rupp has spent most of his life in the Lancaster area. Astudent at the old F&M Academy, Ted moved on the Franklin &Marshall College, where he became a member of the strong F&Mteam. While not an outstanding collegiate wrestler, he was astudent of the sport and picked up many ideas that he laterimplemented in his coaching career. Ted's first job was at theAcademy, where he coached between 1935 and 1943, winning fourNational Prep School championships. From those teams came DickDiBattista, who went on to win the NCAA championships in 1941 and1942. His next stop was Shady Side Academy where he taught andcoached before joining the U.S. Navy for the duration of World WarII.
In 1946, Ted started a wrestling program at MillersvilleUniversity and would ultimately guide it through 12 straightwinning seasons, finishing with a 76-20-2 collegiate record. In1948-49, Ted coached both Millersville and F&M, finishing witha 20-2 combined record. That may have been the only time incollegiate wrestling history when one man coached two collegesconcurrently. After receiving his B.A. in history from F&M, Tedearned an M.A. from Penn State and a Ph.D. from the University ofPennsylvania. He was the chairman of the department of foreignlanguages at Millersville for a number of years and attended theSorbonne as a Fulbright Scholar.
Ted became an emeritus professor of French upon his retirementin 1982. In 1984, he was honored by the Lancaster Sportswriters andSportscasters Association as the recipient of the "George KirchnerAward" for his athletic accomplishments and achievements. Otherhonors include: president of the Pa. State Modern LanguageAssociation, inductee into the Pa. Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame(1975) and Educator of the Year of the PSMLA. During his coachingcareer, Ted participated in many programs to promote wrestling. Heis credited with helping to establish the sport in a number of highschools in Eastern Pa.
He has also been an active wrestling official and still helpsout occasionally when the need arises. In his retirement, Tedcontinues to log many miles each week as an avid jogger and can beseen as most local road races leading the entries in his age group.He lives in Lancaster with his wife Earla.
