As fans file into Rec Hall to watch the wrestling team, they may be unaware the team might not be where it is today were it not for the hard work and enormous help from a very special group of people, the wrestling booster club.

The booster club was created in 1981 to get community development and support for the team. Currently, the club boasts about 700 members with a wide diversity of people, including lawyers, doctors, laborers and students.

The current president, Art Freeman, has been a fan of Penn State wrestling for many years. He moved to Bellefonte nine years ago, and for 20 years prior to moving, he would drive from his home in Tyronne to watch the wrestling matches.

Freeman, now in his second term as president, heads a "sophisticated system of 19 committees. Everyone does their job. Everyone cares. Each committee tries to better the others."

The committees report during the club meetings, which are held on the last Wednesday of every month. They distribute a newsletter 10-15 times per year.

An important part of the club is the student affiliate. There are 15 student members, 10-12 of whom are active. The president of the affiliate, Nora Bevilacqua, is also a student manager of the wrestling team. Her brothers, Christopher and Michael, both wrestled for Penn State.

"(The affiliate club) organizes what has to be done," Bevilacqua said. They help to set up the scoreboards before the meets, and do all of the on-campus promotion for the team.

The work of the student affiliate was also prominantly displayed in McClanahan's Drug Store, 116 W. College Ave. A window-sized Nittany Lion, clad in wrestling attire, was painted in the front of the store last week to help promote the wrestling meets against Lock Haven, Lehigh and Clarion.

The students have a "humongous" job, said Connie Christiansen, the adult advisor and liason. They help during matches by videotaping and keeping statistics, and also keep score and statistics for junior tournaments, she said.

The booster club aids the team in other ways as well. They help to raise money through clothing sales and fundraisers. This money has been spent on the new scoreboards, as well as lodging at away meets, and even for wrestling scholarships. Money also goes towards banquets, picnics, socials and other events to meet and get to know the wrestlers. These events are organized by the booster club.

Of course, an impoprtant function is to provide spirit during the meets. Freeman recalled last year's Easterb Wrestling League Tournament in Bloomsburg.

"There were about 5000 people in the arena," he said, "and it is no joke that 4500 were from Penn State."

In fact, he said Penn State "normally outdraws anyone (it) faces", even at away meets, because the booster club charters busses and travels with the team.

The club also supports wrestling on other levels. It helps to organize tournaments on the high school level as well as other junior tournaments.

"We support wrestling," said Freeman, "not just on college level, but things that are related to wrestling."

The club is "a tremendous help," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "Everything they do is checked out. They take a mature approach, and employ a code of ethics we expect from our fans."

The booster club cares about the team, Lorenzo said, not only as wrestlers but also as people.

"Talk to any Penn State wrestler," he said. "It will be one of the main things he mentions."