5th Annual Outdoor Wrestling Festival Honors Late South Huntington HS Coach

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Wrestling is usually an indoor sport, but, once a year, Walt Whitman High School takes it outside and stretches the mats from end zone to end zone on the high school football field as the Walt Whitman Wrestling program holds the annual Vin Altebrando Outdoor Wrestling Festival.

This year's festival is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday. Presented in partnership with the Wildcat Booster Club, the tournament is the "premier outdoor wrestling festival in New York," according to the district.

Whitman Wrestling Coach Vin Altebrando thought of the idea, and after his sudden death, his family, friends and colleagues worked to make his dream a reality.

First held in 2018, the festival honors the life and legacy of Altebrando who died in April of 2018 at the age of 51 from a rare autoimmune disease. It’s become a popular event on the Long Island wrestling calendar. The tournament was not held in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This year’s event will raise money to help one of Whitman’s own: 1999 Whitman graduate and wrestling program alumnus, Jason Monshine, was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer and is out of work.

Festival organizer and Whitman wrestling coach Chris Cardella has stayed in touch with Monshine, who lives in Florida, through social media.

"I saw what he was going through," Cardella said in a news release. "We've always donated to such big organizations in the past, like autism awareness, breast cancer and pediatric cancer, so I thought it'd be nice this year to donate some money to one of the homegrown, you know, a South Huntington guy."

In addition to the outdoor wrestling matches, the festival will feature a DJ, raffles, and food. There will be plenty of area for spectators to set up lawn chairs and blankets.

Wrestlers from schools across Long Island were invited to attend. In the past, the festival has had more than 300 wrestlers of all ages and skill levels, male and female, competing for the championship Hammer Trophy.