ADAM FREY LOSES HIS BATTLE

Keith Gary »
Former Blair Academy wrestler Adam Frey loses battle with cancer at 23
By Keith Gary
December 27, 2009, 7:09PM

Express-Times File Photo | BILL ADAMSAdam Frey wrestles Joe Provini, of Nazareth, in the 2002 Christmas City Wrestling Tournament at Liberty High School.Adam Wesley Frey, a 2005 graduate and standout wrestler at Blair Academy, lost a 21-month battle with cancer on Saturday. He was 23 years old.

Frey won just about every conceivable wrestling title during a brilliant prep career. Beast of the East, Christmas City Tournament, a pair of national prep titles as well as a NHSCA National Championship to go with numerous other freestyle and greco-roman titles.

"He has done it all levels and all styles," said Blair Academy coach Jeff Buxton. "He could just flat out wrestle."

Also a gifted student in the classroom, Frey enrolled at Cornell University to wrestled for the Big Red.

It was following an automobile crash in late March 2008, in Ithaca, N.Y. that the college junior received the good news-bad news from the medical staff -- the injuries sustained in the accident would heal, but a CAT scan showed he had three tumors inside his body.

Frey's story and battle with stage III germ-cell cancer was picked up by AOL's fanhouse.com and Sports Illustrated. However, it was his own words on adamfrey.us that were most powerful as he captured the roller coaster of emotions for himself and those close to him.

Photo courtesy of Cornell UniversityAdam Frey
In one of his final posts prior to his mother, Cynthia, taking over most updates in the month of December, Frey wrote of his hopes of one day returning to the mat at Cornell.

"I am some timing and conditioning away from being able to go again. I wasn't sure, but now I am. I can train correctly again. Maybe not as consistently, or as hard, or as long, but fortunately, a match is only seven minutes, and after this cancer ... I can do anything for seven minutes."

Buxton returned from coaching the Buccaneers to another Beast of the East title last Sunday when he received a call the following day that Frey's condition had deteriorated.

"He's a special human being and he handled a lot of pain," said Buxton, who spent part of Monday and Tuesday with Adam and his family. "He couldn't communicate well because of the ventilator but he could understand what we were saying and you could see the pain in his eyes."


Courtesy PhotoJeff BuxtonFrey relocated from Shaler Township, Pa., to wrestle for the powerhouse Blair Academy program and was followed by younger brother Garrett who is now a freshman at Princeton University.

"Adam was a great friend, a great team leader and a great teammate," said Buxton, who will be coaching at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic this week before returning to western Pennsylvania for the services. "He tried to show everyone the right way to do things. It was like having another coach in the room."

Visitation is 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday at Neely's Funeral Home, 2208 Mount Royal Boulevard, Glenshaw, Pa. Services are 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 1965 Ferguson Road, Allison Park, Pa.

Express Times