Inductees

Honor: Lifetime Service to Wrestling
Year: 2016
Gender: Male
About Karen:

Karen has been an extremely dedicated Mom, and since 1990 an avid wrestling supporter. In 1997-98, she served as the parent Wrestling Booster Club President and head coaches’ administrator at Brethren Christian High School in Huntington Beach for Coaches Steve Glassey and Mark Cody.

Since then, she has provided the same services at Calvary Chapel High School in Santa Ana, where her son was a State Placer, to aid Coaches John Azevedo, Josh Holiday, Joey Coughran, Arsen Aleksanyan, Jacob Harman and Sal Garcia with scheduling, parent education meetings, creating parents’ handbooks, organizing travel plans and camps, planning fund-raising and banquets, training stat girls, and creating media guides.

Mrs. Tufnell has worked as a tournament director using TMI (Tournament Masters Inc.) computer programs. She has been instrumental in the successful operation of tournaments across the state of California, including CIF Divisions and Dual Meets, Masters Meets and State Championships, along with community college and Pac 10 Championship events. She has been a pairing official for California USA Wrestling. From 1989-1996, Mrs. Tufnell worked with Team So Cal’s Pat Cadwallader, Jim and Jeff Davidson. From 1989-2004, Karen volunteered at CAGWA and SCWA tournament tables and in bout rooms with Ralph Capone and Vicky San Paulo for Freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments. She conducted USA card sales with Duane Morgan and Robert Valero, created a color-code system for registration, and created a registration card system able to track a seven-tournament season to use for the All-Star Team selection — all done BC (Before Computers were available to use). In 1998, Karen obtained a USA Wrestling Mat/Pairing Official license, then moved on to Copper and Bronze certification.

She served as the local SCWA secretary for Dale Deffner and Ed Mosley for many years, hosted the wrestling team from Turkey in her home in 2002, and has sponsored various wrestlers to travel within and outside the U.S. for years. Her contributions continue today. Now retired after 40 years as an English teacher and mentor, English department chairman and WASC (Western Association for Schools and Colleges) co-chairman for three schools in the Anaheim Union High School District, Karen earned her Master’s Degree in Secondary Education.