Former Newton resident brings wrestling supply company home

Warren DePrenger has worked in wrestling most of his life. The former Newton resident wrestled with the Cardinals when he attended school here (NHS class of ’51). He wrestled for Cornell College and was a four-time Midwest Conference champion there. He taught and coached wrestling out west in Washington. And, perhaps most significantly, DePrenger has operated Matman Wrestling, Co. since 1970. “Wrestling has probably paved the way for every job I ever had,” DePrenger said. “I think it’s a wonderful individual sport.” Now DePrenger is coming full circle, bringing part of his wrestling business back to the place where he first fell in love with the sport. For DePrenger, the move makes perfect sense. A wrestling supply company based in Tacoma, Wash., Matman ships wrestling uniforms, warm-ups and other accessories around the world. The company makes their own uniforms and imports and sells other supplies like wrestling shoes. The company markets primarily to sporting goods retailers and DePrenger wanted to have a centralized shipping location and strong Midwest presence to help his business. It just so happened that DePrenger also sponsored the former International Wrestling Museum. So when the museum left Newton and was offering the building on Highway 14 and Interstate 80 for sale, DePrenger jumped at the opportunity. He envisions the Newton Wrestling Center primarily as a shipping point, but was hard at work earlier this week setting up a show room in the lower level of the building, just in case the location garners some walk-in traffic. The showroom will include examples of some of the company’s products. Matman will host a grand opening at the new location on Saturday beginning around 9 a.m. Contact the center at 792-1660 or visit www.wrestlers-supply.com.