WE ARE ADAPTIVE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Wrestling has lost one of its best.  John Nette, a Division I state champion in 1978 and runner-up in 1979, succumbed to cancer on February 26^th.  He was 64.

The most intense wrestling match I ever saw was the 1979 Division I 126 lbs. state finals between Tom Messonnier of Brother Martin, a senior, and John Nette of Bonnabel, a junior.  Both were returning state champions.  In the third period, down 9-7, Messonnier would not let Nette escape, which frustrated Nette so much he almost walked off of the mat.  In 1978 Nette defeated East Jefferson’s Keith Varmall 7-6 to win the 119  lbs. championship.  In 1977 Varmall won his state champion with a 7-6 win over none other than Messonnier.  Nette placed fifth in that 112 lbs. weight class.  In 1980 Nette was nowhere to be found.  His defeat, as well as what he did to my St. Martin’s teammates, became an indelible part of my wrestling history.

History became legend.  Legend became myth.  And for around 25 years Nette passed out of all knowledge, to the editor, until, when Ray Gremillion was inducted into the Louisiana Wrestling Hall of Fame, dozens of Bonnabel wrestlers showed up to see their coach again.

I went to photograph that event (years before I bought my first real camera) and I met John there.  Vanity told me he knew who I was because he had heard of my exploits on the mats, but logic tells me he was just being polite.  Anyway, I brought up the Messonnier match and asked what made the difference between the two of them.  John replied, referring to Messonnnier, “He went to practice.” John with Coach Ray Gremillion at Gremillion's Louisiana Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2006.

Come 2013 I started hearing the name Abby Nette.  Abby, a sophomore at Destrehan High School, was one of three girls wrestling for the Wildcats, and was coached by John Fogarty, one of Nette’s teammates and a two-time state champion at Bonnabel.  I covered a quad meet with Destrehan, De la Salle and Hahnville at Fontainebleau.  I learned then and in future conversations that John had started her in wrestling at a young age.  And well.  Abby won three state championships and one national championship as a middle schooler with the Scorpion Wrestling Club.  Abby broke her back after eighth grade but started wrestling again as a sophomore.  In the 2014 state championships Abby won two matches.  In 2015 she did not compete at the state championships. In 2016 she only had one state tournament win, but her losses came via a 2-1 decision to Grant Nastasi of St. Paul, who would win state titles in the next two years, and to East Ascension’s Landon Wheat, who placed fifth.  Abby went on to have a stellar college career and competed in two Olympic Trials.  My point is that her father’s influence assuredly helped her in her middle school and high school years. At left are Craig Seals, a Division I state champion for East Jefferson in 1977 and 1978, John Nette and John Fogarty, a Bonnabel Division I state champion in 1977 and 1978, In a photograph I call "Three Reasons Why I Am So Happy Not to Have Started Wrestling Until 1977."

John was a terrifying force on the mat and turned his daughter into one as well.  He was witty and dauntless, and always a source if I had any questions about older wrestling days or about Abby’s career.  He was an avid supporter of girls wrestling, and his daughter was one of the pioneers that helped get girls’ wrestling sanctioned by the LHSAA in 2024.  His name probably still scares many of those who had the pleasure to meet him on the mats, but he was an absolute pleasure to know otherwise and will be sorely missed.

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