2014 AAU JOEL FERRELL AWARD – WRESTLING

Written by: Amanda Szylin  

Photo Credit: LISA DEJONG / THE PLAIN DEALER

Austin Assad is this year’s AAU Joel Ferrell Award winner for the sport of Wrestling at the 2014 AAU Junior Olympic Games! The seventeen year old is from Broadview Heights, Ohio and competes with the Brecksville Ohio Wrestling Club. The 11th grader at Brecksville High School was named the 2014 Fargo Junior Freestyle National Champion and has three Fargo All-American honors, along with earning FILA All-American honors twice.

Along with earning the Joel Ferrell Award this year, his other AAU accomplishments include earning three gold medals. In this year’s AAU Junior Olympic Games competition, he had a 17-0 record, 15 tech falls and gave up only seven points in the entire competition while racking up 166 total points.

Joel Ferrell, a former AAU President and Vice President of the US Olympic Committee, was a chair of the AAU Junior Olympic Program for many years. Upon his death, the AAU and the Ferrell family implemented the AAU Joel Ferrell Outstanding Performance Memorial Award in his honor. This most prestigious award recognizes outstanding athletic accomplishments and sportsmanship of an athlete representing each official sport at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Congratulations to Austin and good luck in all of your future endeavors!