MARTIN — The Bennett County Warriors are wrestling for Chuck. 

On Jan. 16, Bennett County High School graduate Chandler “Chuck” Bakley died in a multiple vehicle car accident along Interstate 90. Bakley’s amateur baseball teammate, Reed Harter, also died in the car accident. 

Since the crash, multiple communities have sported T-shirts in honor of Bakley and Harter, an Ethan Rustlers basketball coach and teacher. The Bennett County wrestling team is also sporting T-shirts in honor of Bakley, a former Warrior wrestler, football and baseball player. 

“It’s a pretty big honor for our team and our community to honor his legacy,” Bennett County head wrestling coach Lonny Lesmeister said. “He was a past wrestler for Bennett County and had a lot of success on the mat and was a really good guy, too.” 

The purple T-shirts have multiple sayings in honor of Bakley, including “Wrestle For Chuck” across the top. The other sayings are “His Spirit, Our Strength” “Relentless, Resilient & Grit” “Empty Shoes, Full Hearts” “A Quiet Strength, But A Loud Legacy.” 

The words “2016 170 lbs” to commemorate Bakley’s senior wrestling season are also displayed on the T-shirts. 

The sayings exemplify Bakley’s legacy and impact on the program, said longtime Bennett County coach Brent Ireland. 

“He touched a lot of people, even across the state, but in the local wrestling community certainly,” Ireland said. “He was encouraging the younger kids and the kids looked up to him and enjoyed him.”

In 2015, Bakley placed fifth in the 170-pound weight class during his junior season. While Ireland said Bakley’s true love was baseball, he still thrived on the mat and set a positive example in the wrestling room. 

“He wasn’t the most outstanding wrestler, elite kind of skillwise and what have you,” Ireland said. “But he was definitely a quiet leader in our room. He just worked hard and never complained.”

Bakley’s T-shirts were given to state qualifiers at the recent Region 4B wrestling tournament in Hill City. Therefore, not just Bennett County but the entire wrestling community is honoring Bakley’s legacy on the mat. 

“It is an honor to be able to honor his legacy and to be able to do that,” Lesmeister said. “Not just us but other schools that are doing it through the shirts they’ve got. It’s been a good, sad deal. But it’s pretty special that everyone is coming together to do it.”

Moving forward, Bennett County will honor a boy and girl wrestler at its home tournaments in memory of Bakley. 

“It’s not the most outstanding wrestler, it’s the one that I would think you would call the most outstanding person in your wrestling program,” Ireland said. “Somebody who is a good leader, works hard, good sportsmanship, good teammate. I just think that’s kind of what he represented and the legacy he left. We will try to continue to honor that legacy through the years.”