By Mark Abbott

Contributing Writer

Editor’s note: Today is the fifth part in a seven-part series profiling the 2012 Norwich Sports Hall of Fame induction class. The author of today’s article, Mark Abbott, was Charlie Wightman’s high school varsity basketball and baseball coach.

Mark Abbott first met Charlie Wightman in the summer of 1981 when he couldn’t have been more than five or six years old. Little did Abbott know what their relationship would grow and develop into.

Charlie’s sister’s father and Abbott played on the same fast-pitch softball team (the infamous Ray Lodge) and we went to a tournament in Rochester (NY). Charlie tagged along for the weekend and he and Abbott hung out quite a bit, playing catch whenever the opportunity arose.

As Charlie progressed through the youth sports programs in Norwich (Pop Warner, Little League, YMCA Travel Team) his accomplishments certainly caught the eyes of the coaches, particularly Abbott and Coach (Bob) Branham. “When he reached middle school, we decided to put him on the fast path to success,” Abbott said.

As an eighth-grader, Charlie played both junior varsity basketball and baseball. As a freshman, he played both junior varsity football and basketball, though he came within a whisker of making the varsity basketball team.

“The plan devised by Coach Branham and me was to keep that sophomore group (Josh Jankowsky, Jason Robitelle and Drew Seiler) together with the four freshmen (Pete Burton, Jason James, Bobby Lazor and Charlie) for an entire season,” Abbott said. “They had never all played together before, and there was a lot of talent there, we wanted to see what they could do.”

What they did was merely go 20-0 and win the STAC JV championship. Was this a prelude of things to come in the future?

Charlie did make his first varsity appearance, earning the first of his ten varsity letters, in the spring of 1991 on the baseball team. The sweet swinging lefty batted .328 and earned the first of his four consecutive appearances as a STAC baseball all-star.

But it was in his sophomore year, 1991-’92, that Charlie really began to blossom and it was also then when the area’s sports world would really began to take notice. Though the majority of this article will look at Charlie’s basketball career – as that is where most of his statistical information is available – he was a dynamic three-sport athlete, one of the best ever at Norwich High School.

The 1991 football season saw Norwich finish with a 7-2-1 overall record. Charlie had four receptions for 113 yards (28.3) and scored a pair of touchdowns, a 56-yarder against Chenango Valley and a two-yarder against Dryden. The big play touchdown would be a staple of Charlie’s throughout his three seasons on the varsity.

The 1991-’92 basketball season saw the team finish with a 16-5 overall record, 12-3 in STAC, and they won Norwich’s first division championship in almost 20 years. The Purple Tornado lost to Elmira Free Academy in the Section IV Class B semifinals though Charlie scored a team-high 23 points. Elmira Free Academy would eventually play in Glens Falls, a trip that Norwich would make a total of four times over the next two seasons.

Charlie finished the season as the team’s leading scorer with 342 points (16.3), which was also his highest single season average. His 38 steals also led the team as did his 32 made three-point field goals and his percentage of 80.6 (75-93) from the free throw line. He was second on the team with 92 assists.

To cap his season he was named to the STAC All -Conference Team, The Evening Sun All-Chenango County Team and The Press and Sun-Bulletin All-Metro Team.

Charlie finished his sophomore year by being named to his second consecutive STAC All-Star baseball team in spite of the fact that he hit a career low .273. “Charlie hit in a lot of tough luck that year, he hit a lot of balls right on the button that were turned into outs. But he was a really hard out, still,” Abbott said.

Charlie’s junior football season started out with a loss to a very strong Binghamton team, but Charlie wouldn’t be on a losing team again for a very long time, more than seven months to be exact.

After that opening loss, Norwich ripped off 10 straight wins, many by a convincing margin, to finish 10-1 overall, 5-0 in the division. They beat Hilton 28-14 in the Regional Final, in the last year before a state championship game was played.

For the season Charlie had one rush for 14 yards, 9 receptions for 283 yards (31.4) and scored three touchdowns; a 71-yarder against Chenango Valley, a 58-yarder against Oneonta and a 46-yarder against Chenango Forks. He also added eight successful conversion kicks.

After ten straight wins to cap the football season, it was time to hit the hardwood. And hit it they did as Norwich, in front of capacity crowds all season, rolled to a 29-0 season, one of three undefeated seasons in New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) history. Along the way they captured a NYSPHSAA Class B state championship and a New York State Federation (NYSF) Class B state championship among their many accolades and achievements.

During the season, Charlie scored his career high of 30 points at Maine-Endwell, tossing in six trifectas that, at the time, was also a career-high.