Judith  B.  Asp  (nee Yohey). Age 72.
Passed away unexpectedly at home on July 28th.
Beloved mom of Daniel (Michelle), Dean (Marie), Richard, Bryan (Jeanette), Bruce (Angela), Cynthia (Timothy) Buit, Sharri (James) Hoye, Shelli (Kevin) Tolley and Kristen Asp. Devoted Nana of 22 and Great Nana of 6. Loving sister of Lawrence (Patricia, deceased) Yohey. Retired sportswriter for the Elyria Chronicle. She loved singing with the Sweet Adelines and opened her heart and home to many. Funeral services will be held Monday, August 3, 11:00 a.m. at the North Olmsted United Methodist Church 4600 Dover Center Road (PLEASE MEET AT CHURCH). Family will receive friends at the DAVID G. MARTENS & SON FUNERAL HOME 4175 ROCKY RIVER DRIVE (between Lorain & Puritas) SUNDAY, August 2, from 2-6 P.M. Online condolences at www.davidmartensfh.com 216 941 1772.
 

There are plenty of adjectives that come to mind when someone wants to describe an elite wrestler — passionate, dedicated, driven and hard-working are just a few.

It’s no surprise that the same words were used Wednesday night by coaches and loved ones while talking about longtime Chronicle writer Judie Asp, largely considered the greatest wrestling writer in Lorain County history.

Asp died of natural causes Tuesday. She was 72.

“She wasn’t a normal reporter, she was a wrestling reporter,” longtime Southview wrestling coach Dan Ternes said. “She could give you insight of what happened in a match. She explained it in the paper and made you feel as if you were in the match. Wrestling fans appreciated that.

“If you knew Judie like I knew her you expected it out of her. She gave us so much.”

Asp developed her passion for the sport while attending John Marshall. The Lawyers won the 1961 state championship and Asp was hooked.

“She was around it in high school. Then she had five boys and none of us had a chance,” said son Rick Asp.

Asp’s three oldest sons — Dan, Dean and Rick — all had successful wrestling careers at North Ridgeville High. Asp, who was already covering volleyball, softball and other sports for the Chronicle, began her dual career as wrestling mom and writer.

“She saw what her boys went through and that did it for her,” former Elyria Catholic coach John McNulty said. “It takes a different kind of mom to be a wrestling mom.

“She could write a story and if you didn’t see her name on it you’d swear it was some guy that had grown up wrestling. She knew what she was talking about.”

Asp had a heart built for wrestling. She was a mother of eight, grandmother of 22 and great grandmother of six. Even those children weren’t enough to soak up all her compassion.

“If a kid got kicked out of their home, she’d take them in,” said daughter Cindy Asp. “Our house was always full of different kids. But that’s how she was, she was devoted to kids.

“I can’t ever say enough about her. She wasn’t just my mother, she was my best friend.”

For the next three decades Asp toiled around the county, stopping in at sweaty high school gyms and scribbling furiously in her notepads to make sure her adopted family was well represented in the newspaper.

“When wrestling wasn’t getting a lot of publicity, she was fighting for space to get her articles in,” longtime Wellington wrestling coach John Sedlick said. “She’d be there for every dual meet. She’d be at every tournament. She was all about wrestling. She loved wrestling.”

And wrestling loved her.

“Everybody would come talk to her when she showed up at a match,” Rick Asp said. “Erik Burnett would see her at a meet and he’d climb into the stands to give her a hug.”

Burnett, who said he grew up watching the Asp boys wrestle, is one of those rare members of the local wrestling community that Asp dealt with as an athlete and as a coach.

“My parents put a couple scrapbooks together from my high school career,” said Burnett, who was a four-time state champion at Oberlin High. “There were tons of stories in there and every one of them was written by Judie Asp.”

While Asp helped memorialize one of the greatest high school wrestling performances in Lorain County history, she also served as a huge resource for the guy many wrestling fans now consider to be one of the top coaches.

“She was covering the sport when I first started coaching at Amherst in 1995 and she was still covering the sport when I moved to Elyria,” Burnett said. “I didn’t know how to handle anything when I was a rookie coach. I didn’t know how I was supposed to deal with the media. She made all of that easy.”

Asp’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed. She was inducted to the Lorain County Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame in 1996 — she’s still the only female enshrinee — received the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association Media Service Award in 2000 and was given the LCWCOA’s Outstanding Service award in 2007 after retiring.

Asp spent her retirement years enjoying the company of her children and grandchildren, and continuing her musical career with her Hearts in Harmony quartet, a Sweet Adelines group she participated in for the better part of four decades.

Asp still managed to attend high school wrestling events during the last decade, even watching some of her grandsons compete, and it was obvious that the sport remained close to her heart.

It was a passion that still amazed those who knew her best.

“Being a woman writer covering a male-dominated sport that nobody understands … can you imagine that?” Burnett said. “Judie always got it. She fought for us. She fought for wrestling.”

The Asp family said friends will be received Sunday from 2-6 p.m. at David G. Marten & Son Funeral Home on 4175 Rocky River Drive in Cleveland. A funeral service will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at North Olmsted United Methodist Church on 4600 Dover Center Road in North Olmsted.

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