The man who introduced the modern mat to the sport of wrestling, Warren F. Tischler of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, was chosen by the Distinguished Members to receive the third Order of Merit.

Tischler began wrestling in 1934 at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pa., at the age of 13. His first coach was Dr. W. Austin Bishop. He won the National Prep School Championship in 1939, and was captain of the team, then coached by Dr. Raymond Sparks.

He wrestled four years at Pennsylvania, with Dr. Bishop as his coach, and earned a degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business. He won the NEP Open, now known as the Wilkes Open. After four years in the U. S. Army, he returned to civilian life in 1946 and for 10 years was the successful owner of a restaurant in Binghamton, New York.

But his future was in wrestling, and he helped change the world of wrestling mats forever. Back in the 1930s, the mats were frightful. Many of them consisted of a smashed-down pile of horsehair, crammed into thick, coarse canvas. Mat burns were common and painful and carried the constant risk of infection. Most wrestlers had problems with boils.

"Charley Baum was starting to experiment with a new type of mat," Tischler recalls, "and Ray Sparks suggested I go down and visit him." Tischler was so impressed that he sold his restaurant and began selling mats and other athletic equipment full time. He formed his own sporting goods company and soon realized the pitiful state of the mats.

Tischler began selling mats in 1957 for Pecsolite Equipment Co., which went bankrupt a short time later. In '59, he founded Resilite Sports Products, Inc., which specialized in the new vinyl-coated, expanded-foam mats. Protection for the wrestlers and a three-year guarantee for schools purchasing his mats are what Tischler is most proud of.

Today, Resilite is the largest mat manufacturer in the world, and has placed more than 50,000 mats since 1959. It produces more than a million and a half square feet of mats each year.