Plymouth State University

JASON HOLDER ('70): After graduating from Exeter High School in 1966, Jason Holder enrolled at Plymouth State College, where he soon became a mainstay on PSC’s fledgling wrestling team.  Behind Holder’s leadership, the PSC grapplers soon established themselves as forces to be reckoned with, and in 1969 coach Doug Wiseman’s matmen were New England State College Athletic Conference champions.

In fact, it wasn’t until his final intercollegiate match, in February of 1970, that Holder tasted defeat for the first time on the wrestling mats. 

But Holder did more than help establish PSC wrestling as a viable varsity sport. He was also a prime mover behind the development of PSC’s varsity football program. Although the first varsity Panther gridiron contest was played in the autumn of 1970, after Holder had graduated, Holder’s role in making football a reality at PSC was a major one.

Holder was a standout on the club football teams of the late 1960’s, and won MVP honors in 1969. But his greatest contributions may have occurred off the field, where he and others worked tirelessly to gamer the support necessary to field a team. That PSC football went on to enjoy national acclaim in the 1980’s is due is no small part to the efforts of Holder and his contemporaries. The MVP of PSC’s annual Homecoming Day football game still receives the coveted “Jason Holder Award.”