When you write about times that preceded your own, you'd better have some good sources. One of the best was Charley Thornton, who told me what it was like to sell newspapers during the Depression, and how it felt to wrestle men down to the mat. A Tucsonan from the late '20s on, Thornton was best known for the wrestling programs he coached at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind during the '40s and '50s. Not only did Thornton coach the students, but he took them on Rim-to-Rim hikes of the Grand Canyon. Bear in mind, we are talking visually impaired here. "I had worn-out shoes, but it was an experience that couldn't be beat," says Frank Elias, a champion wrestler and 1954 ASDB graduate. Thornton, says Elias, also taught him how to water-ski. As for his coaching skills, "Charley had a way about him," says Elias. "He didn't have to yell or demand. He made the rules, and we abided by them." In June 1993, Thornton, then 80, went hiking in the Santa Catalina Mountains and never returned. Searchers found his body at the bottom of a 40-foot dry waterfall. To this day, Thornton's death is a mystery. Still, one certainty remains: "He was doing what he loved to do," says son Bill Thornton. One thing Charley never lived to see was his induction into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, which happened two months ago. "I had never heard of it," says Bill, who about a year ago wandered into the hall's Downtown location, at 110 S. Church Ave., in La Placita Village. Before long, he was nominating his father. "The reaction from everyone was that it was long overdue," says Bill. Born in Nogales, Ariz., Charley was farmed out to various relatives from the age of 5 on, after his mother died. Tucson became home by the time he was a teenager. Here, he threw out newspapers, first by bicycle and later by motorbike, on routes that stretched across 30 miles. It was at the old Congress Street YMCA where Charley learned to wrestle. Before long, he was earning anywhere from $3 to $15 a night, grunting and groaning in small towns such as Mammoth or Casa Grande. He also did his share of refereeing in places including the old Armory and the Labor Temple. "That's where I saw a lady come down to the ropes and start hitting one of the wrestlers in the head with her shoe," Charley once told me. In 1947, Charley volunteered to help start a wrestling program at ASDB. Two years later, the school put him on the payroll, "though he sure didn't do it for the money," says Bill. With help from the Lions Clubs of Southern Arizona, Charley put in a railed running track for his wrestlers, so they could work out. "He was a big believer in running," says Bill, who as a kid often accompanied the wrestlers on weekend hikes, as well as on treks through the Grand Canyon. In fact, the group's first Canyon hike in 1956 so inspired then-Sen. Barry Goldwater that he penned a personal letter to Charley, praising the boys for their accomplishment and Charley for his leadership. "Charley said we could do it, no matter what," says Elias. For that kind of inspiration, the Hall of Fame has also created the Charley Thornton Award, to be given annually to a young person or team who has overcome adversity. Tucson High basketball player and stroke survivor Joe Kay was its first recipient. Now, here's where you come in: There's a small scholarship involved, which means the fund needs replenishing. If you'd like to help, call the Hall of Fame at 296-3788.