BUTLER TWP — Prior to his freshman year at Butler High School, Lyneil Mitchell didn't know high school wrestling existed.

“I thought wrestling was all about Hulk Hogan, turnbuckles and steel chairs ... and I was into that,” the 1998 Butler graduate admitted.

He learned differently — and did so quickly.

Mitchell is now a member of the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame and Gannon University Athletic Hall of Fame as a result.

He was inducted into the Butler HOF in 2014, the Gannon HOF last weekend.

“When I found out I was being inducted (at Gannon), it made me step back,” Mitchell said. “The whole thing is kinda crazy. It shouldn't have even happened.

“The people I met here at home, the decision to go to Gannon and how all that fell into place ... That's why it happened.”

Mitchell befriended a fellow Butler student in Dan Seitz, a transfer from Pine-Richland who wrestled there under longtime successful coach Tom McGarrity.

The two playfully wrestled around one time and “he twisted me around like a pretzel even though I weighed 30 pounds more than him,” Mitchell said.

“I asked him how he did that and he explained wrestling to me. A few of my buddies — Mark Hamilton, Jeremy Dugan, James Grippo — were on the junior high team. I watched them wrestle and felt like I could do that.”

Mitchell loved competition, after all, and had been cut from the seventh grade basketball team.

It was time to try something different. The rest is history.

Mitchell was 77-14 in his high school career at Butler despite not wrestling varsity as a freshman. He wrestled at 189 pounds throughout his career with the Golden Tornado, putting together won-loss records of 21-7, 26-7 and 30-5. He became Butler's first wrestler to reach the state tournament.

“I'm proud of what he's accomplished,” Butler wrestling coach Scott Stoner said. “I remember picking him up at 6:15 a.m. on the island and we'd work out together in the wrestling room before school.

“Plain old hard work enabled Lyneil to find success in wrestling and as a business owner.”

Mitchell is a physical therapist today and owns Revolution Physical Therapy, with facilities at Famiily Sports Center in Butler and the Lakevue Athletic Club in Valencia.

At Gannon, he wrestled under coach Don Henry — who is in his 34th year as head coach this season — and compiled a 98-32 career record in what was almost two different careers with the Golden Knights.

Mitchell was 36-28 in his first two seasons, 62-4 in his final two, including a national runner-up finish his junior year and third-place finish nationally his senior campaign.

“We red-shirted him after that second year,” Henry said. “He came back his junior season as a heavyweight, a bump up in weight class, with a transformation of his body.

“Lyneil was only a 220-pound heavyweight, but he was lean and strong as a bull.”

He also had national title contenders as workout partners in Doug Joseph and Todd Proper.

“I remember sitting in a sauna after a workout my freshman year and those guys saying if I wasn't an All-American by the time I graduated, my career would be a failure,” Mitchell said.

“My record was around .500 at the time, I was beat up and injured. I just couldn't see that happen. But it did make realize something.

“That transition from high school to college wrestling, you have to either step up or step out,” Mitchell said.

He stepped up, coming within 27 seconds of a Division II national championship his junior season.

“He had a three-point lead and was in control of the match,” Henry said if the national final. “Lyneil had a momentary lapse, got caught and got pinned.

“He got caught by a 285-pound opponent in the quarterfinals the next year, then came back to get third. He beat two national champions along the way.”

Mitchell became one of 25 All-Americans and one of 81 Academic-All Americans Henry has coached at Gannon.

“Lyneil is near the top when it comes to the best I've coached,” Henry said. “And we've had national champions and three-time All-Americans come through here.

“He is a Hall of Famer, no doubt. He figured out how to be successful and he followed that path.”

A 2003 graduate, Mitchell becomes the sixth Gannon wrestler to reach the school's athletic Hall of Fame.

“It's not the wins and losses. It's the process I've enjoyed,” Mitchell said. “You can't fake it until you make it. You have to put the work in.”