Page 34 - BusinessWest February 20, 2023

Steven and Jean Graham,
Owners, Toner Plastics Group
Leah Martin Photography
From Wrestling to Ice Cream, They’ve Made a Community-wide Impact
By GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
s he talked about wrestling and how it can help shape young people, Steve Graham offered a wry smile, a cock of the head, and then a look that spoke volumes.
Indeed, it conveyed everything from the many ways the sport helps build character and provides lessons
in perseverance, to just how grueling and difficult wrestling practice can be in high school. And Graham, who wrestled in high school and college, has coached the sport on many levels, and helped create the Grit & Gratitude Wrestling Academy
in Springfield’s North End, backed up the look with some commentary grounded in those decades of experience.
“The sport is really nice because there are weight classes, so all sizes fit from day one,” he explained. “And that’s unusual. You don’t have to be tall, you don’t have to be big, you don’t have
to be anything. But you do have to be tough mentally because wrestling is physically very taxing, and you’re literally fighting with your teammates every single day. And, inevitably, when you start, you’re getting your butt kicked as a freshman and
a sophomore by the older kids. Eventually, you become more proficient and stronger and more mature.
“But wrestling also teaches you discipline, and it teaches you control,” he went on. “So when someone does beat you and throws you on your back, you can’t start punching them, you can’t start kicking them, you can’t start actually fighting with them. You have to control yourself, and you have to get back up and face them again.”
Those are great life lessons, and lessons for business as well, he noted, adding that, for anyone in business, there are days when you get knocked down and you must get back up again. And to persevere, one must be mentally tough. He and his wife, Jean, who together started Toner Plastics, now based in East Longmeadow, would know all that, too.
In different ways, separately in some cases, but mostly as a team, Steve and Jean Graham have been real difference makers in their community — as an employer, as a wrestling coach and indefatigable promoter of the sport, as supporters of countless nonprofits and education-related causes and organizations, and, yes, as purveyors of ice cream.
Indeed, the Grahams turned an East Longmeadow landmark, the old train depot in the center of town, into an ice-cream shop, but also much more. It has become a gathering spot in the community and a place where children and families can hear music, take in car shows, ride a miniature train, play cornhole, and get a cup or cone of sea-salt caramel. (Much more on that later).
BusinessWest talked with the Grahams about all this, and, well, it wasn’t easy. Both would much prefer to just do what they do than talk about it. Humble and unassuming, they both said, in essence, that they have been simply motivated to help others and improve quality of life in this region.
“We are happy to help out other people if they need it, and we have the means,” Jean said. “It’s nice to help other people out.”
“You don’t have to be tall, you don’t have to be big, you don’t have to
be anything.
But you do have to be tough mentally because wrestling is physically very taxing, and you’re literally fighting with your teammates ever”y single
day.
34 FEBRUARY 20, 2023
BusinessWest