2023 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends is Legends. I'm
Jason Bryant. Prepare for a journeythrough wrestling's past, present, and future
as we'll hear the great stories ofwrestling and success from the true legends of
the sport here on Hall of FameLegends. Good evening, everyone, Welcome,

(00:38):
Welcome to this final evening of aterrific weekend, the twenty twenty three
National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend. We're delighted that each of you can
be with us this evening. Ladiesand gentlemen, it is now my honor
to introduce to you each honor andhis or her escort. First are twenty

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twenty three Dave Schultz High School ExcellenceAward National winner Cale Hughes, represented by
his parents, Jeremy and Lisa Hughes. The Tricia Saunders High School Excellence National

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Award winner Kara Pipkins, accompanied byher parents, Robert and Chantale Pipkins.

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The twenty twenty three Meritorious Official recipientEd Kelly, accompanied by his children Valerie
Anne Bates, Mary Lynn Case,and John M. Kelly. Our twenty

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twenty three Order of Merit recipient accompaniedby his wife Marillina. Frank A.
Papolisio, this year's Medal of Couragerecipient accompanied by his wife Gina, Richard

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Perry, the twenty twenty three OutstandingAmerican recipient Bob Bolsby and his wife Candace.

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Our first twenty twenty three Distinguished Memberrecipient Rich Bender and his wife Michelle,
and now represented by his cousin,Francine Brewer Gaston, twenty twenty three

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recipient Jimmy Jackson, twenty twenty threeDistinguished Member accompanied by her husband Levi,

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Michael Magden, Patricia Miranda, andour final twenty twenty three recipient accompanied by
Sarah Florence, Distinguished Member Joseph E. Williams. And now I am happy

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to bring to the podium the Chairmanof the Board of Governors for the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame, mister TomSlowey. That was beautiful. The world
needs more wrestlers. Wow, I'llbehalf of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

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Welcome to the forty sixth Honors Inductionceremony. This evening's turned out.
It is truly a test to theexceptional individuals. We honor this evening as
well as the loyal support of ourwrestling community, so thank you. The
National Wrestling Hall of Fame is gratefulthat you are with us today to celebrate
the class of twenty twenty three inductees. This is a special time as we

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recognize and ensrying our sports very bestand honor their extraordinary achievements. The class
of twenty twenty three inductees inspire usby their examples. Their life, past
and accomplishments offer positive guidance, anexample for us all and especially to our

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country's youth and future leaders. TheNational Wrestling Hall of Fame is privileged to
host and celebrate Honor's Weekend with them. As we all know, wrestling teaches
invaluable lessons. It also instills positivetraits that serve us well over our lifetime.

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Determination, commitment, persistence, perseverance, just to name a few.
And so as we move forward inlife, we are well prepared to manage
the challenges and opportunities we will encounterwith purpose and excellence as leaders and as
an example for others to follow on. Behalf of the sponsors Volunteers, National

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Wrestling Hall of Fame Staff, Boardof Governors, Governors Associates. Thank you
for sharing this evening with us aswe proudly celebrate the class of twenty twenty
three. Thank you, Thank you, Tom. Our first honoree is Caale

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Qes, the national winner of theDave Schultz High School Excellence Award. Please
enjoy the video about Kale on theupper screen. The Dave Schultz High School
Excellence Award winner for twenty twenty threeis Cale Hughes of Oklahoma. Hughes of
Glencoe, Oklahoma, was a fourtime Oklahoma State champion for Stillwater High School,

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finishing his high school career with anunblemished one hundred and forty and oh
record. He also helped Stillwater withthree straight Oklahoma State team titles and back
to back Oklahoma dual team titles.The son of Jeremy and Lisa Hughes,
he'll continue his wrestling career at OklahomaState University. Hughes was named the Outstanding
Wrestler at the twenty twenty three PittsburghWrestling Classic. It was a twenty twenty

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two winner at the Walsh Ironman inOhio, when Magazine named him the twenty
twenty three recipient of the Junior HodgeTrophy, presented annually by Reslight to the
nation's most dominant wrestler. He wasalso announced as the Jim Thorpe High School
Player of the Year for wrestling bythe Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. Hughes
volunteer was still Water Medical Center deliveringmeals to Homebounty and with Stillwater Makes a

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Change, a student led philanthropic projectat still Water High School. Hughes also
volunteered with Special Olympics and with UnifiedPeers, a one on one mentoring program
with special needs students. Val victorianof his class and a member of the
National Honor Society, Hughes was anAcademic State Championship team member in twenty twenty
one. He joins a select groupof Oklahomas who have won this award,

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joining Dayton Fix and Teon Ware.The Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award winner
for twenty twenty three Kale Hughes ofOklahoma. I am honored and thankful that
I've been chosen as the recipient ofthis year's Dave Schultz Award. I wish
I could have met Dave Schult.His work, ethic and exemplary behavior on
and off the mat has always beensomething I strived to match, just like

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sch was a role model to wrestlersacross the world. I hope someday I
can be the same positive influence tothose around me and those that look up
to me. Although it feels awesometo get recognized for something I've worked hard
to achieve, There's still a lotof work left for me to do in
my career as far from over.As I transition into college, I will
stay humble and continue to work firsin the room. A lot of things

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will change for me, but Iassure you I will be more determined and
driven than ever. Thank you,and now will Cale's parents, Jeremy and
Lisa Hughes, please come forward withhis presenter Stillwater High School head wrestling coach

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Ethan Kyle. Congratulations to Cale.Our next honoree is Kara Pepkins, the
national winner of the Tricia Saunders HighSchool Excellence Award and now on the overhead

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screen Karra's video. The Tricia SaundersHigh School Excellence Award winner for twenty twenty
three is Kira Pipkins of New Jersey. Pipkins of Bloomfield, New Jersey,
became the first female wrestler and justthe fifth wrestler overall to be a four

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time New Jersey state champion while alsobecoming the first female wrestler in New Jersey
history to reach one hundred career wins. She finished her career with a stellar
one hundred and six and nine record. The daughter of Robert and Chantel Pipkins,
she'll continue her wrestling career at ColumbiaUniversity. The first wrestler from the
Garden State to receive this award.Pipkins was named NJA dot com Girls Wrestler

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of the Year and the NJSIAA MostOutstanding Wrestler. Pipkins was a team captain
of both the Bloomfield High School Boysand girls teams from twenty twenty one twenty
twenty three and received both the BloomfieldHigh School Most Valuable Wrestler Award and the
BHS Wrestling Scholar Athlete Award four yearsin a row. She gave motivational speeches

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to youth groups, painted burals inthe BHS hallways, participated in park cleanups,
and produced art for senior citizens throughthe VHS on the Corona home Front.
She also volunteered at the Unitarian UniversalistCongregation at Bonclair and the Montclair Emergency
Services for hope while spending time withsenior citizens at nursing homes and collecting and
donating to canned food drives and foodpantries. An entrepreneur, she owns and

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operates art, personal training and babysittingbusinesses. Pipkins is a member of the
National Honor Society, bu Alpha,Theta Math National Honor Society, Science National
Honor Society, and the World LanguageHonor Society. She received the College Board
African American Recognition Award in twenty twentytwo, and as a multiple time recipient
of the Bengal Pride High Honor RollAward. The Trisha Saunders High School Excellence

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Award winner for twenty twenty three KiraPipkins, off, New Jersey. I'm
so honored to have been selectly asthis year's Trisha Saunders Award winner. It's
amazing to receive an award named afterTrisha Saunders, a phenomenal wrestler and Rome.
She's a true trailblazer for women's wrestling. It's very special to me to

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have been chosen for this award outof an amazing group of female wrestlers.
I'd like to continue to inspire womenand girls to join the sport of wrestling,
and now I invite Kira to comeforward with her presenter, Bloomfield High

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School head wrestling coach Ryan Smercage.Hello, everyone, I'd like to thank
the National Wrestling Hall of Fame forpresenting me with the twenty twenty three Tricia
Saunders High School Excellence Award. Itmeans so much for me to be here

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and to meet so many amazing individuals. I started wrestling in third grade after
years of watching my older brother inhis rerec tournaments and him doing moves on
me in the living room. Igot my start in wreck and in seventh
grade I joined wrestling club for thefirst time, and after my first wrestling

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practice there, the coach told meand my mother that I could be a
state champ and I didn't believe him. I thought he was joking. But
fast forward to my freshman year ofhigh school. I was undefeated going into
my region tournament and that was aqualifier for States, so I was on
my way to winning a state championship. That region tournament, I was dominating,

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penning people getting majors, but thatwas up until the semi final round.
I basically shut down and anyone whosaw that match would tell you that
I didn't look like the same wrestlerI usually was. It was my first
loss of the season, but Iwrestled back made sure I placed and qualified

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for the state tournament. But eventhough I'd made it through, there was
a bigger issue. The girl whoI'd lost to in the semi finals had
tacked me months earlier in a freestylematch. She was a senior, huge
tattoos, and I was just afreshman. My mom told me that a
few months after that first loss toher, I walked into a clinic and

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I spotted her, and I frozein the doorway, and I whispered to
my mom, that's her, That'sthe girl who beat me. So I
guess you could say that she gotin my head a little bit. The
week between the region tournament and thestate tournament, my coaches and I did
a lot of work to study herand pick apart every aspect of a wrestling.

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I learned a lot from watching hervideos, but looking back, the
most value that I got out ofit was the ability to take her down
from the pedestal that I had subconsciouslyput her on, and so I was
able to step onto the mat inthe semi finals of the state tournament,
where I would see her again,but this time I was the most focused

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I'd ever been in my life.I felt like I was so deep into
the zone that I was basically vibrating. The first period was a hard battle
and it ended up scoreless, andso the second period started. She chose
bottom, and I'm riding her ontop, and I'm able to slip a
bar in, which is one ofmy favorite moves. So that's when I

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knew that I had her. Iran it as hard as I could,
squeeze with every fiber of my beinguntil I heard the ref smack the mat,
and I felt this insane release ofenergy because not only now was I
State finalist, but I'd overcome thishuge mental obstacle. I would go on
to win the state tournament that year, hit a backflip, and then do

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the same thing three more years afterthat. The two losses before and during
my freshman year to this girl taughtme to focus on my own agenda on
the mat and that no one isunbeatable. And most importantly, it taught
me that confidence is one of themost principal traits a wrestler. Needs to

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be successful. This understanding helped mewin my Forest titles, and it will
help me as I continue my careerat Columbia University. This fall, I'll
be wrestling for the Columbia Women's WrestlingClub and the New York City Regional Training
Center. Thank you. Our nexthonoree is Meritorious Official Recipient for twenty twenty

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three. Ed Kelly Wrestling taught methat a part of a social unit,
such as a family or a team, you have responsibilities to that social unit,
and that's what makes a country acivilization great. Growing up in the

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city, you played on the cityplaygrounds. I found out early on that
I was never going to be bigenough to compete in football or basketball,
and a neighbor friend his father,asked me if I would like to come
to the Central Why and see ifI liked wrestling. And I did that

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and that was it. I wasoffered a teaching job at Caton's Little High
School, which is just outside ofBaltimore and Catonsvill asked me to start a
wrestling team, which I did,but I was drafted in the Army and
my first year of teaching in Februaryof nineteen fifty seven. So when I

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came out of the arm and Istarted teaching again, a friend of mine
said, hey, Ed, weneed officials bad because of the way wrestling
is growing so rapidly. You wantto try it. So I did,
and I fell in love with it. I met my wife teaching. She
was a math teacher, and wewere married and we had three children early

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on, so she took off forthirteen years to raise our children. She
gave me tremendous support in taking thetime to officiate. At the same time
I was also working and getting amaster's degree in US history and then later
on in counseling psychology. It taughtus as a family to help one another.

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You need to do that in orderto achieve your ultimate goals of being
decent people and leading a meetanful life. And to me, the family is
just so important in every activity inlife. In the late seventies of his

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refereeing the ACC tournament, and Ireally had the good luck of working with
doctor Pat McCormick, who was theNational Director of Wrestling Officials for the NCAA,
image was one of control of thatHe's not excited about it, He's
doing it right, He's not overofficiating. But he's in the right position

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at the right time. And Isaid, hey, I got this thing
in the second week of January comingup called the Virginia Duels, and I
would love for you to come upand referee. It was the first team
advancement tournament. No one's ever donethat before. When I retired, my
last match was a championship match forthe National Duel met Championship between Penn State

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and Oklahoma State. It was JohnSmith's senior year and it ended in a
seventeen to seventeen tie. It wasprobably the most exciting officiating that I had
ever done. Ed Kelly was givena gift. He's a phenomenal teacher,
and I was very fortunate and blessedto have Ed Kelly as a mentor.

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What really impressed me about Ed's careermore than anything else is after he was
finished a twenty eight year career asan official, he decided to come back
and get back to the sport evenmore as an evaluator at the NCAA Championships,
and he did that for twenty fouryears. What he had passed on
to me, he taught me alsohow to pass that on to others.

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He's an honorable guy. You know, he's not a trash math guy.
And he listens to you. Whenhe talks to you, he looks shit
yai. I think everybody appreciates that. And Ed Ed, you know,
he likes to crack a joke,but it's it's always a good one.
They were happy to see Ed comeout on the man, just like they're

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happy to see certain people come outon the man and call a fair everybody's
gonna get a fair shape. Heprided himself on knowing who sport. He
was a student of the sport.He never took anything for granted. Whenever
he had a sticky situation, hewould go back and review it and review

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it with other people and talk throughit so that he could learn from the
experience. All those traits he taughtme. In addition to that, the
one motto that he had is alwaysdo a better job the next time you

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go on the mat than your previousjob, and always working your trade.
Ever be satisfied with what you're doing, always try to do it better.
This is a great, great thingthat's happening, and Ed appreciates it.
He knows the people have gone beforehim. When you look at your career,
and that's something you'll never forget.And it means a lot to be

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recognized by not only referees, butthe coaches, to the people run that
committee that choose these people, choosethe outstanding this and that I congratulated on
his induction and say thank you froma myriad of official shoodents lives he touched
somewhere up there today there's a gentlemanby the name of doctor Vinnie's Warro that

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Ed knows very well. It's gota smile on his face and looking down
on these proceedings, and he's lookingdown and he's taking to himself. The
Hall of Fame really did good today. I never imagined myself to be a
included with the group of people thathave been that are being inducted into the

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Wrestling Hall of Fame. They havesuch quality of character and and of their
relationships with others and how they treattheir fellow members of our wrestling community.
I never thought that I would beincluded with that kind of high quality individual

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and it's sort of personally overwhelming,very humbling, And now would MERITORI is
official Ed Kelly, please come forwardwith his presenter, his daughter Valerie and

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Bates. I would just like tothank the selection committee for thinking me worthy

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of this award. I thank myfamily for the years of support, and
thank you all for being here tonightand honoring us. This is just a
wonderful occasion and a wonderful experience forall of us. Thank you very much.

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Our next honoree is Order of Mirriatrecipient Frank A. Papalisio. I
go back to a famous quote byLoretto Lynn which says, in order to
have success, you have to befirst, best, or different, and
I've always challenged myself to live bythat quote. You know, upstate New
York, we're positioned right in themiddle of the state, so culturally it's

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it's kind of got the best ofboth worlds. It's a little bit of
rural and it's a little bit urban. In New York State. Specifically in
upstate New York, we were voidof any collegian wrestling or Division I wrestling,
specifically within a ninety mile radius.So most of the people that were

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growing up here never had the opportunityto see Division IE wrestling. And my
mentality was to import it, andonce I imported it, people would want
to would watch it and want tobe it, and that came through fruition.
So my introduction to Frank was veryunique because it was a series of
phone calls that I did not return, and he just kept calling me about

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this event he was starting that hewas going to put on in New York
when I was a head coach onat UTC University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.
And he gets these ideas and hethey're well thought and it's something that he
can do and putting together and thenhe can kind of formulate a plan that
just works, and so has promotionsfor the NCAA on the Division I level

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and the international stuff that he's donein the club things that he's done has
just been tremendous for not only youknow, his local area, but really
internationally. Well. My first chancethat I got a chance to meet Frank
Popalasios when his brother Pat signed withOaklhom State, came to Oakham State and

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Russell forrest his entire career, andin that course of Pat's career here,
I got to meet Frank several times. Very motivating guy, loved wrestling,
wanted to be always wanted to bemore involved in wrestling than what he was
doing at the time, and throughsome of those conversations he took off.

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You know, he really just tookoff and started doing his thing and and
really making a difference for a lotof young people in the sport of wrestling.
And so with Frank, there's noquestion he's elevated the US up in
the Northeast up put him in aposition to be able to compete not only
nationally but internationally. I fought hardto get a platform and to bring in

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whether it's the news, whether it'sradio, whether it's a different form of
television, whether it's social media.We work hard at really at getting as
much exposure as possible. And we'vecreated an international tournament here now in the
United States, which is one ofjust a few of any level of any
age group, and we bring animport the best guys in the world to

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come here to the United States sothat our American wrestlers at an early age
get to experience the opportunity of wrestlinggreatness. And I started to understand there
was tremendous value in having this internationalconnection, and I built relationships all over

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the world. These relationships that I'vebeen able to foster with guys like Jay
Robinson, Terry Brands, John Smith, call and his crew with Casey Cunningham
and Cody and my brother Pat istied into there. But these are the
icons of either coaching or the sport, and they've allowed me inside and they've

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allowed me to do things with themthat have helped, I think others benefit.
It's it's awesome to be recognized byyour peers, right and and that
the people that are really the iconsof the sport recognize the work that was
done. It's you know, it'sbeen a it's been a real commitment right

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in life for me. I've I'vecommitted my life to the sport of wrestling,
and hopefully hopefully people recognize the thethe sacrifice and that hopefully that sacrifice
has produced real, real dividends thatwill last, you know, forever.

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And now we invite our Honore Frankto come to the stage with his brother,
his presenter Papolisio On maybe a littlebit longer than the first guy.

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Today's stand before you with immense prideand gratitude as a recipient of the Order
of Merit from the prestigious National WrestlingHall of Fame. The history of the
Order of merit is intertwined with therich tapestry of wrestling itself. It represents
the pinnacle of achievement and serves asa source of inspiration for future generations of

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wrestlers and innovators. I'm also veryproud to represent Upstate New York and the
New York Chapter The Truth be told. A lot of wonderful and creative things
have occurred throughout my thirty year tenure, but none of it happens without the
help and support of others couple withferocious work ethic. You've probably heard of

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the ten thousand hour rule, whichwas popularized in the book Outliers. The
rule goes like this, takes aboutten thousand hours of intense practice to achieve
mastery of complex skills like playing aviolin. Well, for the past thirty
years, I've invested about one hundredand thirty thousand hours in return a mastered

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one thing, the skill of chasingand convincing people. My life is revolved
around chasing people like Smith, Brands, Robinson, Bender, Gable, and
Sanderson to convince them to do campswith me or have their teams wrestle at

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my events. I chased and convinceddonors and sponsors to see our vision and
invest with US. I chased andconvinced athletes to listen and stay loyal to
our system and process. I chasedand convinced foreign countries to come to the
United States. And I chased andconvinced the media to advocate and showcase wrestling.

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All that being said, I cannotoverlook the unwavering pillars of support that
have carried me through every step ofthe one hundred and twenty thousand hours.
My family, especially my wife Marlena, has been the rock in which I
built my dreams. She sacrificed herown vocational dreams to stand by my side,

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to lift me up during the challengingtimes, and to celebrate the victories
achieved. This honor I want toshare it with you, Marlena, and
with our children, Luca and Cecilia. This is not just my achievement.
It's a testament to the power offamily, love and unwavering support. I'm

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proud to come from a family witha rich wrestling legacy. My brother Pat,
who wrestled here at Oklahoma State,embodied the true essence of wrestling life
from athlete to coach. He's nowcreated his own coaching legacy at NC State
and is widely considered one of thetop coaches in the country. My brother

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Anthony, and my nine cousins TJwho's here today wrestled at Brown, who
was the first dual sport athlete twentyeight years at Brown, and my cousin
Mike, who was with the DEAand one of the top special agents for
Philadelphia. All these guys wrestled undermy guidance and contributed to our family and

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enduring legacy. And for this Ialso have my cousin Debbie here, which
is her birthday, and she's helpedme through a lot of we'll call it
psychological family support. I wish Debbiea happy birthday. But our wrestling heritage
reaches back even further. I can'tforget the contributions of my older cousins bashgual

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Papalisio, who wrestled at U pennand went undefeated in duels, and his
brother Severino, who was in theBoston University Hall of Fame. These Italian
immigrants were the pioneers who started ourfamily journey and the world of wrestling,
and Pat and Sev had probably carriedthe torch since the nineteen sixties and inspired

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our family. I was fortunate tohave exceptional mentors who shaped the approach of
my coaching. The late great JoeBenna, my esteem mentor, taught me
that coaching is not merely the impartingof wrestling techniques and strategies. It goes
beyond that and involves guiding individuals towardgreatness in all aspects of their lives and

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developing character. I appreciate guys likeTerry Brand's, with his unparalleled mentality and
competitiveness, instilled in me the driveto always give my best. John Smith
the epitome of technical expertise. Hebecame the benchmark for excellence in my mind,
and without him I wouldn't even gottenI think half of what I got

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done. He gave me a lotof opportunity. Mikeli Liuzzi of Italy.
He enlightened me on the power ofcharisma and the importance of connecting people.
While Jay Robinson taught me about theart of marketing and creating creating a brand,
and Cale and Cody Sanderson they demonstratedthe importance of demeanor and humility.

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Beyond the wrestling contributions or contributors,there are individuals and organizations that played an
integral role in my wrestling journey.My brother in law Alex and his beautiful
wife Gina, along with Northwestern Mutualbecame my first ever sponsor and continues to
sort support me to this day decadeslater. Athletes in Action with Rob Ronson

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Stephen Barrett for their international support andassistance, has allowed me to build one
of the only international tournaments in theUnited States. I want to acknowledge the
amazing staff tournament staff that I haveassembled over the years. They have worked
tirelessly to bring the sport of wrestlingto life and establish a product that is

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renowned and recognized throughout the world.Through friends, families, and colleagues I've
built, We've built a brand.Guys like Brian Hazard, one of my
best friends and one of the bestannouncers in the world. Tom Green doing
TRISEP exercises with Casey Cuttingham down inAtlanta, Georgia. We've got Danalo the

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Rifleman doing shooting lessons with the Schwabfamily. I got my cousin Lorie Lewis
in the early days at the frontend. Kiaran Kaufman, He's the set
up king helps me very loyal andSam Hazelton and Desi Kaplan Software At Wizards,
our brand and our software have beenthroughout the world. We build a

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cast of real life characters that helpestablish the brand, earning respect and appreciation
from the wrestling community. And thetruth is success really comes without adversity.
I'm grateful for every setback, everycompetitor, every defeat, and every rejection
because they have shaped me into theperson I am today. To all those

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who believed in me and supported me, thank you from the depths of my
heart. Your faith in my visionhas been the driving force behind my achievements.
I owe my success to your unwaveringencouragement and the belief in what I
set out to accomplish. And finally, I leave you with this. Sometimes

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when I put these events on andthey do these things, I feel like
I'm in a movie. So I'mgonna leave you with a quote from Rocky
Too, where Rocky Balboa Famulusik said, most of all, I want to
thank God except for my kids beingborn, this is the greatest night of
my life. I just want tosay one thing to my wife, Yo,

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Marline, I did it. Thankyou, Frank. Please enjoy our
next video about our Medal of Couragerecipient Richard Perry. A dream of mine

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was I'm a point to be inthe Hall of Fame and to be a
national champion or to be an AllAmerican. But I had accomplished some of
those dreams by understanding that you canif you can dream it, you can
do it. If you put thework in, you can do it.

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And my kids and my wife andknow that. I met Richard in Bloomsburg.
It was my senior year, goinginto my senior year, and the
wrestlers were there for summer. Bloomsberg'sa small town. In the summer,
everybody goes home, so there wasnobody else to hang out with but the
wrestlers. My sorority sisters. Theysaid, we're cofiding wrestlers over tonight,

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and they came over and they wereloud and obnoxious, and I just was
like, oh gosh, we're stuckwith these guys all summer home. They
were a fun bunch and rich smiledand that was it. Came over.
Uh, he has this infectious smile, and he was just different. He
was the first person I met inBloomsburg that mentioned the name Jesus. He

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prayed before every meal, and youdidn't find that there. So I was
instantly drawn to him. We becamefriends very quickly. We talked all about
life dreams and goals, and wespent the whole summer together and then he
was kind of suck with me afterthat. After Rich's senior year, he
did an All American, he wasin a national champ which was his ultimate

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goal. We already had our daughter, Maya, she was two at the
time, and he came home thatsummer kind of just itching for more,
and he did so well with freestyle, and so I was like, why
not give it another go. Hehad an offer to coach an American and
he could train while he was coaching. I knew it was sacrifice. I

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knew it meant more on me andless time with our daughter. But it
was something that we were willing todo because Rich is such a great person
and he is a great father,and he has a great husband. But
chasing an Olympic dream is something thatnot everybody gets the opportunity to do,
and we were given that opportunity blessing. So we're gonna do it. We're
gonna be all in, and thenwe have years down the road to catch

(41:05):
up. You know, I gotI got a coaching job an American,
but also training still to compete.And that's when I end competing at a
six kilos And when my first yearnational tournament there at the beef Aaraware Inter
National Tournament. That tournament kind oflike solidified I can do this because in
that tournament I wrestled some Olympic ceremonials. I beat him in the semifinals,

(41:30):
went to the finals and won thefinals. So it just kind of showed
me like I am, I canwrestle with these guys, and I can
have the success the success I thoughtI could have. It could be real
if I pursue this. So wewere at kid Pendleton for a training camp
with the with the Marines, becausethe Marines monitored the US Open, so

(41:54):
I think they were trying to showthe community that wrestling in the Marines trained
similarly, just commitment to training issimilar. So we went to get Pendleton,
they hosted us and they brought usout there. We were in their
barracks before the Royal Championship. Totwenty eighteen was the last camp before we

(42:15):
traveled to Germany to do our atour acclimation camp. So we were doing
a s a sparring, some batonsparring. Basically it was focusing on how
and the Marines used close to closeclose to the precipity combat to protect and
protect themselves. And they paired meup against another wrestler, and then the

(42:39):
finals, we were sparring at eachother and he went to go jos at
my f at my face and Iput my face mask down and he actually
faked Jouston and then he went togo joust up and the baton was a
phoam padded, but there was likea hard plastic on the inside went through

(43:00):
my face mask, and my facemask held all the phone back and the
matan the plastic par kept traveling andbroke my over the bone and w over
the bone pierced my brain, whichcaused instant of brain damage and I h
I got life flighted from there toScript's Hospital in California, where I began

(43:25):
to fight for my life. Prettymuch to survive, I'd be better written
for the rest of my life,I never walk again. To bring my
kids in, tell'em this isgoing to be their father. They need
to get used to this, andthat this would be my new norm as
being in a hospital bed for therest of my life, not being able
to speak again, not being ableto use my love side again. And

(43:49):
that was really important is getting backto my kids. I just getting back
to them and being able to liketo do things with them, not just
being there, but being a partof their life. A dream of mine
was at a point to be inthe Hall of Fame and to be a
national champion or to be an AllAmerican. But I didn't accomplished some of

(44:09):
those dreams. But understanding that youcan. If you can dream it,
you can do it. If youput the work in, you can do
it. And I'm my kids andmy wife to know that to trust God
and continue to just put the workin and well, you can accomplish anything

(44:29):
that you want if you believe inyourself, you believe in each other,
and surround yourself with the right people, and you could just put the work
in and God will find God willmake a way for you. Medal of

(44:52):
Courage recipient Richard Perry, would youcome forward please with your presenter high school
coach Mark Foum. Do you giveme everyone? Wow, what an honor

(45:46):
to receive such a prestigious award.I'd like to say thank you to the
National Wrestling Hall of Fame for presentingme with a Metal of Courage. The
definition of courage is to show strengthin the face of pain and grief.
I'm sure we all faced a momentin our life where we had to choose
courage in the face of fear orpain. Me being here the testament of

(46:08):
how good God is. Without theprayers from the resting community and the support
you all showed have showed, Ithink my situation ends differently. I like
to take this time to thank somevery special people in my life. Without
these people consistently and pouring in inmy life, I wouldn't be where I'm
at today. I like to saya special I like to say a very

(46:31):
special thank you to my wife,Gina. I'd be lost without you.
You are the glue to our family. Thank you for all you do for
me and for our family. Ourkids are lucky to call you mom,
and I am lucky to call youmy wife. You give me strength more
than you know being your husband.Being your husband has been your husband.

(46:52):
Having you by my side, Ifeel like I can do anything. Thank
you. Maya bo Ezikiloh and Josiah. You guys are the reason I continue
to fight. It is so hardto get better so that I could come
home to you guys to be thefather you guys deserve. I like to
think jose Campbell for staying with mywife Gina in California while I was in

(47:15):
the hospital, providing her with thesupport she needed to help her through the
scary time while I wasn't able tobe there for her, helping her continue
to focus on God and continue tocontinuing to support us from across the country.
I also have to thank Mark Fongfor his persistence pursuing me to come
out for Wrestling Team. What Iwrite it has been Wrestling has changed my

(47:37):
life from the first time I steppedon the map and every time after,
I know it's a blessing. Ipray God continues to use me in my
story to reach the wrestling community andbeyond. I think John Stusman for taking
a chance and I can't for Connecticutonly wrestled for three years. I appreciate

(47:57):
all the lessons you have taught mein college on what it is needs to
really work hard and also what itmeans to invest in a person for who
they are, not just what theycan do, and all the laughs and
tiers we shared along the way.Also, I think Tik Moore for giving
me an opportunity to coach and competemy freestyle wrestern career began an American also

(48:21):
coaching, which really showed me thatcoaching is something I really wanted to do
and I really love doing that withyou. Thank you to the PRDC for
also taking the chance on me intwenty fifteen being their first senior level athlete
trailblazing for what I think is thebest RDC. The PRDC is a special
ARTC. It's only RTC where youcan throw a stone from one with college

(48:44):
restaume to another, and both ofthose colleges are very committed to supporting the
athlete's world Olympic dreams, specially thankid to Brandon Sligh and Roger Arena.
Your leadership at the PRDC has shownme how to lead my life on and
off the map. Your examples arestrong of strong character and dedication to your

(49:05):
guys are second to none. TheParis are grateful to have You're part of
our family. Finally, I haveto give the biggest thank you to Lord's
Savordjus Christ, you have been rightby my side at every turn, every
up and every down. You haveplaced amazing people and leaders in my life
to model what it means to beworld class wrestler, world class friend,

(49:28):
husband, father, and most portlya man of strong faith. I just
asked to continue to be with meand my family when times are easy and
when times get tough, continue leadingme down the right path. Thank you.

(49:57):
I've just been told the Bobbos videois currently missing, So Bob,
we're going to skip over you rightnow and go to our next recipient and
hopefully that will be found. Soour next honoree, and we're going to
go to our distinguished members. Ourfirst distinguished member honoree is Rich Bender.

(50:23):
I hope now we have Rich's video. So. I was born in a
very small town in southwestern Wisconsin,Boscobel, Wisconsin, to Lloyd and Sharon
Bender. Really blessed to have parentslike I did. Unfortunately, my mom
passed away when I was just ayoung fourth grader. My father had provided

(50:46):
an opportunity for my aunt Shirley tomove into our house. My mom,
on her deathbed, had asked herto take care of Richie. I was
an only child, and in juniorhigh my dad found the second love of
his life, my stepmom, MarthaBen. I was brought into a family
of five other stepbrothers and sisters whowere really influential in the formation of my

(51:07):
life. I had the opportunity toparticipate in a lot of sports just simply
because I needed to participate so wehad enough to have programs. I was
introduced at a very young age towrestling. I was also a football player
and actually played baseball for a coupleof years in college. I was incredibly
fortunate to be offered an internship withUSA Wrestling in nineteen eighty eight by Ben

(51:29):
Bennett and Toby Stewart picked me outof a stack of resumes from the United
States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, andultimately Dave Miller provided me with the opportunity
to be an intern at USA Wrestling, and that's what gave me my start.
I've had the opportunity to be involvedwith many different wrestling events, events
like the World Cup, the JuniorNationals, the Olympic Trials, the nineteen

(51:55):
ninety five World Freestyle Championships, nineteenninety six Olympic Games really provided me with
the opportunity to form a foundation ofleadership within the sport of wrestling. The
success that we had not only competitivelyas a team in nineteen ninety five and
ninety six, but from a politicalstandpoint, we created a great deal of

(52:16):
political capital that we still trade ontoday. I've had so many significant role
models in my life, people thathave poured into me and given me the
support and helped me create the foundationto be a leader within USA Wrestling and
the sport. Those ethic moral compassesto where he makes the good decisions to

(52:37):
grow the sport of wrestling. Ithink his selfishlessness, his entirety is what
really shined. When Jim left andwent to the USOC, he left the
void and Rich stepped right in filledit. USA Wrestling has continued to grow
to be financially stable, even throughthe rough times. Rustang, who's never

(53:00):
been stronger and Rich is a big, big part of that. We've had
a lot of highlights during my careerat USA Wrestling. Growth of women's wrestling,
the inspiration that they provide. I'vesaid many times that once you've wrestled,
you're better for period. There's noexception. Rich Bender has been a

(53:21):
transformational leader, not just in wrestling, but in all sports. He's kicked
open the doors of opportunity for girlsand women on the wrestling mat with a
vision and a strategy for inclusion.The team championships that we've been blessed to
win, seeing young athletes achieve atthe very highest level, athletes like Henry

(53:44):
Sejudo, Kyle Snyder a meet thelure Adeline Gray, athletes that win when
no one expects him to win atsuch a young age, has been a
highlight of my career and something thatI will take with me forever. We
face many challenges during my career USAwrestling, none more significant than the loss
of Dave Schultz or the idea thatwrestling be removed from the Olympic program.

(54:07):
Without question, the thing that savedthe sport was the reaction that we had
to the challenge, and that wasn'tto fight, to punch somebody in the
face or threaten to sue. Theidea that we developed a program that we
would ultimately make the International Olympic Committeelook good. Changing our sport, making
some fundamental adjustments to wrestling has servedus well, and I think Ultimately,

(54:32):
one of our darkest days became oneof our brightest moments. We started to
collaborate closely in twenty thirteen when hiscontribution and US wrestling contribution for the recollection
of Olympic wrestling of the Olympic programwas huge. Since then, I saw

(54:58):
him building a health all through oursfor the US wrestlers. It's really important
that we maintain a financial ecosystem forthe sport of wrestling, a connection with
donors, sponsors. At USA Wrestling, our membership is really the lifeblood of
USA Wrestling. It's the most significantresource that we are entrusted with. More

(55:19):
than half of our budget comes frommembership and participation of youth in our sport.
Those resources are then distributed to eliteathletes invested in the promotion, in
the marketing of the sport, creationof events, and really focused on providing

(55:42):
opportunity for America's youth to participate inthe greatest sport Man's ever known. Watching
USA Wrestling grow under your leadership hasbeen really cool. Man. I know
that sometimes you guys can get abad rep as a leadership, but I've
watched you completely invest your life intoelevating this program for equity quality for women's
wrestling and GRECO, watching US elevateour brands and bringing this this think back

(56:06):
to a golden ages. I've beengiven the opportunity in the past to serve
as the chairman of the National GoverningBody of the United States Olympic and Paralympic
Committee, the organization that makes upthe fifty national governing bodies that make up
the US Olympic Movement. It givesme the opportunity to see the good and
the bad of the Olympic movement,to take good from other organizations that have

(56:29):
found success and their strategies and programs, and stay away from maybe some of
the not so good things that othernational governing bodies have experienced. What I've
learned from wrestling is the sport willexpose you. It exposes your investment in
it, and when you work hard, good things happen. When you don't

(56:50):
make the effort that you should,you're exposed and not so good things happen.
Wrestling is a hard sport and today'ssocietal values don't always match up with
things that are difficult, So wewill continue to be focused and strive to
make wrestling relevant in this environment.My life's greatest accomplishment is the Rich and
Michelle Bender family, led by mybeautiful wife Michelle, my oldest daughter Madeline,

(57:15):
my middle daughter Chloe, and myyoungest daughter Gabriella, and my son
in law Read. There's nothing moreimportant in my life than my faith in
my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the author and the perfector of my
faith. It's through him all thingsare possible, and I am a living
example of God's grace. No wayshould a young man from southwestern Wisconsin with

(57:40):
limited wrestling abilities be given the opportunityto lead the greatest national governing body on
planet Earth. Being inducted into theNational Wrestling Hall of Fame is nothing I
could ever have dreamed of. Idon't deserve it, but I accept it
on behalf of the thousands of peoplethat have poured it to me and us
are wrestling during my youre make thesport great. Distinguished member, Rich Bender,

(58:12):
would you please come forward with yourpresenters, Bruce Baumgardner and Jeffrey Patchack.

(58:45):
No, Jeff, I just realizedthat you, I and Bruce up
here. Thirteen World Olympic medals betweenthe three of us. So when Leroy
called me and let me know thatI'd been voted in as a distinguished member

(59:09):
of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. I was sitting in the stands in
the middle of a session at theU twenty three World Championships in Pantibidra,
Spain, and my first thought wasI don't deserve this, you see.
I like to think that I getup every day and work to provide opportunity
for other people to stand up hereand be inducted into the Wrestling Hall of

(59:30):
Fame. And when I hesitated,Leroy said, let me give you some
advice. When you're elected by yourpeers with this honor, you don't say
no. So I said yes.And now I say thank you to all
the volunteers and employees of us arewrestling. Who are the ones that this
really belongs to. That's really whomakes wrestling in America what it is.

(59:55):
I'm just a lucky kid from ruralWisconsin who found a way to make my
passion my profession. For all ofyou. Don't think for one moment,
not one moment, that your workis far removed from the map, from
from world Olympic medals. I loveour athletes, but to tell you the

(01:00:15):
truth. I tell our staff everyWednesday morning that I love them, and
it's amazing what you can do whenyou don't worry about who gets the credit.
I will always remember my roots areburied deep with our state leaders,
and our event directors, and ourvolunteers and our local organizing committees, hundreds
and hundreds of people with whom I'vehad the pleasure over the last thirty five

(01:00:38):
years has been thousands of hours withto my board presidents, committee members,
and the many generous donors, ithas been an honor to work alongside you
to help people reach their full humanand athletic potential. As I look out
into the stands in these seats,I cannot possibly begin to name names.

(01:01:00):
This would be too long, andhonestly, I'd probably just start crying if
I haven't already personally thanked you foryour mentorship, support and investment in this
great sport. I promise I will. To my wife, Michelle, who's

(01:01:20):
been with me through thick and thin, to stand up here tonight, on
a night like tonight and merely saythank you seems ridiculous, but thank you,
and I love you, and Ilove the team that we formed.
To my daughters, I've been enormouslygrateful to have worked for USA Wrestling for
the past thirty five years. ButMattie, Chloe and Ella, you are
by far the best thing I've everdone in my life. Thank you for

(01:01:44):
sharing me with wrestling. To mychildhood friends and family, and those many
of whom snuck out from behind thecheddar curtain to be here tonight. Thank
you for letting me be part ofyour team. None of this would be
possible. None of it would bepossible without the divine plan of my Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, theauthor and profector of my faith. He

(01:02:07):
is the architect of this wrestling life. If you don't know him, check
him out. He's certainly the guyyou want in your corner. Congratulates this
to the other inductees, Kira,Bob, Frank, Richard, Ed Patricia,
Joe and from on High Jimmy.I don't deserve to share this stage

(01:02:27):
with you, but I'm proud andhonored to do it. In closing to
the Hall of Fame and Sport ofGovernors. Over the years, I've had
the opportunity to attend many sports hallsand museums and ceremonies, but Leroy Jack
and Christa and the team, andyou guys rock this hall and this weekend,
capture and correct, commemorate, andemulate the totality of our great sport

(01:02:52):
of wrestling. Thank you, goodnight, God bless you, and God
bless God's sport wrestling. Our nextundery is distinguished member the late Jimmy Jackson.

(01:03:15):
I had heard the name, andI think when you saw Jimmy's name
as one of the wrestlers, youlook to see which bracket he was in
and if you were possibly gonna haveto face him. I just remember them
telling me he's six eight three eightyfive if when I saw him and realized
that he was in my bracket,I just kind of scared to death.

(01:03:39):
Apparently what you saw in Jimmy comparedto these two hundred and seventy pound two
hundred and seventy five pound limit now, I don't know. I hated it
when they did that. I mean, I think that there's a there's a
certain competition that comes a different kindof competition that comes with the big guys.

(01:04:00):
Our first match he was he wasprobably the only he was freshman Iowa
in Oklahoma State and he's about threehundred pounds and I was a wildly little
veteran of twenty four. So Ibeat him. I scored one takedown on
him, and I managed to gettwo star calls against him. It wasn't
much ash. But then after thatin seventy six, the next time I

(01:04:24):
saw him, he was eighty poundsheavier probably, and very explosive. So
he was dangerous. You know thatif he got if he got to lock
around me, he was going tolodge me in penny. I think one
of the things that I remember standingout was his focus because once he says,
mind, you're doing something, whetherit be athletically or later in school,

(01:04:47):
you know, he came back andgot an NBA and such. He
got things done. And he wasalso very compassionate around for people. You
know, he cared about people.I remember we wrestled at Chattanooga one time
University of Tennessee, and it wasearly Jimmy and I went out for an

(01:05:10):
early morning run and it was Decemberand it was quite cold, and here
we are jogging not a great partof town, and all of a sudden
we were surrounded by about eight ornine little African American kids following us jogging
it and they're talking to Jimmy saying, where are you running from? You

(01:05:32):
know, when are you in trouble? To Medy goes no, I'm running
to stay in shape shape for whatwrestling And they couldn't fathom what he was
doing. But they jogged along withus for quite a bit until I could
think we got out of their neighborhood. But it was pretty fun. I

(01:05:53):
see the I see Gallagher Arena beingwith regard to wrestling being kind of like
Notre Name Stadium was for our football. It's your sport, it's a huge
sport. You have got amazing anamazing success, and you know people want
to go and watch. You knewthat you were going to get a lot

(01:06:15):
of the best wrestlers and knew youwere going to get a lot of great
competition when it came down to it, when he developed himself into a three
time national championship, to stand upand just stand out in a sports at
a school that looks at it asa you know, as one of the
big things that they'd love to doas representative of the school, it says

(01:06:39):
a lot for him. I'm prettysure you Russell Conkbunner from OU and the
place was packed. There was tenthousand people and in the old Gallagher Hall,
it was really an arena, andJimmy and A were pushing. They
went out of bounds and the guythrew a punch at Jimmy. The guy's
brother threw a punch at Jimmy,and Jimmy just kind of shrugged it off.

(01:07:01):
But I remember Kalchbrenner's mother coming upand hitting him with a purse.
Then the benches cleared, and youknow, the place was shut down for
an hour, and then Jimmy wentout. I think he probably pinned him.
Before the age of twenty one,I won the Freestyle Nationals, Greco
Roman Nationals, the NCAA Nationals,and then I was fourth in the World

(01:07:25):
Championships at freestyle in nineteen seventy.So with Jackson be me. Jackson bv
beat somebody. But when I beathim and Olympic tryouts, you know,
and I know I beat a greatrustler. Also, I think he was
very deserving. I was kind ofsurprised. I thought he was in already.
I really thought he was everybody.Three time NCUBA champion, three time
World Cup champion, Olympian. He'sdefinitely he's definitely deserving. I've always felt

(01:07:48):
it was a little bit overdue.I wish we were able to do that
a lot earlier while he was stillalive. It was really devastating to hear
how young he was when he whenhe passed on. So it's a ward
I feel that's way overdue, butit's it's it's good in the sense he's

(01:08:09):
finally getting recognized for his accomplishments.He would have been a little bit humbled
by it, because I'm I'm surehe doesn't. You know. It's funny
people like Jimmy and and champions andsuch don't really see themselves as different types
of individuals. It's just people doingdoing things they love to do. I

(01:08:31):
think it would probably be the biggesthonor that he feels like he's he's been
given. Having wrestled against him,you know, I had a special perspective
then. I think a lot ofthe people who end up voting well for
one of the people that go in, uh, they should have asked me
back in the day and I wouldhave told him to put him in.

(01:08:53):
Now. It's an amazing feeling whenyou're in a school that's known for a
certain thing and then you excel tothe very top level and then do it
internationally. There's something special about you. And the fact that he did it
was so much success and there's,like I said, he should have been

(01:09:17):
one of these guys that got inright away. Representing Jimmy this weekend,
I've been his cousins Francine Brewer Gastonand Thomas E. Hampton. I'm going

(01:09:41):
to ask Francine Brewer Gaston to comeforward now with presenter Executive Director of USA
Wrestling, Lee Roy Smith. Goodevening on behalf of Katie Jackson, Jimmy's

(01:10:10):
Woodholl and our entire family. Iwould like to thank the National Wrestling Hall
of Fame Board of Directors for thisdistinguished honor you have bestowed on our cousin,
Jimmy Jackson. When we were growingup, Jimmy was the biggest of

(01:10:30):
all our custins, as you know, and yet he was kind, fun
loving and would do anything for you. He was our gentle giant. He
loved family and was always ready fora backyard barbecue gathering cause if you didn't

(01:10:54):
know, he loved to eat.I truly believe he enjoyed his time in
Stillwater and OSU He always had storiesto tell us about his wrestling and college
years, especially JJ's at those gatherings, I know he is looking down from

(01:11:21):
heaven with that smile, saying allthis for me. I was just doing
what I loved wrestling. Thank youagain for this wonderful honor. Our.

(01:11:46):
Next honor read please enjoy this videois distinguished Member Patricia Miranda Wrestling. Let
me build deeper character and a widerplatform that I just know. This is
my platform. This is what I'mgoing to have when I go out into
the real world, right into thejungle, when it's not play anymore.

(01:12:09):
So when I think about my childhood, it's hard not to see myself as
sort of This tail end to anamazing story of my parents' adventures. When
we were born but still young,the civilian government regained power and pardoned everyone
obviously that fought against the military takeover, and my parents had a big decision

(01:12:31):
to make on whether or not theywere going to return. They elected to
stay inside the United States, andI think in no small part because there
were two daughters and they just thoughtthat the opportunities for us and what we
might be able to explore in ourlives would be more here, and I

(01:12:51):
viewed that as sort of that parentalsacrifice for the next generation. And I
think that I really benefited from thatdecision. Let's call them a parent,
right. So Karen Hyde was myassistant principal in high school, and Gail
Wasserman had been my principal in middleschool, and she came over and was
a school counselor at my high school. They really kept a door open for

(01:13:17):
me that without them, I'm notsure I would have had a wrestling story
to be telling. I met heras a freshman at Saratoka High School.
Patricia's first foray into wrestling was moreof a no, she can't wrestle from

(01:13:38):
her dad and me saying me notjust her coach and I sang, but
it was like Patricia saying, butI shall, and she did. And
my original thoughts were, Okay,Dad isn't did the favor of this.
Her mom had passed, what ifsomething happens to this kid. We had

(01:14:01):
no idea where this would be going. But the motivation was you will get
good grades and a discussion and shedid, and that is what I think
pushed her through many challenges. Therewere no issues, there were no choices,
you will get good grades, youwill wrestle that to It was never
a wrestling career, right, Therewas never any goals for well, what

(01:14:24):
kind of metals do I want?Like, it was just such a value
recognition, Like I found like thissecret that you don't have to be who
you were born, right, youdon't have to be limited to what you
were given at birth or what someonehelped you develop. And the idea of

(01:14:47):
going into this bigger arena in collegeand facing those challenges and I'm going to
have so much more to work withand develop build. So I decided,
yeah, I want some of that, and so I applied to the best

(01:15:09):
academic institutions that I could get intothat also had a wrestling program. But
when I think about just wrestling justgenerally, the heart of my career was
at Stanford. That's where my mindgoes to. My philosophy was that,
you know, if I outworked theseguys, they really can't tell me I

(01:15:30):
can't stay. So that was partof the mentality going in. But I
think I saw a real recognition inthat, like there was this limit.
Even though I'm sure some of themwere not comfortable with my presence. This
was my home too, and Iwas gonna work as hard or harder than

(01:15:51):
they are, and we were allgoing to answer our questions on our independent
journeys. Yeah. So Patrician andI met in ninety seven, ninety seven,
that was the year we both graduatedfrom high school. She's from California,
I'm from Morgan originally, and wemet at the Stanford campus basically to
white eyed freshmen. We were bothon the Stanford wrestling team, so it

(01:16:14):
naturally caused us to collide, youknow, the relationship kind of took off.
I would characterize Patricia as my bestfriend, and she was for a
pretty long time. Part of thereason that we were being forced together is
that I was terrified for my lifein that room and she must have been
in a similar kind of situation.So first I had left Stanford and I

(01:16:40):
was gone for three years, andthen the coaches invited me back because there
was a group of athletes coming inthat were roughly my size, and I
knew there was a woman on theteam that was a freshman there of the
year prior, and I didn't youknow, I was interested because that was
a novelty at the time, LikeI want to see for myself. I
want to why she's there and whatshe's doing. And it really didn't take

(01:17:03):
long. She wasn't there for attention. She was there. She was there
because she was serious about the sports. She was serious about bettering herself.
And it took all of one practiceto realize that, and then that that
pattern consisted through the entire four yearsthat I was able to coach Patricia every
practice, every day, giving herall. And gosh, what an amazing

(01:17:25):
what an amazing person that could pullthat off, you know, for me
to make it through right those hourslong practice had a Division one college with
men like I just couldn't do itif I knew I had already bet against
myself like that would be just toomuch. And it was my goal to

(01:17:48):
wrestle for Stanford and to be amale opponent. You know, this is
the fiftieth year of title mind right, And I know wrestling has a complicated
history with it, but I thinkthat we're getting to view it a little
bit more as the intended. Youknow, fifty years ago, somebody enacted

(01:18:10):
legislation that would ensure that my rightin the nineties to try out for the
boys team even existed, and Iremember being so moved by that. Well,
Patricia was part of the first groupwhen I became the national team coach
in two thousand and two. Reallymy involvement with women's resident was none before

(01:18:30):
that, and so when I cameto the training center for the first time
in August of two thousand and two, Patricia was part of the first resident
program at the Olympic Training Center.You know, she was obviously a great
wrestler in her first Olympic medalist forTeam USA in two thousand and four,

(01:18:54):
but really it was not what shedid that was so great, which that
was great and it's but it washow she went about her business on a
daily basis that really set Patricia Maranapart from the group. And you know,
she was just one of those peoplethat lives her life to a gold
standard. The honor, the privilegeof getting to be in Athens in the

(01:19:17):
sport of wrestling, I remember thatwas amazing. It's like bringing the sport
home and also getting to introduce theother half of the population as wrestlers.
That was really special. I havea real deep humility when I think of

(01:19:38):
that chance that I got. Ithink that this sport provided me that continuous
opportunity to mold myself into who Iwanted to become. And it just is
there in space, you know,if you're willing to, you know,
get broken down and willing to getback up and rebuild, like this sport

(01:20:00):
just gives you this chance again andagain, this process of being inducted into
the Hall of Fame and just understandingwhat that means. I think that I'm
so appreciative for that chance to reflect, you know, because I'm not the

(01:20:23):
most winningest wrestler, but I didget to usher, you know, the
sport in and introduce it, andI got to do it all my way.
You know. I was doing itfor my reasons and in a way
that you know, I believed wasright for me. And now I'm being

(01:20:45):
recognized for pursuing it my way,like these great honors. Now, I
feel like it's a nice warm handon my shoulder and a whisper saying that,
hey, how I did things matterto some people, and that's quite

(01:21:06):
something. Distinguished Member Honoree Patricia Miranda, please come forward with your presenter,
Cara Tarana Berry. Hello, Thankyou to the Hall organizers for this opportunity

(01:21:48):
to reflect, share, learn,celebrate, and come together. It really
is something to see and feel thesupport of the wonderful people that have been
so important to the various chapters thatI've been so lucky to have lived.
My family, my Stanford crew,my Olympic journey mates. Thank you for

(01:22:14):
having shared your journey with me andfor being part of mine. I'd like
to show you a few moments ofmy story, and I bet no one
unless you are actually in these stories, knows about them. But when I
thought about having to address and gettingthe chance to address this group of family

(01:22:39):
and friends, it's these stories thatcame to mind. Scene one. It's
the mid nineteen nineties. My highschool teammates and I are rolling up the
wrestling mats in our gymnasium following theconclusion of that evening's dual meet. I
had wrestled pretty well, and bythis time in my junior year, I've

(01:23:02):
been elected captain by my all maleteammates, so I was feeling more confident
that I'd made a space for myselfin the room. A mother approached me.
I pieced together from what she hadsaid that I had just wrestled her
son in the dole meat. Shesaid, how dare you place my son

(01:23:26):
in this position. If he wins, well, he was supposed to beat
the girl, and if he loses, his social life is over. He
can't win. My more reactive instinctwas to assure her that there were no
wrestling moves that require a third appendagebelow the waist in order to perform.

(01:23:56):
But instead, thankfully, I tooka moment before I responded. I could
tell she was just upset and perhapsa little bit confused. She was,
after all, yelling at a sixteenyear old girl. So I said,
you are the parent. You arethe one to help your son select the

(01:24:17):
lesson that he is going to learnfrom tonight. On one hand, he
could learn that if you work hard, hold good position, never give up,
that anybody can win, and youshake hands at the end of the
match and try again tomorrow. Orhe could learn that it's the end of

(01:24:38):
the world to lose to a girl. I'm working hard here and I'm learning
so much. I'm not going toforego that because you may choose to teach
your son the wrong lesson from tonightscene too. It's the middle of the
night. I'm in a hospital bedin hermiston or pushed up against the railing,

(01:25:02):
making room in the bed for Levi, the real patient, and the
boy I had met about ten monthsearlier in my first year in college.
It had been a few hours sincethe last time the nurse had come in
to change the sweat soaked bed sheets. Levi's gut had ruptured, and although

(01:25:23):
they removed the faulty intestines and sewnhim back up, he was still fighting
off the infection from having gone septic. The prospects weren't great. If Levi
was going to for sure survive,I think he needed not to have had
emergency surgery in hermiston organ. Healso needed to not have gone undiagnosed for

(01:25:46):
three days with the gut rupture.And if Levi was going to for sure
survive, the antibiotics were going toneed to start working pretty soon to control
what seemed to be and out ofcontrol infection. It was almost hard to
recognize him next to the one twentyfive pounds starter that had left Stamford for

(01:26:06):
summer break just a month prior.The person next to me looked a bit
like a sunken in skeletor too thinfor hospital pans to stay upon. No
matter how hard we pulled and gettingthe news that if he survived the infection,
he had a good chance of longterm survival if there were no reruptures

(01:26:27):
for a period of five years.It seemed like quite the descent for a
nineteen year old male, and perhapsthat's why it took until that second night
in the hospital bed together for meto ask him, how are you doing?
Really? He said, without ahint of self pity in his voice,

(01:26:49):
that he had been paid in fullanything he's ever been owed in this
life, just by virtue of wherehe was born and to who he was
born to. I'm not owed fivemore years. I'm not owed to anything.
I'll take whatever I have and golive the heck out of it.

(01:27:10):
We had been together for about ayear at that point, but it was
that instant that I knew that I'drather live the next five years with him
than anybody else I had ever met. Fast forward seven years, Scene three.
There are eight wrestlers in a whitewater paddle raft and we're trying to

(01:27:31):
choose the right river line on deadlinefalls a class six unrunnable rabid on the
North Umpqua River in Oregon. Now, should we have been attempting to run
a rapid rated, unrunnable. Themorning after our wedding, well you know
wrestlers, and the boat was chalkfull of those. This was the morning

(01:27:56):
after our River's side wedding, butit was also the last day of a
four day river trip, and aswas typical of our annual Whitewater river trips,
we tried to save the real risksfor the last day so any folks
who did not feel like brushing withdeath could opt out. The opt inners

(01:28:16):
that year where Tayla, O'Donnell andI seated second from front, Shannon Slover
and Levi, my newly minted husbandin front, Ray Blake and Louis Vendreu
behind us, and Will Durky andmy brother in Lawdale and back. Now
it's important to pick the right riverline on deadline falls, because the class

(01:28:40):
six rating comes from the deadly reversalon the bottom that sort of spans the
entire width of the river except fora half boat size channel that you could
sneak through at the bottom. Soat the bottom there's this moment where you're
half in and half out of danger. The line is really important. We

(01:29:01):
set off on the water on ourchosen line and immediately see my father in
law, Hans Onshore downstream telling usto frantically move left. And so,
after correcting our line and trying togloss over the fact that we almost did
the one thing you can't do ondeadline falls, we set off and we

(01:29:25):
go over the falls and we dig, dig, dig as hard as we
can with our paddles. We pullpull pole away from the falls, and
we're clear. I remember all theboys standing up with paddles raised over their
heads, erupting and jubilant yells likewe had just vanquished Goliath. Taylor and
I were quite pleased, but stillseated. So we noticed, as our

(01:29:48):
raft kept floating around the bend thatall the fishermen that were fishing on the
elevated blanks were dropping their fishing poleswhere they stood and sprinting around the bend.
So now we had not scouted beyondDeadline Falls, but we should have

(01:30:08):
because the banks were elevated some eightto ten feet on either side. So
whatever was waiting for us around thebend, we were going to go through.
Taylor and I, I remember,looked at each other, cocked our
heads, and then with some effort, got the attention from our boat mates,
and things got pretty quiet at thatpoint. As we rounded the corner,

(01:30:29):
we got our first glimpse of awall of water, which is really
just a large rabbit, but asthe water goes over a boulder from the
vantage point of your little boat,it looks like a wall, and so
you do what you do in thatsituation, and you paddle as hard as
you can to get as much momentumto make over that wall through the center.

(01:30:50):
So we cressed and get over thefirst wall, and we catch our
first glimpse of you guessed it,another wall of water. So we go
over the first one, we comedown, and then we're just sort of
paddling in air ray trying to graspat the water to keep that momentum going
to get up the second wall ofwater, and the boat goes up,

(01:31:12):
up, up, up in notquite over though, it's sliding back down
into the falls of the first wave, and the boat starts sinking, but
sinking straight down, and at onepoint I remember all of us are standing
up in the water with water aboutup to our knees, and then wondering

(01:31:33):
where did the boat go, Likeit just disappeared behind us or beneath us,
and for how it ends, itinvolves the boat popping back up and
getting flung around between the two rapids, the captain Dale and my husband Levi
abandoning ship without notifying the rest ofus, and then Shannon, Ray and

(01:31:57):
I fruitlessly high sighting from bladder tobladder until the boat mercilessly finally tipped over
and spit us out down the river. The fishermen helped us count the heads
down the river, or leaving methat we had not killed anybody the day
after our wedding, and one fishermanlater shared with us that I've been fishing

(01:32:18):
here for thirty years and never seenanyone run that rapid. Wrestlers, you
say, go figure. This lastscene belongs to three coaches and was shared
with me Jason Barelli, Ray Blake, and Alex Tairpelli. Jason and Ray

(01:32:42):
are here tonight. We're in anoffice together. On July eighth, twenty
twenty, the day Stamford announced theelimination of eleven sports, including wrestling.
Many recognize this as a tipping pointfor wrestling on the entire West Coast.
The PAC twelve was already down innumber and was Stamford bowing out showing a

(01:33:04):
lack of belief in the sport.How long until other schools did the same
or jump conferences. They say ittook about seven minutes for the announcement to
sink in and for their resolve tosolidify collectively that the three of them were
going to do whatever it took tosave wrestling at Stanford. They said it

(01:33:28):
took about seven more minutes for themto realize collectively that if they did do
whatever it took to save wrestling atStanford, that they may not get to
be there afterwards. And yet theywent fullhearted into preserving that sport for others.
It was those three coaches that recruitedthe chairs of the Keep Stanford Wrestling
movement. Carrie McCoy, who's heretonight, was on that call as well.

(01:33:54):
It was those three coaches that metand strategized at least twice a week
and live the implementation of those strategiesfor the ten month effort, both outside
of the room and in their dayjob of coaching through COVID constraints with a
team in black singlets and crowning anational champion under their watch and along with

(01:34:17):
my co chairs Robert Hatta and SeanHarmon, who's here tonight. We saw
the movement grow from just protecting thesport of wrestling to the eleven cut sports
banding together and eventually, in trueStanford spirit, the thirty six Strong movement,
where all thirty six sports stood together. Moneyed or not. I'm not

(01:34:42):
sure exactly why Stanford changed their minds, but I know it had something significant
to do with the effort of thesethree coaches, and it seems fitting to
honor their efforts here at the NationalWrestling Hall with its mission to preserve wrestling
history and inspire the future. Thesethree coaches, Jason BURRELLI, Ray Blake,

(01:35:04):
and Alex Turripelli, have certainly donethat. People still ask what worked,
how can we save wrestling programs andother schools. Well, it wasn't
standing alone, men and women,wrestlers and non wrestlers were better together.

(01:35:27):
Better together is what worked. Inour weekly meetings, there were non Stanford
alumni and non wrestlers unified in theirmission to preserve the sport for others.
One of these important individuals was KiraBerry, and I asked Kira to be
here tonight representing the future direction forpreservation and growth of this sport as a

(01:35:50):
whole, wrestlers and non wrestlers understandingthe value to everyone in providing the transformative
benefits of this sport in the mostinclusive, lowest barrier to entry manner that
exists for any of our student athletes. Think about it, Wrestling is second

(01:36:11):
to only football for the most numberof first generation college goers in the entire
NCAA. So, as just someonewho wrestled back when I tip my hat
to these visionary leaders, many ofwhom have never wrestled themselves, that are
working hard today to increase access tothis educational opportunity for our future sons and

(01:36:35):
daughters. In closing, I believewords are not how humans learn best,
that showing is more powerful than telling. Thank you for letting me show you
a few moments of my story andfor the opportunity to do so in this

(01:36:59):
forum with my children, Helix andDiya watching. And if the way forward
is better together, I think thatstarts by first seeing each other, understanding
each other, and respecting each other, and then when the time comes,

(01:37:20):
we can truly stand together. Thankyou. Our final twenty twenty three Distinguished
Member is Joe E. Williams,please enjoy this video. Here's a guy

(01:37:45):
who trains his butt off, whocame from nothing, who made something of
hisself through hard work and dedication atanything as possible. So that is really
the legacy that I hope to leavebehind. So I start wrestling when I
was in about third grade for theHarvey Twisters, which was a kids club

(01:38:06):
in the Harvey, Illinois And Isay for the first three years I was
really terrible at the sport. Andthen in sixth grade is really where things
started to turn around for me.Started listening to my coaches and it was
that point that my you know,sixth grade coach told me, you know,

(01:38:27):
you can accomplish great things in thesport of wrestling if you just listen
and and and pay attention. Soat sixth grade, I finally started to
have some success and that kind ofreally kind of drew me into to the
sport. Joe Williams, it hasa legacy in wrestling is one that people

(01:38:47):
won't forget. They just won't forget. You don't often see skills performed at
the level that he performed them becausethey're so quick. So you got to
make sure you know you're not watchingsomething else. You got to be right
focused on his match because he couldbe in one position, he'll be in

(01:39:08):
another at the blank of an eye. And that's what really allowed him to
be a pretty famous guy, prettyfamous guy in his performance because it was
spectacular. Well, I think coachGable, you say that the name itself
and that's, you know, reallysynonymous with the sport of wrestling, and

(01:39:30):
I think, you know, justhis attitude about the sport and how he
approaches every athlete is a little bitdifferent. My relationship with the coach Gable.
He knew that how or what tosay to kind of get me motivated
or the things to do to getme motivated to go on and to wrestle
at my best. And it's onlywith a coach like that that you're going

(01:39:53):
to have great success. Joe camehere right out of high school. He
was a good student, He gotright to work, he didn't say anything.
Joe distinguished himself as one of theold time great hawkeys, not just
in being able to win matches,but that he could win exciting and exciting
fashion. And he was dominant,you know. Growing up, I mean

(01:40:15):
it was always about you know,the Olympics, accomplishing this goal and that
go so when you think of legacy, that doesn't really set in until after
the fact, and so I've neverthought about that, but until you know,
recently, I've had the opportunity tokind of lived through some old memorabilia

(01:40:35):
things, and it kind of itreally hits hard knowing that some of the
things that I've accomplished along the way, people are going to use that for
motivation. What I've learned from thesport of wrestling is really to take a
step back, to think about thingsand to try to make the best and

(01:40:56):
right decisions at that time. AndI think the role models or that your
close friends help you to keep youon the right track. And so those
are the things that I think thatI've learned from the sport of wrestling.
Is that I surround myself with peoplewho are like minded, strong woled individuals
who only see and want to dothe best. And so when you're doing

(01:41:19):
that, that's going to help you. I think when you look at the
individuals that are before you and thecertainly the individuals that are going to come
after you, I think it reallyit really kind of tucks on your heart
to say that, you know,other people have recognized the things and the

(01:41:43):
time and the energy that I've putinto the sport. And so when that
starts to happen, you feel elated, and you feel gratitude, you feel
gracious, you feel all these emotionssometimes that us wrestlers we don't exhibit a
lot. And so again it meansa lot to be inducted into the Hall

(01:42:05):
of Fame with the other honor rasare getting inducted to as well. So
certainly something that I'm going to cherishfor the rest of my life. Could
we now please bring out twenty twentythree distinguished member Joe E. Williams at

(01:42:30):
his presenter his brother Timothy T.J. Williams. It's been pretty pretty

(01:42:55):
amazing journey. When I think aboutthe accomplishments and the places that I've been,
and I stop and think about thosethings. I think about the opportunities
that I've had to connect with somereal distinguished individuals, and tonight really is
the icing on the cake for me. But before I go down memory lane,

(01:43:17):
I would like to take a momentto thank God for really supplying me
with the physical attributes to be successful. And I know that my faith and
belief in Him has allowed me toaccomplish many things in his name. I
would like to recognize my mom,who I know is kind of looking down
upon me, for instilling within methe work ethic that I would use to

(01:43:43):
be become successful. She would oftensay, the sky's the limit, put
your lead, lake forward, andnever quit. I would also be remiss
if I didn't recognize and congratulate theother honorees and inductees for their honors and
accomplishments for this evening. You know, this weekend has really kind of allowed

(01:44:04):
me to do a lot of things, reconnect with coaches, athletes, teammates,
and in many cases form new relationships. And one of the most significant
things about accomplishments that make them memorableand meaningful is that you get to share
them with others. And so thisweekend and tonight, I really get to

(01:44:25):
share it with you. And Iwouldn't be standing before you tonight if it
weren't for many individuals who stood bymy side to give me continuous support both
on and off the mat. AndI really want to kind of thank those
individuals. And I'll run through alist, so please be a little patient
here. So it really starts withthe Harvey Park District and a person named

(01:44:54):
Kim Watts who was the administrative ofthe Harvey Park District, and from there
with the Harvey Park District Wrestling Club. It all started with Donald Witted,
and then my Gray School coach QuinTroy Herrell, Arnold Carroll, Alan Loan,
Will Franklin, Phil Remberg TC andTerry Danzler, Shannon Gillespie and then

(01:45:20):
my high school Mount Carmel, andthat started with coach Bill Wick. And
it's really hard to not be successful. So I've been pretty babied along the
way, if you will. Myhigh school coach, coach Bill coach Bill
Wick, coach Dan Gabling, thenineteen seventy two Olympics, and coming from

(01:45:41):
the kids program that I came from, and then the high school and the
collegiate coach Dan Gable. It's reallyhard to not be successful with those sort
of individuals in your corner. So, as I mentioned coach Bill Wick,
Ron Obsby, coach Pappus Leonard andPaula par Role, Billy Guide and then

(01:46:03):
onto the University of Iowa. Ithink one of the strong relationships that I
had with coach Gable right away mymom. She wanted me to take other
college visits. Bobby Douglas came outto the house and I just really was
not interested in going to or makingany other college visits, and that at

(01:46:26):
that point I kind of viewed myselfas being a young man. My mom
said, you know, you shouldtake college visits to see what their opportunities
are there for and I told her, no, I'm not going to do
it. This is something that I'vebeen dreaming about since sixth grade. And
she stood by me and she supportedme, and that led me to again.

(01:46:47):
The University of Iowa had great coachesDan Gable, Jim Zileski, Tom
and Terry Brands, who I triedto my brother and I tried to emulate
when we were younger. Mark Emsideobviously, Hardale Moore. The sun Kiss
kids aren't mar Tori. And thenyou start getting more into the international stuff

(01:47:12):
and you start looking at guys like, you know, Bruce Brunette, who
is the national team's coach, youhelped coach me, And you look at
guys like John Smith. You lookat those individuals. These guys have accomplished
a lot, and growing up youwatch them, you see them and they're
doing outstanding things and so you wantto accomplish as much as you can.

(01:47:39):
Guys like Kevin Jackson. I've gotRich Bender in here. Rich Benders obviously
a big supporter of USA Wrestling,big supporter of wrestling in general. And
again I talk about the fans.One of the things that I always got
excited about when I competed was towardsthe end of the sea and where our

(01:48:00):
team needed the extra bonus points.Our team needed the extra whether it was
six points or five points, andI was always a team player. I
remember getting pulled out of my richshirt year. Gable said to me we
had just lost to doing meet toMinnesota, and he said to me,

(01:48:21):
you want to wrestle this season?I go, why not? I just
I just want to make sure you'reready. I'm ready. Pulled me out
of race shirt. I didn't havea great red shirt a rasher year.
I lost to a couple of individualswho were great. Pat Smith. I
think Pat Smith beat me maybe fifteen. I think he tacked me. Never

(01:48:45):
got the opportunity to wrestle Patt again. But you know our wrestled Mark So
but no, it was a great, great opportunity to wrestle. But I
wanted to do whatever I had todo for the team, and that was
the type of ending that I was. If the team needed six points,
I was going to put myself ina position to get those six points,

(01:49:06):
even if it were put myself ina position that we a little bit dangerous
because I know and knew that myteam needed those extra points. That was
the type of person that I was, and that kind of emulated itself through
the sport of wrestling. For me, I became indebted to the crowd,
to our fans, and tonight Iwant to say again thank you to my

(01:49:30):
family who here a support. Iwant to say thank you to Leroy Smith
who's been an advocate obviously for theNational Hall of Fame for wrestling. Where's
jacket, Jack? Can you please? I was given applause for Jack for
everything that he's done, and thenI will leave you with this. There's

(01:49:57):
really three people that can really motivateme just with the sound of their voice.
One was my mom, two wasCoach Gable, and three Sandy When
I when I heard her voice,I knew it was time. Hey,
it's time to wrestle. And thatgot me fired up and coursed him out
to get the slaps from Sandy likeI got from Coach Gable, but that

(01:50:21):
got me motivated to wrestle. Soagain, thank you for this. This
honor is truly, truly an opportunityand I'm gonna cherish for the rest of
my life. Thank you, Thankyou, Joe. Hello, Bob Bolesby,

(01:50:43):
you have been found. Ladies andgentlemen, please now enjoy the video
of Bob Bolesby, who is thisyear's Outstanding American. There are, you
know, lots of things you earnfrom wrestling, and among them are perseverance
and self reliance and individuality and theidea that hard work and commitment will lead

(01:51:12):
to positive outcomes. Well, Iwas born in Waterloo, Iowa, actually
lived there most of my life.In truth, I was born in Burlington,
but my family I was the oldestof five siblings. My brother John
is on the National Wrestling Hall ofFame board and was an outstanding wrestler in
his day. My dad, Ithink, when I came home and said

(01:51:35):
I wanted to be a wrestler,thought I'd lost my mind because he was
an All state football player and anAll State basketball player. But one of
the things that was important in Waterloowas wrestling. All of the high schools
had outstanding wrestling, none better thanWest Waterloo, where I attended. I'd
have to say that Bob Siddens wasabout as influential in my life as anybody

(01:51:59):
other than my parents. I thinkhe was very influential in making me understand
that I ought to have some confidencein my abilities and that I could have
the chance to go on and competein college if I really wanted to devote
myself to it. The decision togo to Morehead State, I look back
on it today, am still notsure why I made the decision I made.

(01:52:25):
It was just one of those thingsthat I was ready to be out
of Waterloo for a while. Imet some of the best friends of my
life at that institution and really neverlooked back. I met Bob Bolesby and
the fall of nineteen seventy one,and it was through wrestling wrestling connection.
I was on athletic scholarship at MoreheadState College in Minnesota. Bobad already been

(01:52:51):
there for a year, but wewere two of only three Islands on that
team. I remember my mother passedaway fairly early. I think she was
sixty seven, and the first phonecall I got on that was Bob just
you know, a repetition of whathe's always done is the encouragement, support
and you'll move on from this andthose types of things. He has a

(01:53:14):
way of making you feel included.When I first went to the University of
Iowa for my master's degree, Iwas involved in the facilities operation and I
ran a couple of outdoor tennis facilitiesin an indoor recreation building. And in
that role, I worked with lotsof coaches, and one thing led to
another, and I began to thinka little bit about athletic administration, and

(01:53:40):
lo and behold, I got anopportunity to go to Northern Iowa as an
assistant athletic director. Stan Sheriff,the athletic director, who was also the
football coach at the time, decidedthat he was going to stop coaching football
and take the athletic director's job atthe University of Hawaii, and so at
thirty one years old, I endedup being the intermedia Northern Iowa. I

(01:54:01):
also think, I, you know, have had a lot of great mentors
and colleagues through my work with theNCAA, my service on the men's basketball
committee. I was a chair fortwo tournaments, and I was also on
the NCAA Wrestling Committee and was chairfor a couple of years. And you've
developed very close relationships, very trustedrelationships. You know, in retirement,

(01:54:28):
I've had people say to me,I appreciate the way that you treated me
over the years. In the end, I guess I'm probably about as proud
of that legacy as anything that peoplefeel like I have made difficult decisions but
done so keeping in mind their bestwishes and treating them right. I met

(01:54:49):
Bob as a student athlete at theUniversity of Biowa. I was a member
of the track and field team,and you know, everybody knows who Bob
is, but to actually get tomeet him personally just validates one of the
awesome human being he is. Myjunior year, I was the Student Athlete
Advisory Committee chair, and in myrole kind of speaking for women's athletics,
I got to be a part ofthat bridge to help merge the men's and

(01:55:10):
women's departments, and I just wasso impressed as our very first meeting with
Bob. He really brought together theteam and made us all feel like,
really, all boats will rise inthis higher tide at Iowa. Ultimately,
he's the kind of leader people wantto follow, and I've given some thought.
I feel like I've been a studentof the book of Bob Bulesby for

(01:55:30):
many years, having watched his wayof leadership at the University of Iowa,
his leadership at Stanford, and nowin my role with the United States Olympic
and Paralympic Committee. And he oftenjokes that he's the mailman. He just
delivers whatever's asked of him. Butreally what he does is he people have
trust in him because not only doeshe know what to deliver, he knows
how to get that accomplished. Andso I think those elements make him a

(01:55:53):
really strong leader, and he's oneof the best in the country. There
were so many high points in termsof the wins, and you know,
unlike my own career, where Iremember the losses a lot better than I
remember the wins. Over a longathletics career, I tend to remember the
wins more than the losses. Youknow, there are plenty of both.

(01:56:14):
But I've been very fortunate. I'vebeen with successful programs and I've had the
opportunity to be an additive factor ina lot of those situations. So whatever
the case may be, I thinkI always draw upon what I've learned out
on the wrestling matt and what I'velearned in the room is that you get

(01:56:35):
out of it what you put intoit. If you are willing to sacrifice
and commit yourself to it, you'regonna have a better chance of getting a
good outcome. It takes a lotto put tears in my eyes, but
I teared up a little bit forthem to recognize me and to remember my
involvement with the USO PC and withwrestling and with sports and all of the

(01:57:02):
things that go along with it.It really took me aback, and for
for them to recognize me is thehighest honor I've ever received. And now

(01:57:24):
we're going to bring Bob forward withhis presenter, his brother John Bowlsby.
Well, it's been a little bitof a long evening already, but I

(01:57:45):
guess uh, the tail always comesafter the dog, so here I am.
Uh. I actually considered a realbreak that we we changed the order
for whatever reason. I don't knowhow I was lost, but apparently I
was lost because last night I gotto follow Richard Perry. The said morning,

(01:58:10):
I got to follow Richard Perry,and after hearing that kind of an
inspirational and moving story over and overagain, the last thing anybody wants to
hear is about the guy who putlines on the field and blew up the
basketballs. So I considered it areal break. And then the break comes
with the downside of having the opportunityto go behind all the distinguished members.

(01:58:35):
So truly the tale is humbly hereto accept. But this is quite a
group, and you know, probablyfor me, in all frankness, other
than just the sheer honor and surpriseof receiving the award, is just to

(01:58:57):
be here with all of you andreconnect with so many friends that I've known
over the years, so many peoplethat have been important in my life and
that have been pivotal. You know, it's hard to explain just exactly how
moving it is to have somebody likeMark Ironside volunteer comments like he made in

(01:59:17):
Joe Williams's interview video interview this morning, And Joe, I hope you didn't
object to taking a little bit ofyour time, but Mark was just you
know, he's a wonderful competitor atIOWA, as was Joe and so many
others over my sixteen years. ButI have been richly blessed to be at

(01:59:41):
institutions that valued wrestling. Northern Iowavalued wrestling, and of course the University
of Iowa. And I'll never forgetwhen Kerrie McCoy left Stanford, and by
the way, I worked my buttoff to keep him there, and I
finally found out just recently where thedeal fell apart his new athletic director talked

(02:00:02):
to his wife. He never gaveme a chance to talk to his wife,
but in any event, he leftand I was devastated. And we
rebounded well by hiring Jason Brelli,and it's great to see him here.
But I got a call from amedia person when Carrie left and they said,
well, I suppose you'll be thenext institution to drop wrestling, And

(02:00:26):
I said, you haven't done muchresearch on my background, have you.
First of all, I would beuninvited from Christmas at my own home,
but beyond that, I could neverlook my friends and colleagues in the eye
if I ever even considered something likethat. And so I certainly appreciate the
work that Patricia and her colleagues didat Stanford. You know, the an

(02:00:50):
institution with a thirty eight billion dollarendowment probably doesn't need to drop sports,
and I think they kind of gotkind of got called on that. I've
always thought of myself as a wrestler. I don't know why, except to

(02:01:15):
explain that it's such a deep seatedpart of where I grew up and what
I did when I was growing up. I think, as John has has
said, we didn't have a wholelot of choice in Waterloo, Iowa.
There were lots of wrestlers there,and I started it in sixth grade.

(02:01:35):
I liked it. I had alittle early success, and I saw all
the people that were putting together eightytwo consecutive Duel Mey wins for coach Bob
Siddons, and I wanted to bea part of that. I wanted to
be a part of the legacy thatDan Gable was creating and that so many
others at the school has created havecreated. So I always thought of myself

(02:01:59):
as a wrestler, and I wasalways proud when others thought of me as
a wrestler. I am very gratefulto Leroy and his team to the board.
Relative to the board, I youknow that you get a call like
the one that tells you you're goingto be honored. And I soon called
my brother afterwards and said, youknew about this, didn't you? And

(02:02:24):
he said, what do you thinkwhen when you got the call and saw
it was Leroy Smith? And Isaid, I assumed he was calling for
a donation, and I would havegiven again, but that wasn't what it
was. And then, as onlya brother can, he went on to
tell me that the vote was almostunanimous and left me to wonder who the

(02:02:48):
hell had voted against me. So, uh, it's a tremendous honor,
unlike any other that I've had.As you get old, you get some
of these things, but not likethis one, not from this organization,
not from people who I admire andrespect and I have idolized in many cases

(02:03:13):
over a long, long period oftime. It has been special for me
to have my family here. Allfour of our children are here. They
came in trickling in one day ata time. They completely fooled me.
I was in San Diego and daughterLisa drove me to the airport Thursday morning
and then showed up in Stillwater onFriday afternoon. Daughter Rachel showed up today

(02:03:41):
and I've got four absolutely wonderful children. All of my siblings are here,
all four of my brother John andall three of my sisters, and obviously
that makes it tremendously special. Mywife Candae is with me. She I
have been inducted into halls of fameover time and been recognizing one way or

(02:04:04):
another. She has entirely had itup to here with people saying things about
me that she knows are not true, but bearing with me as she always
has. We are glad to behere, and I want to say a

(02:04:24):
special thank you to Tim Johnson andto Sarah will Helmy from the USO PC.
I have worked with Sarah at longends for about five or six years
in her role as a liaison withthe NCAA, and what she does almost

(02:04:45):
every day and almost exclusively as herlife's work at this point in time,
is work to keep the liaison betweenthe NCAA and the USOPC strong and with
with one supporting the other. Andshe is a she is a critical cock
in in the relationship between the collegiatecommunity, especially in a sport like wrestling,

(02:05:11):
and the USOC USO PC. Sothanks to to to her, thanks
to Nick Hobbs, my teammate,and uh, and thanks especially to my
brother John. He's despite not missingan opportunity to gig me a little bit.
Uh, he's the best brother Icould have imagined. And I appreciate

(02:05:33):
the fact that I haven't found outyet that he was a descending vote on
the but I'm still checking around.Not everybody in the room is your friend.
I wrestled for Bob Sonon as aHall of Fame coach in his own
right. Uh, he was agreat official, got me involved in officiating.

(02:05:55):
He used to say to me,Uh, go out there and don't
take a back seat to this guy. Now that isn't necessarily self evident,
is what that means. It reallymeans a couple of things. The first
thing is is that he's trying totell me he's pretty sure the guy's better
than I am. The other thinghe's trying to say is there's an opportunity

(02:06:16):
to disprove his initial assessment of howthis thing is going to turn out.
And I can tell you, throughoutmy career whether some of the most complex
decisions, some of the most difficultpeople, some of the most challenging circumstances.
I always heard that voice in theback of my head. Don't take

(02:06:38):
a back seat to him. Andit always was a wrestling analogy, that
loneliness that goes with being out thereon a matt one to one when you
know that you either spent yourself inthe room and you're ready or you're not,
and either you're going to get itdone or you're not, there's nobody

(02:07:00):
out there to help you. It'sthe ultimate and self reliance. And whether
you have been a multiple time Olympicchampion or whether you were lucky to make
your high school team, we alltook away the same lessons from the great
sport that we celebrate tonight. Thankyou very much. In just a minute

(02:07:30):
or two, I am going toask our twenty twenty three honorees to return
to the stage for a final groupphoto. But we're going to make sure
that our official photographer, Larry Slatergets the opportunity to take pictures of the
honorees first, and then I willinvite any others to come forward to take

(02:07:51):
a picture if they wish. However, before we do that, Bob Boseby,
Leroy Smith may not have asked youfor a donation, but I will
John Harris and I are the cochairs of the first ever endowment campaign that
the National Wrestling Hall of Fame hasever had. We are the only organization

(02:08:18):
of this type in the world,and we want it to be continued.
We need it to be continued.I think as you came in to this
arena, I believe you received someinformation on our campaign. We're just going
public with that campaign. No matterwhen you pledge over five years, you

(02:08:45):
have five years then to meet thatpledge, and we have another a number
of other exciting things going on.But we want you to know that,
as of just a couple of monthsago, we have been told by a
secret group of people that if wemake our five million dollar pledge, they

(02:09:09):
will match the five million dollar pledge. So we have five years in which
to do that, and we needevery bit of help we can. So
if you have information, if you'reinterested, and you don't have a pledge
card, we do have them here. I think, as you leave the
theater, talk with a board memberor call the office of the Hall of

(02:09:35):
Fame, help us create a lastinglegacy to forever honor those who impact wrestling
and the impact that wrestling has madeon your lives and the lives of so
many others. And now we're goingto ask one more thing. We're going
to tell you goodbye, but wehope you make planned to return to future

(02:10:00):
Hall of Fame Weekend. You don'tneed to know when honorey, You don't
need to be an honore You arewelcome because you are part of the wrestling
family. So please please come backto the Hall of Fame Weekend and to
the Hall of Fame, and they'reopen tomorrow ours nine two. Somebody helped

(02:10:26):
me out here nine to four,okay, And if you haven't had a
chance to see the Hall of Fame, please take that opportunity, have a
safe trip home. Thank you forcoming here this year and being part of
the twenty twenty three National Wrestling Hallof Fame Honors Weekend Award winners, Would

(02:10:52):
you please come forward. Legends isa presentation of the National Wrestling Hall of

(02:11:20):
Fame and produced by the Matt Talkpodcast Network. If you want to hear
more from Wrestling's Legends, contribute tothe project today by going to Matt talkonline
dot com slash contribute. We hopeyou've enjoyed this look in the wrestling history.
This has been Legends I'm Jason Bryan. Is implicative and anty and reigated, agregated,

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