2023 Hall of Fame Tribute Breakfast

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 ajourney through wrestling's past, president and future.
As we'll hear are the great storiesof wrestling and success from the true
legends of the sport here on Hallof Fame Legends. All right, we're

(00:33):
gonna go ahead and get started andwe'll fill in. There's just a few
seats of people that we got tofill in. But first of all,
I want to welcome you all tothis tribute breakfast. I'm Dave Martin.
I'm going to serve as your hostthis morning, and first of all,
we want to take an opportunity tothank our title sponsors. Well, we
want to thank Daniel and Vivian Hyman, Tom Graddy, the Resume Company,

(00:58):
the Richeson Family Foundation, and SandyStevens. We appreciate very much your help
putting this all together financially and helpingus. Before we begin our meal,
Hall of Fame Executive Director Leroy Smithis going to have some opening remarks.
Thank you, Dave. I don'tknow about opening remarks, but I'll keep

(01:21):
this short and brief. But youknow, Dave, here was an NCAA
wrestling champion for Iowa State. Hecomes from a big wrestling family in the
state of Iowa. His father wasa legendary high school coach and a runner
up in the NCAA Championship for theUniversity of Northern Iowa. What were they

(01:41):
called back in the day though,Yeah, and I was teachers College and
his brother Paul Martin. Dave camedown to go into business with Myron Roderick,
who really was one of the spearheadleaders of getting this Hall of Fame

(02:02):
back in set in nineteen seventy six. But prior to that, David come
down to go into business with Byron, and I think they recruited Dave down
so they could get his brother Paul, who was a three time state champion,
undefeated in high school and three timeAll American here for OSU. So
a really good wrestler, but agreat wrestling family. Thank you Dave for

(02:24):
always being on call. He wasalso the Deputy Chief Administration for Athletics here
at Oklahoma State for many years andrecently retired. And you'll enjoy I just
want to say good morning, enjoythis great program in this great facility that

(02:46):
recently was built and a few yearsago this Performing Arts Center, and it's
really provided us a great opportunity toshowcase you our inductees that were here to
celebrate. So not only will wehave this tribute, which has been a
relatively new program for us, thatreally helps us tell the story through the

(03:14):
friends and people that our inductees knowand that they know our inductees, and
we'll share those stories. So we'realways really excited to learn more about them,
and our job is to help continueto tell their story and so that
your legend lives on and we're excitedabout it. And with that, I'll

(03:36):
just turn it back over to Daveand we'll get going with a breakfast.
Thank you, all right, wehope everyone has enjoyed their meal, and
now let's begin our program. Thisis an opportunity for us to learn more
about this special group of individuals whoare we are honoring this weekend. We're

(04:00):
going to hear from those who knowthem best. They're family members and their
friends. Each of our speakers willbe allowed to talk for five minutes.
Five minutes now, Just FYI,if you hadn't been here before, there's
not going to be any injury timeouts. And if I come over, I

(04:21):
have to tap you mean, herelong overdue. So there's no timeouts and
there's no overtimes. Okay. Andif you think if we don't do that,
we might still be here tomorrow withthis, then we're still going.
So anyway, I'll put this downtemporarily, so without any more delay,

(04:43):
let's begin with John Kelly. Johnwill be speaking about his father, Ed
Kelly, who is being honored asthe twenty twenty three recipient of the Notorious
Meritorious Official Award. Where it is, Johnny, where we go? He
shod at the stage? Yeah,I set the stage here here well,

(05:03):
just to make sure I could.He like, but I wanted take it
on them. Good morning, friends, family, and alumni of the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame. I'm honoredto be here with you all to congratulate
and commemorate my father, Egg Kelly, and all the other nominees in their

(05:26):
wrestling achievements and accolades at this wonderfulceremony. My father's commitment and love for
wrestling was born on the squad atMount Saint Joseph's High School in Baltimore City
in nineteen forty nine. As afreshman. My father, alongside his brother,
established a reputation as a tough andcompetitive wrestler who was out to win.

(05:47):
Continuing his dedication to the sport,he wrestled at Loyola College now Loyola
University, taking division by storm andfought his way to a championship win at
the Mason Dixon Conference eighteen fifty fourat one hundred and thirty seven pounds.
Upon graduating from Loyal College, hebecame a history teacher at Catonsville High School

(06:08):
in Baltimore County. While teaching,continuing his wrestling career on the YMCA National
championship team winning several individual South AtlanticAAU titles, he still found the time
to build Catonsville High School's first wrestlingteam. There was a short interruption when
Uncle Sam drafted him to serve duringthe Korean War, but it was back

(06:30):
to the mats coaching after he gotback. If establishing and coaching a wrestling
team while serving in the Army forthis country, teaching a next generation of
students and starting a family of hishome wasn't enough of a commitment to wrestling,
he joined the Maryland Wrestling Officials Associationand began to referee. His refereeing

(06:50):
career evolved and he began to roughhigh level, high school and college matches.
His even keel attitude on the matwon the confidence and affection of wrestle
and coaches. Until today, peopletell me my father refereed some of their
matches. Imagine that forty to fiftyyears later and they still remember that he

(07:10):
reft their match. His ability tobe a top level referee awarded him the
opportunity to be an NCAA D oneref fulfilling his dream to be the best
of what he does. His educationalcareer advanced as successfully as his refereeing,
showing his devotion to helping students likeno other. As a head counselor,

(07:30):
I couldn't tell you how many studentshe helped, whether he was choosing the
right courses for that year, theright college, or figuring out what their
vocation was best for them. Hisability to determine what their passions were allowed
him to help steer them onto apath for success, just as he had
done for himself as a husband andfather. He was devoted to our mother

(07:53):
from the day they taught together ThundockHigh School until the day we laid our
mother to rest others. Is devotedand committed to all of us, day
in the day out as he wason the mat, always wanting to know
what's going on, still providing uswith advice based on his experience. Wance
a father, always a father thatI'm glad that your peers in the wrestling

(08:16):
world see the qualities you have andthis award is well deserved and earned.
Congratulations, Love you, And nowwe're going to hear a little more about
Ed from Joel Webber. Yeah,good morning. Let's start with a question,

(08:46):
what three things are most important inyour life? Some people might answer
good health, having a nice home, financial security. For Ed Kelly,
the three most important things in hislife is his faith faith in the Holy
Spirit. Number two, His family, wife, children, grandchildren. Number

(09:13):
three. You got it, wrestling. Ed's participation involvement in the sport of
wrestling has continued for more than seventyfive years. Being a wrestler in high
school and college set the foundation forEd's passion and love for both wrestling and
for life. As in wrestling andlife, one must make sacrifices for the

(09:35):
betterment of others as well as one'sself. However, none of this is
possible without a strong faith in theLord and the love and support of a
strong wife and family. Ed wasblessed with both. Even though Ed helped
to start a high school wrestling program, he will evenly admit that coaching was

(09:58):
not his forte, but admired allthe good things that coaches did for their
wrestlers, both on and off thematch. Coaches helped to set realistic and
obtainable goals for individual wrestlers as wellas their teams. Coaches helped raise others
people's children. Officiating allowed Ed tobe a part of this support system for

(10:22):
wrestlers. Ed began officiating collegiate matchesin nineteen sixty four at many local community
colleges and universities. Soon he wouldofficiate the ACC, the ACC Tournament,
the Mason Dixon Tournament, the VirginiaDuels, as well as Division one national

(10:43):
championships. When officiating a match,Ed will tell you that it was important
to manage the match by having correctpositioning, how and when in control was
determined, and by allowing the matchto flow. You had to let the
action determine the outcome. But Ed'sprimary and most important responsibility was to protect

(11:09):
the safety and welfare of each andevery wrestler. As an official, Ed
believed that he owed everyone that responsibility. We all know how difficult it is
and challenging it is in this sportto be an elite or wrestler. It

(11:30):
is no less difficult and challenging tobe an elite wrestling official. In order
to be an elite official at thehighest level, you must make many sacrifices.
Time away from family is the biggestand most difficult sacrifice of all,
being away from your wife and childrenduring the week and most often every weekend

(11:52):
from October through March, missing birthdays, holidays, school events, and special
so liberations. So what made aKelly different from every other official commitment?
Ed set the standards for respect,integrity, and moral values. As an

(12:13):
official, one must study the game, know your opponent, know the wrestlers,
know the coaches, know the rulesand regulations and be able to correctly
apply them. Ed would do hisown self evaluation and still get feedback from
other officials. When Ed Kelly walkedinto the gym, all the coaches knew

(12:35):
they had the right official that nightfor their match. After the nineteen eighty
seven National Championships, Ed would hangup his whistle and shoes and walk away
from officiating. But Pat McCormick knewEd Kelly very well and knew that Ed
had wrestling embedded in his DNA.It was much too valuable of an with

(13:01):
so much experience, talent, andknowledge of the sport to seego untapped.
Pat McCormick would soon approach Ed andask him to consider if he would be
taking on a new role, therole of helping validate the quality of the
NCAA wrestling officials. From nineteen eightynine to twenty twelve, A. Kelly

(13:26):
was the cornerstone at the NCAA WrestlingChampionships. As a key evaluator of top
wrestling officials in the country. Ed'sobjective and main focus was to make each
official the very best. Good isnot good enough when better is expected.
In nineteen ninety two, Ed isat the NCAA Division IE Wrestling Championships held

(13:50):
at Oklahoma State University here in Stillwater. Ed is ready to begin his evaluation
of the officials into the tournament aboutto begin, when some guy walks up
to Ed with all the proper credentialsand says to Ed, you look like
you know what you're doing. Edsaid, great. He says, I'm

(14:15):
a booster from Oklahoma State and Iwould love to follow you around all day
to see and learn all about wrestling. Ed said fine. Later, Ed
said the guy never shut up.Question after question after question, even in

(14:35):
the middle of a match. Thisguy never stopped. Finally, on the
flight home to Baltimore, Ed's friendsall, do you recall the name of
the guy who who shadowed you allday? Ed's reply was no, I
don't remember the guy's name, buthe was a pain of my ass.

(15:01):
Ed's friends all laughed and told himthat it was Garth Brooks. Ed reply,
who's Garth Brooks? Ed? Earlyin your career you said that you
could not be a wrestling coach.Sorry, Ed, but you were wrong.

(15:22):
You helped so many wrestlers, coaches, officials, and fans to come
and appreciate and love the sport ofwrestling by being a true ambassador of the
sport. Your willingness to teach,mentor demonstrate, explain, question, and
give positive and constructive criticism to bringout the full potential and talent in each

(15:43):
and every one of us that's coaching. You are the marquis of preserve,
recognize inspired. Your commitment and sacrificeof the sport of wrestling qualifies you a
Kelly as a true meritorious official fromall of us to you. Congratulations,

(16:15):
Thank you Joel for your comments,and let's move forward. One of the
awards that we present annually is theOrder of Merit, which is given to
an individual who has made a significantcontribution to the sport of wrestling, but
not necessarily on the mat. Wewill now hear about our twenty twenty three
Order of Honoree Frank a Populisio.Beginning with Brian Hazard. Oh we switched,

(16:45):
So who's coming? Brother Pat isnow coming? All right? Order.
So, my big brother Frank hasbeen on a wrestling journey ever since
he was in seventh grade. Itall started when he was able to secure

(17:07):
a ten x ten result Matt.Those first steps were hard, but not
for Frank. My brother Tony,two cousins Vinnie, Mike, and myself
still have back problems for moving thatMatt into our basement. Even back then,
Frank was a great supervisor in thatbasement. Brothers and cousins fought all

(17:30):
the time. Frank was able toget us to move in the same direction
in present day, he does thesame thing. Who else do you know
that can wear an Iowa T shirtinto an Okie State workout and not get
their ass kicked. He's the onlyguy I know that can work with Tom
and Terry Brands, John Smith,Cale Sanderson and not have a basement fight

(17:56):
break out. Not only is hegreat with coaches, he has proven he
can develop high level athletes. Thistakes a special talent. You have to
get high school coaches, parents andathletes on the same page. His track
record speaks for itself. Frank's listof accomplishments are long. I'd like to
highlight a few of em for you. Journeyman Wrestling Club is one of the

(18:18):
elite wrestling clubs in the country.It has produced national champs and All Americans
at every level. He's helped develophis own software, turn Offlex, which
has now used at all his tournaments. And this brings us to what I
think is his great accomplishment yet,which is the Journeyman Duels. He's been
doing those for about twenty years.I was there year one as an assistant

(18:40):
coach at American University. I've hadthe privilege to watch him grow this event
year after year. It has nowbecome one of the premier college duel meet
events in the country. I've watchedhim start by begging coaches to attend this
event to now selecting from some ofthe best teams in the country. Brother,
you can stop begging me to attendthese events. It's the journey that

(19:07):
makes us men. In the summerof nineteen ninety seven, my brother came
to visit me while I was incollege. He'd only been in Stillwater for
about an hour when he was hijackedby cowboy Great Pat Smith. His plan
was to spend the week with me, but he was gone for four days
somewhere doing a clinic in Colorado.Frank came back from that trip a changed

(19:27):
man. That trip led directly tothis stage. Within a month, he
started a club and started a planone day to run tournaments in clinics.
I was also a change man.I learned that three days was a perfect
amount of time to spend a weekwith my brother. We're talking about Frank's

(19:52):
journey. All we talked about sofar the wrestling side of things. If
Frank was only about wrestling, hewould not have ended up at this stage
today. Frank is now a husband, a father of two, an outdoorsman,
a business owner, a world traveler. Heck, even gross turkeys.
He is the most white collar farmerI know. It's the journey that makes

(20:15):
us men. Frank's journey is nowherenear the end, and he's still making
me proud. Congrats, thank youfor those comments. We'll now hear from
Ryan Hazard. He only talked forthree minutes, so I get his extra

(20:45):
couple of minutes. I'm saying,so on behalf of the family and people
who have gotten a wrestling opportunity fromFrank. I just want to say how
honored I am to be in frontof you today. Frank is like the
Susan Luci of wrestling. He's beenon the ballot for like fifteen years,
and every year when the thing wouldcome out, to be like, yeah,

(21:07):
not this year, not this year. So I'd kind of given up
on it, honestly, and thenhe called me this year. He goes,
We're going to Stillwater. I said, oh, we doing a duel
there? What are we doing?He goes, no, it happened,
and what's really exciting. But Iam very proud to be an adjunct member
of the family. I know Idon't look the same. I don't have

(21:27):
the chin, but I am veryproud to be a part. You know,
Frank's a few things. He wearsa lot of hats, as Pat
said, but he really is asolution seeker and a disruptor and an innovator.
But most importantly, he creates relationships. He says, a few things

(21:48):
are really important. You can befirst, you can be best, or
you can be different. And heaccomplishes all of these things through his four
seas, his club, his clinics, his camps, and his competitions,
and he pulls in and they're differentand people want to come because of it.
He's got an amazing supportive family.I think probably twenty plus years ago

(22:10):
when he said I'm done with SpataroInsurance, I'm gonna do wrestling full time.
That's a scary thing for a family, but he's been able to do
it, and he's done a phenomenaljob. He's like a dog on a
bone. You're gonna hear that alot from him. He works relentlessly just
to survive. But you know,now his son Luca's wrestling. I hear

(22:32):
that Cecilia might be coming to themat here soon and at any event you
go to, his wife is thefirst one there. She works hard to
make sure that journeyman is prepared andFrank looks his best. He also has
a merry band of faces who followhim everywhere he goes. He's got a
supportive staff behind him. You know, even after these athletes graduate, they

(22:56):
come back to work for Frank.He supports families by hiring them to do
work at events. They know thathe's going to take care of the families
in his club. You know,he's got the driver, the guy who
comes and picks up everybody at theairport, same guy twenty plus years.
You know, the security guy whofalls asleep sometimes, kind of like Parney

(23:19):
Fife, but he's the security guy. He's got guys like Karen Kaufman,
who is so loyal to him,wrestled for him, and now you know,
works on the mats, gets theevents set up and does a great
job. He's got the Hazelton familywho created the software that is different that
makes his events perfect. And twentyplus years ago he hired a kid,

(23:44):
a PA announcer. And now he'sbeen so loyal to me and it has
allowed me to actually see the worldand be around the best wrestlers in the
world. Today, Pat talked alittle bit about his journey here being the
really what started it all. ButI listened to a podcast the other day
and I talked to Frank and hesaid, the minute they were in Carver
Hawky Arena, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Joe Williams, you wrestled in that

(24:07):
event, brother Pat. He wrestledin that event. It's kind of controversial,
but it came down to the lastmatch and Carver was nuts. It
was insane and came down with theultimate rideout and Oklahoma State won in the
last second and the place went silent, and he said, I want to

(24:30):
create events like that. And hecame back and he created the Journeyman Wrestling
and that's where the real obsession began. But that obsession doesn't really tell the
story of his relentless dedication to whateverhe sets his mind to. Frank has
changed, in my opinion, theface of wrestling, and he has had
national champions and World team members inhis club, but that's not what it's

(24:52):
all about. It's about the grassroots. He's had the who's who of wrestling
come to his events, but that'snot what it's all about it's about creating
a product that people want to bea part of. We're not going to
New York City. We're going toAlbany, and it's different. You know,
you're not going into the bright lights. What started on in a high

(25:15):
school gym went to a college,you know, at the Northeast Duels,
and now we're going around the worldwith it. As he took the first
group overseas and in c State andOklahoma State did a duel me and I
heard. I just I was listening. I heard the we're signing the contract
again for another one. Is thattrue? John? All Right? He's

(25:42):
relentless about calling. And I don'tknow the coaches out there who have gotten
that phone call. And they lookand it says Frank Pabolisio. Next day,
Frank Pabolisio. But he's relentless,and eventually they pick up and they're
happy they did because they know they'regoing to be at a great event.

(26:04):
Same thing happened with another member today, Rich Bender. He called Rich I
want to do stuff with you,as I say, wrestling, I want
to do stuff with your wrestling.Clik hang up, clik, hang up.
But now he's a team leader withmany events going around the world.
He's done amazing work like a dogon a bone. When there was a

(26:27):
lack of wrestling in his area becausecolleges had forgotten, he started a club
when there was a need for internationalwrestling. He didn't just bring people over,
but he learned the political piece.He came to DC, met with
the representatives, found out how hecould do visas, and he called his

(26:51):
representatives. But he again relentless.Can you imagine with that chin listen,
I got enough, you can refuse. It only matters when it matters today
it matters, and it does.But during COVID, he created a backyard

(27:18):
tent to bring wrestlers in and theylearned how to be better at wrestling.
It was tough when New York Statecanceled the New York State Tournament. He
moved at one state over and createdthe Journeyman New York State Championship in Pennsylvania.
And it was the biggest success probablythat I've ever been a part of.

(27:38):
And people remember Frank's event, andyou know they're going to remember him
forever because he is now a memberof the Hall of Fame. So congratulations,
my brother Frank Papolisio. Thank you, thank you for your comments.

(27:59):
Every year we have the opportunity tointroduce to you our Medal of Courage recipient.
This award is given to a wrestleror former wrestler who has overcome what
appears to be insurmountable challenges and whosestory provides inspiration to others. Our recipient
this year is Richard Perry. Speakingon behalf of Richard is National Wrestling Hall

(28:19):
of Fame Distinguished Member Brandon Slay.Brandon coach Richard at the Pennsylvania Regional Training
Center. Brandon is unable to behere with us because he's training athletes for
next week's Final X event that willdetermine the United States team for the World
Championships. But he has sent usa video. So whoever is doing the

(28:45):
video, let's roll the video.Richard, Geena Perry, coach Slay here.
I wanted to let you know I'mreally sorry that that Jordan Burls and
I we couldn't make it this week. And as you know, we have
an important task at hand. FinalEXCE on June tenth, and these guys
you're coaching your teammates from the PRTC. We have big match day on Friday.
So again, I'm sorry that wecouldn't be there in person, but

(29:07):
I wanted to be able to tellyou how much I love you, how
much I care about you, howproud I am of you, and just
how proud I am of you asa husband to your priceless wife Gina,
as a father to mayam Bo andEzekiel and Josiah, and just how I
see you continue to be a greatleader in this world, in this wrestling

(29:27):
community. I just want to tellyou, I'm really, really proud of
you. I'm proud of you forthis award. What a wonderful honor to
receive this award, Just letting youknow that the wrestling world understands how courageous
you've been as a wrestler and whatyou've been through, just to see how
you've handled this with faith, withcourage, with integrity, and you continue

(29:48):
to be an overcomer, and I'mproud of you. And I just want
to let you know that that dayyou made the national team in twenty eighteen,
you know you joined the PRTC.You were fifth in Olympic trials in
twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, you'refourth in the World team Trials twenty eighteen,
you made the national team for thevery first time. And wow,

(30:11):
as a wrestler who started wrestling asa junior in high school in Connecticut,
went to Bloomsburg, never became anAll American to make the US national team.
Just wow, what a special honorwas that was that day? And
little did we know not too longafter that that you know they were being
incident that would change the trajectory ofyour life. And without going to a

(30:33):
lot of detail about that, Iwould just I just want to let you
know to see how you fought foryour life, how you fought for your
family, how you fought for thefuture of your ability to be a husband
and father and leader in the wrestlingworld. That's won't let you know that.
Wow, you're an inspiration to me, You're an inspiration to all those

(30:55):
that are listening today, your inspirationto the wrestling world, and you're an
inspiration to the world. Here's yourstory that you inspire them through your courage
and how you continue to fight.And I just want to let you know
that I'm proud of the man youcontinue to be. And we've talked about
this a lot that you may saythat that day when you were unresponsive,

(31:21):
that had to life flights you toScript's hospital, and you don't you don't
even remember that first month that youwere in the hospital and you were you
were laying in a bed and youwere unresponsible and you couldn't move the whole
entire left side of your body.I mean, you could say that people
would say that maybe that was theworst day of your life, that was

(31:41):
that was the worst period of timeof your life. But I think you
and Gina and those who love youknow that we know that God's in control
of the God's sovereign. He's theKing, He's on the throne, and
He's in control of every single thing. We do. Stress in the Lord
with all your heart, lean outon your own own understanding and all your
ways anowledg. He will make yourpath straight. I know you and Gena

(32:02):
have done that. And I thinkthat though some may say that was the
worst day, one of the worstperiods of the time of your life,
we all know that in God's economy, that that has ended up being the
best time of your life. BecauseI know I knew the Richard before that
happened. I know the richer now, and I would say that the richerd
now is more caring, more kind, more thoughtful, more loving, more

(32:28):
respectful. And I've seen you growin your faith since then. So in
God's economy, as we know,the worst day on the planet was Jesus
down on the cross, but thebest down on the planet was Jesus down
on the cross. And I thinkin God's God's economy of truth, I
think the same thing goes for youthat one of the worst periods of the
time of your life was the incident, the tragedy went through, but also

(32:52):
believe in one of the best timesof your life was that day, because
it's led to you becoming the manyou are today, the leader you are
today, the husband yard today,the father of you are today, the
coach you are today, the friendsyou are today, the wrestler that you
continue to be today. The wrestlemeans to struggle against an opposing force,

(33:15):
and you continue to be a wrestler. You continue to struggle. Richard Perry,
and I'll let you know I loveyou, I'm proud of you.
Congratulations on this award you were seeingfrom the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,
and again I wish we could bethere but you know that we're we are
there with you in spirit. Havea wonderful weekend. Thank you for sharing

(33:42):
that video. We're now we're goingto hear more about Richard from Jordan Burrows.
He's not a bad wrestler, Jordan, I mean you know, I
mean says here that he won theWorld Championship six times and the gold medal.
He's the real deal. But Jordanis training for Final X as he

(34:04):
strives to make his tenth World Championshipteam, and he has also sent us
a video rich what's up, bro? JB here wanted to send you a
quick message man and congratulate you ona lifetime worth of achievement. I think
that when we think of your story, we think of an overcomer, someone
who's been through a lot, butovercome a lot. When I think of

(34:28):
your story, I think of afriend. I think as someone who laughs
at all my jokes, someone whocan finish rap lyrics with me at training
camp, someone who was an extraordinarytraining partner, and someone who I was
proud to call my brother and amstill proud to call my brother. I

(34:49):
think that watching the way that yourlife is unfolded has been really cool for
me to see from the outside.I'm just really thankful for your testimony,
but more importantly, I'm thankful foryour and shit. I think that little
of us would have ever known howlife would develop after August of twenty eighteen,

(35:09):
going from being a national team memberand a world contender to fighting for
your life. And I think thatin that timeframe I learned just how powerful
and how strong you are beyond thewrestling. That beyond competition was just watching

(35:29):
you fight for your life and fightfor yourself but also for your family,
and watching the people in your innercircle rally behind you, watching the wrestling
community rally behind you, and watchingyou come through and do some incredible things.
Man, your life is no shortof a miracle. And so I'm
blessed to call you a brother,blessed to call you a friend. It's

(35:52):
been an honor training here alongside youat the PRTC in Philadelphia. It's been
an honor to watch our families growtogether. So excited for everything that you've
achieved, the story that you've toldto inspire a generation, but also everything
that you'll go on to do inthe future. I know that this is
just the beginning of what you're goingto eventually become and all the people that

(36:13):
you're going to motivate, and soI'm thankful for you, Bro, I'm
excited for you. Congratulations. There'sno one in the world who deserves this
honor more than you. I hopethat you have a great evening. I'm
sorry that I couldn't be there topresent this award to you and to be
there side by side with you.But as you know, we're getting prepared
for Final X and so here's agreat thing. I'll go and do my

(36:36):
business and make a world team.You go and handle your business and get
inducted into the Hall of Fame andsave a space for me many years from
now. Appreciate you, man,I love you, and I hope that
this is a great evening for youand I'll see soon. Please thanks for
his great comments and just the ideathat he had to take the times to

(37:00):
send the video to us. TheOutstanding American Award is described as recognizing individuals
who have used what they've learned inwrestling to launch notable careers after including their
wrestling career. This year's Outstanding Americanis Bob Bowlsby, and speaking about Bob
is Tim Johnson. Oh you switchedthat way up. Oh, I didn't

(37:29):
know they see. I don't knowif the brothers knew which way they were,
you know, they you know,he didn't know if he was Bob
or John or whatever he was.But whoever you are, come on up
here and take off. All right, Good morning everyone, and Seth,
thank you for being here. AndI'm I'm especially honored to be here to
honor my big brother and his fabulouscareer that he's had over these many many

(37:53):
years. And so if we hewas. He's been a supporter of wrestling
as a wrestler, as an administrator, and as a tireless advocate for the
sport of wrestling. Officiated, hecoached, He's done it all and he
continues to support this sport that weall love. We grew up in Waterloo,

(38:15):
Iowa, and Waterloo was one ofthose spots where you wrestle. You
had a long career and the auraof gable and so you wrestled. You
wrestled, your friends, wrestled,your friend's brothers wrestled your friend's brother's friends
wrestled. My brother wrestled. SoI wrestled, and that's how that's how

(38:37):
I got started. And this wasway back, you know, way back
and back then. This was beforeall the kids programs, the all year
round training tournaments all summer long.And so what did you do? You
got a job. And I remembermy mother saying, you aren't sitting around

(38:59):
the house on your butt all summerlong, puddle in your thumbs. Get
out there and do something. Well, Bob was the first one to get
out there and get a job.And I remember going down to pick him
up after his shift at eleven o'clockat night. He was a fry cook
at the Wishbone Chicken House in Waterloo, Iowa. He always had a bit

(39:21):
of an air about him that summer. The dog loved him though, but
he knew that's when the vision started. And you can see this how it
goes fry cook to commissioner type ofthings, a direct line. Well,
he knew right then that he neededto move on quickly. And so anyway,

(39:42):
he continued with his drive and hisvision for what he wanted to be
and he wrestled for West Waterloo,earned a scholarship to Moorhead State in Minnesota,
where he became the team captain andone of the leaders of that group.
And this is where that leadership started. Soon after he graduated, then

(40:05):
he comes back to Waterloo and needinga little money before going to grad school,
gets a job at John Deere's,working on the line, but making
decent money and putting some money away. A couple years after that, while
I was at Iowa Wrestling, hecame down as a graduate assistant. Well,
his drive continued there. He continuedto learn, he continued to drive

(40:27):
to be a better person, tobe better at what he did. Pretty
soon he was in facilities management workingfor the university, and then wanting to
move on and wanting to grow,he went on to the University of Northern
Iowa as the director of the Unidome. This is where that decisiveness started to
show up. So if one night, as in Oklahoma, in Iowa you

(40:52):
get those tornadoes that come through oncein a while, one night the tornado
comes through, collapses the dome.The dome is collapsing, it's filling with
water, and there's not a wayto pump it off or anything else.
Well, the building is starting tofold in on itself, and so they
need somebody to make a decision.Bob's got the answer. Get the shotgun,

(41:15):
load it up, go inside,and blow holes in the roof.
And that's just what they did,and they drained it out and save the
building. Well, evidently this musthave impressed the president somehow. So while
he was working as the interim athleticcorrector at You and I, the President

(41:38):
says, I want you to apply, and so he applies and ends up
with the job. He builds afabulous program at UNI, and he takes
his ability to find and hire greatcoaches really started to come out. Then
pretty soon after a great career Youand I, there's an opening in Iowa.

(42:02):
And again he's saying he know thisis something to move on. This
is where I can do something differentand make a difference in sports. So
he applies for Iowa. Things goalong, go along, and President is
quite liking everybody that's applied. Hewants Bob to apply. So Bob applies,

(42:25):
gets the job, becomes one ofthe youngest athletic directors in college major
college history, and Iowa. Hetakes a program there's a good program and
turns it into a great program.I mean it is cooking. Sixteen years
he's there and this thing is goinglike crazy. So precident. All of

(42:49):
a sudden, I get this calland he says, hey, he goes,
I got a call. Yeah,He goes Stanford. They're thinking that
they making a change, and hegoes, I think I just need to
you know, there's something I cando. It'll be a little bit different.
I just go, are you crazy? You got the best job in

(43:10):
the contrary, and he goes,man, I can do more. So
out to California he goes. AndI remember being there on that day and
going out to visit him on hisfirst football game, and we're standing up
on top of the press box.There was no director's box at that stadium,

(43:30):
so yeah, what do we do. We have to go out and
stand on the rough and I gazeover this stadium and all maybe five thousand
people that are in there, andyou know, coming from Iowa where it's
packed every game, five thousand peopledown there, I'm gone. I look
at him, and he goes,can you see the opportunity? Well that's

(43:57):
what it was. And he tookthat opportunity and he built Stanford, which
again had a great program, buthe made it much much better. They
were filling that stadium, buying fora national championship in just a few years.
Again hiring the right people, doingwhat leaders do. Get the right

(44:19):
people, put them in the rightposition, and give them the tools and
the vision to be successful and lethim do their job. And that's what
he did. And he builds thisthing up and it is everything looks just
perfect. Calls me out, gotyou know, I got an opportunity,

(44:42):
I think, and I go,what could that? And he goes commissioner,
commissioner a Big Twelve. I goagain, are you crazy? But
no, he goes. He wantedto make a difference in college athletics.
He wanted to make college athletics better. He says, I can't do it

(45:02):
as an ad I need to doit as a commissioner. I need to
move up into a position where Ican affect what is going on. So,
needless to say, that's what hedoes. He moves on, becomes
the commissioner of the Big Twelve.He builds that conference up, adds extra

(45:24):
teams, signs huge television deals forhim to get him going, and makes
all the rest of the college athleticsand amateur athletics better because of what he
did as a commissioner. And theone thing that he did along that leadership

(45:46):
to get the right people in theright places at the right times. He
always did it with integrity and honestyand dedication, and it's something that should
all aspire to in college athletics,and he has been the benchmark that we

(46:07):
can all follow. I love you, man, Thank you for those comments.
And I want to say, aswe've gone through the program so far
today, I really appreciate all thespeakers staying within the number of minutes they

(46:30):
want to speak because it helps usreally move the program around. And so
now are we going to hear fromTim? Now? Yeah, I mean,
you never know. It just changeswith whatever they decide to do.
But it's okay. One of theencouragements that wrestlers sometimes give each other is

(46:55):
leave it all on the mat,you know, be all in. But
what I think is important for competingin life is to take the mat with
you. And America needs more wrestlersthat the guts, the gumps, and
the grit that it takes to grindout a seven minute match as the same
characteristics that it takes to grind outa good seventy year life. And that's

(47:20):
why I think it is so appropriatefor Bob Bolsby to be honored as the
Outstanding American and Hall of Famer becausehe has taken a wrestling mentality and applied
it so successfully to life and leadership. I met Bob in the late nineteen
seventies at the University of Iowa fieldHouse sauna. Now you heard that he

(47:42):
was a graduate assistant. He hadthe keys to the field house and Asana
my best friend growing up in highschool in Morning Sun, Iowa, and
Nick Hobbs was a college teammate ofBob's. And after an evening on the
town in Iowa City, Nick andI ran into Bob and Chuck Yeagla,
who is an assistant there for Gable, and they invited us to sweat it
out in the field house sauna andtogether then we came up with a contest

(48:07):
to see who could be first tothree hundred sweat drops in that sauna.
And I forget who won, butthat was the I remember. That was
the start of a great and richfriendship. In nineteen eighty two and eighty
three, as John said, Bobwas the Unidome director at you and I
and I was the national events directorfor USA Wrestling based at the time right

(48:30):
here in Stillwater. Together, weorchestrated moving the world's largest high school wrestling
tournament, USA Wrestling's National Juniors fromthe Iowa field House to the Unidome.
It was a big deal and weworked closely together to make it work.
Bob and I stayed connected and grewour friendship over the years. We encouraged

(48:51):
each other in our leadership roles,helped each other consider and navigate professional opportunities
and moves. Being the athletic directorat a Big ten school like Iowa and
at PAC twelve Stanford was incredibly challengingand so many in so many ways,
financial oversight, television tracts, coachinghires, and just dealing every day with

(49:15):
crazy people. And during the toughesttimes in our careers, we would spend
time on the phone counseling each other. I'm not near as smart as Bob,
nor do I have his leadership savvy, but we do share a common
belief in a sovereign God and haveallowed each other to speak in each other's
life, reminding each other that weare part of God's story and He's in

(49:37):
control, and that's what matters most. In the summer of nineteen ninety three,
while playing golf with Nick and Bobin Morning Sun, I shared with
him that I was going to enterinto full time Christian ministry with the Fellowship
of Christian Athletes. I'll never forgetBob listening, very intently and very sincerely

(49:57):
saying to me, Tim, You'regoing to have a hell of a ministry.
And that's what I needed to hearfrom my friend who because I was
stepping into the unknown and needing courageat that time, and that was what
I needed to hear from my friendBob. And he continued to be one
of my greatest encouragers throughout my career. And for many of you who have

(50:17):
been at the FCA Champion's Breakfast,it's a highlight of Division I National Championships
that wouldn't be happening without Bob Bolesby. In nineteen ninety five is the ad
at IOWA. I went to himand said, Hey, the Super Bowl
and the Final Four have big breakfast. Why can't FCAA have a breakfast at
the National Wrestling Championships And he said, let's do it, and we had

(50:40):
our twenty ninth last year. Andthat whole thing started because of Bob's support.
When I'm asked to say something aboutBob on this occasion in five minutes.
The question is, really, whenwas Bob at his best. It's
hard to nail that down about Bobbecause He's been strong in so many ways.
He's a person of integers, grittyand loyalty, integrity and his leadership

(51:02):
and loyalty to his family and friendships. As a leader, Bob was always
thinking about what is the right thingto do, no matter the cost to
him personally. And Bob loves hisfamily. He always lights up when talking
about the family. Has always beenso grateful for Candy's strength as a mother
and raising the kids that they bothare so proud of. I've followed his

(51:24):
son's careers and I've always noticed theirfierce loyalty and love for their dad and
appreciation for his leadership influencing their lives. And what Bob enjoys most these days
are his grandchildren and the trips andopportunities for the entire family to be together.
Bob might be surprised to hear mesay this, but I think one

(51:45):
of the ways he was at hisbest was that he would really hurt by
the ire of the fans or thedisappointments of relationships. There are plenty of
leaders who just develop a cocky roughedge and just quit caring. Bob's the
kind of teammate who would lose aheartbreaking match and then be on the edge
of the of the match for thenext match, cheering on his teammate.

(52:07):
Bob's a consummate professional, a greatdiplomat and ambassador for athletics, especially wrestling,
and never one to compromise his integrityand commitment to the truth in the
right way and regarding loyalty. Quitefrankly, in this business, it doesn't
always cut both ways. Bob's hadhis share of people in leadership who have

(52:28):
disappointed, but to Bob, truefriendship is shown through loyalty. The wisest
man to ever live, Solomon saidit this way in Proverbs. One who
has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but true friends stick around when things
are most difficult. Bob led withthe best of a wrestling mentality. It's
a good thing to leave it allon the mat. It's a better thing

(52:52):
to take the mat with you andto wrestle and compete through all of life
and leadership. Bob's on the topof the podium tonight because he's had a
great tournament, not at the NCAA'sor the Olympic Trials, but for a
career and a life well lived.Bob and I have been friends for nearly
a half century. We've gone througha lot of things together. If life's

(53:14):
about relationships, and I believe itis, then I'm a very blessed man
for having such a friend as BobBolsby. Thank you, Tim all Right.

(53:36):
Distinguished Member. Rich Bender is thelongest serving executive director in USA Wrestling
history and has led one of themost successful periods in the organization's history.
Here to speak about Rich is hiswife, Michelle Bender. There we go.

(54:07):
Good morning, good people, Thankyou for being here, and thank
you for this opportunity to talk aboutmy favorite human, my husband, Rich
Bender. Please know that although Icannot accurately score a wrestling match, I
am qualified to speak about Rich.We have been married for thirty three years.

(54:29):
We dated six years before marriage.We went to junior high and high
school together, and we were evendelivered by the same doctor in the p
We were in the precious town ofBoscobel, Wisconsin, in southwestern Wisconsin.
Essentially, I have known him mywhole life, our whole lives. So

(54:51):
I could I suppose I could beginthis speech with a famous quote from a
famous wrestler, like once you wrestle, everything else is easy. Or I
could make an analogy about how thesport of wrestling is like wrestling with life.
I could even cite a Bible verseabout wrestling. Jacob wrestled and God
wrestled. But I think what itall boils down to is that each of

(55:15):
us is given one life on planetEarth. To live it and live it
well, each of us needs tofind our passion and live with a purpose.
Rich Bender has done just that.He has three passions that have guided
how he lives life. And it'snot wrestling wrestling wrestling, although it feels

(55:37):
like that some months. Rather,the three passions that have guided how Rich
lives life are Jesus, Christ,people, and wrestling. The sport of
wrestling is a beautiful sport, butit is a brutal sport. It is
brutal both on and off the mat, and not just for the athlete.

(56:00):
Rich joined USA Wrestling in nineteen eightyeight. The work required that he travel
over one hundred days every year,yes every year, for thirty five years.
We jokingly called that marriage enrichment.Over these last thirty five years,
there have been glorious and beautiful daysof wrestling, but there have also been

(56:23):
some very dark and devastating days inthe wrestling world. It is only by
the grace of God, Rich's firstpassion that this man and our family made
it through those days, leaning intoGod for wisdom, strength, perseverance,
and trusting in Him to see usthrough. And it is with the dedicated

(56:45):
commitment and sacrifice of his family whenwrestling had to come first many times,
that we grew stronger. So speakingof family, which leads me to Rich's
second passion, people relationships with realgood people. Rich and I have three
daughters, Matty, Chloe, andElla, and our newest edition of a

(57:06):
son in law read Weber and Richand I. We both came from simple
upbringings, but they were full ofreally good people, Midwesterners who work hard
and simply won't love one another.And then Rich met his wrestling family,
first in Wisconsin and then across theUS and now even around the world.

(57:31):
But it's more really good people.Wrestling has graced our lives with really good
people and really generous people. TheUSA Wrestling employees and staff, the countless
volunteers at events, board members,committee members, his past presidents who dedicate

(57:52):
so much time, The athletes,the fans, and the many donors who
so freely give of their time,their talents, and their treasures to make
USA Wrestling what it is today.And each day I watch Rich carefully,
thoughtfully and intentionally steward these resources,and I would be remiss to not highlight

(58:17):
the families of these good wrestling people, because family members have to share their
favorite human with wrestling too, justlike we do. Girls. It is
these people you you are what makeit easy for rich to go to work
every day, because to him,it isn't work, it is purpose.

(58:38):
So Rich's love of wrestling his thirdpassion. It was introduced to him at
around the age of seven by hisnext door cousins, the Child's Boys who
are here today and their dear friendJeff Patchick, who became his very first
wrestling coach. They took Richie Benderunder their wing and mentored him through the

(59:00):
sport of wrestling. Richie got hisfirst pair of wrestling shoes for Christmas in
nineteen seventy four or nineteen seventy five. Having lost his mother at a very
young age, his aunt Shirley trapsedhim and his cousins around to wrestling tournaments
in camps and a few Bible campstoo. To no surprise, I found

(59:20):
in Rich's wrestling memorabilia years of newspaperclippings, posters, and wrestling programs filled
with copious notes of the Wisconsin Badgerwrestling team in his childhood idol andy rhyme.
Now fast forward to high school,where Rich weighed in at a whopping

(59:42):
ninety eight pounds his freshman year ofhigh school. However, oh it gets
better. However, he had togo up to one hundred and nineteen pounds
to even make the team. Buthe was a Boscobell bulldog wrestler with really
good people coaches and teammates who arelifelong friends, like the best man in
our wedding who is here today,Tim Will. While Rich had likely hoped

(01:00:07):
to be a stellar wrestler and havean IOUs, an illustrious wrestling career on
the mat, God had a differentplan for him, a bigger and better
plan for him. His wrestling markwould be made as a wrestling administrator,
and I think he's okay with that. Wrestling has provided Rich with a purpose
driven life. For that, weare truly grateful. So on behalf of

(01:00:31):
Rich and our family. From thebottom of our hearts and with immense gratitude,
thank you for recognizing my favorite humanwith this ultimate wrestling honor, because
you know, in the end,all we get to take with us is
two things, our memories and ourhonor. So good wrestling people, thank

(01:00:52):
you for the memories. It hasbeen a great honor. Thank you,
Thank you, Michelle. We appreciatethat. I think if you guys know
Rich very well, I kind ofthink he probably gave her a list of
things that she needed to put in. And don't you I mean, I

(01:01:13):
mean you know that, you knowhe had to tell her to do that.
Okay, thanks Michelle. Anyway,Okay from real, We're not going
to hear more about Rich from JeffLevitetz. Jeff Levitts was actually honored as
an Outstanding American by the National WrestlingHall of Fame in two thousand and two.
So we're going to hear from Oh, he's already sneaked up behind the

(01:01:37):
here. Stop beating up on Rich. Okay, just tell them like it
is everybody knows Rich knows that.Good morning, everybody. It is really
a pleasure to be here, Leroy, thank you so much for everything you
do here at the National Wrestling Hallof Fame. To me, I feel
like it's a family reunion. Isee so many people from my past here,

(01:01:59):
and there so many remarkable stories.It's just wonderful. This is a
wrestling family. Everybody in this roomis part of the wrestling family, and
Rich Bender is a big part ofthe wrestling story. Rich and I go
way back to nineteen ninety nine whereI was an at large board member who

(01:02:19):
filled out a application, sent itin USA Wrestling and got a call back.
Sorry, but we're full. Wehave all the at large board members
we need. Apparently Jim Sheer sawthat I had written this note in It
changed the next day when I gota call from Rich Bender. Rich Bender
said, welcome to the USA WrestlingBoard. We'd like you to serve and

(01:02:45):
help us out any way you can. Having two small kids that were wrestling,
I felt very honored by that anddove in head first, really enjoying
meeting some of my idols, notrealize that over time Rich would be one
of my idols. Rich is oneof my closest friends. He's a colleague,

(01:03:07):
he's part of your family. He'sone of the only people here that
knows everybody by name in this room. I don't know how many people can
say that. And if you've everleft a message for us for Rich Bender
on his cell phone, you've heard, what have a great wrestling day.
Not a great day, but havea great wrestling day. I I will

(01:03:30):
tell you I have a lot ofstories about Rich and traveling around the world
with him, but I think themost incredible story that I can share with
you is the unfortunate aftermath of whathappened when wrestling was temporarily removed from the
Olympic schedule. And it was thenthat I got to see Rich at his

(01:03:54):
finest where day and night, sevendays a week, twenty four hours a
day, he was on the phone, working as hard as he could to
get the sport of wrestling, thesport that we all know and love back
in the Olympic Games. Now,it took an army of people to do
that. But in business, I'vealways realized that the most important thing that

(01:04:17):
a character you can find in aperson is during tough times and during those
tough times, I saw Rich riseto the occasion become the leader that he
is today. He took a tackthat we needed to change the sport,
We needed to improve the sport anyoneabout doing that. And I just remember

(01:04:40):
the day that I got the callthat was reinstated, and I was so
proud of him for so many reasons, and everybody was celebrating, and I
could just imagine how relieved he was. You know, he's at this all
day long. The stories I'm hearingtonight today about everybody's great wrestling careers,

(01:05:01):
Well, Rich, you and Iyou know, we didn't have the greatest
wrestling careers, but we saved itfor off the mat. And there's not
many people that ever met that couldbe a colleague and a true friend and
a mentor and somebody that would givethe Shirt office back for anybody in this

(01:05:23):
room. I'm just so proud toknow you and so proud of this wonderful
recognition that you're getting now. Youstill have a lot of work to do,
though You're not done, not bya long shot. But I've seen
the organization grow by leaps and boundslevels that I never thought were possible.

(01:05:45):
Financially, the organization has never beenin better shape now. I look forward
to seeing the organization continue to growwith the leadership of Rich Bender. God
bless you and your family. Buddy, You're a special guy, and I'm
just so proud to be here andspeak on your behalf today. So enjoy
the day and have a great wrestlingday. Rich. Okay, thank you,

(01:06:19):
thank you, Thank you, Jeff. And I think it's one of
the things we want to say againthat when we talk about Rich has said
he's a distinguished member, but thelongest serving executive director in USA Wrestling history
and has led one of the mostsuccessful periods in the organization history. And
we appreciate that. All right,moving on, and thank you Jeff for

(01:06:46):
your comments. Distinguished member Patricia Mirandawas a member of the first United States
Olympic Wrestling women's wrestling team in twothousand and four and is the first American
woman to earn a Olympic medal.What is not in my book? Yeah,

(01:07:11):
we're doing good over here. Don'tworry about that. They're not going
to leave. And I didn't writethe book. I'm just reading the book.
So it is going to be Patricia, Okay, but here's something really
interesting about her. Patricia is tryingsomething new. She's going to have three

(01:07:34):
people speak for her for three minuteseach as opposed to two people speaking for
five minutes. That kind is apretty good idea. So speaking first on
behalf of Patricia will be Jay Jackson. There we go. Sorry about this,

(01:08:02):
I'm getting old finally. So inDecember, I was at the home
depot looking for replacement Christmas lights whenPatricia called me to let me know she's
being inducted into the Nash Rustling Hallof Fame and I could speak on her
behalf for three minutes. Immediately afterI ended the call, I started to
cry. As I tried to composemyself. An elderly woman came out to
me and I panicked, and sheasked if everything was okay, and I

(01:08:26):
said, I just get really emotionalaround the holidays, and I got out
of there. I didn't have timeto explain to her how amazing Patricia is
and how honored I am to knowher. I'm thankful, though, that
I have the opportunity now as ahigh school teacher, I teach a course
on performance character, which encompass themindset and behavior is necessary to best take
on a challenge. The class includesseveral units, but the pinnacle is grit.

(01:08:47):
According to the University of Pennsylvania psychologistAngela Duckworth, grit is passion plus
perseverance for long term goals. It'sthe major factor in being successful in any
challenge. The more I research planto teach this class, the more I
realized that Patricia is the embodiment ofgrid. The passion part of grit can
be split into two components, purposeand emotion. If we have a purpose,
we have a reason and motivation totry hard. If emotion is coupled

(01:09:10):
with purpose, it supercharges it andmakes it the passion. At the age
of ten, Patricia's mother passed away. Even at this young age, Patricia
learned that life is precious and dedicatedand dedicated that her purpose was to make
the most of every day by takingon the most challenging things she could.
She tried other sports, but itwas inevitable that she would find wrestling.
As we are all aware, oursport is one of the best vehicles to

(01:09:31):
test and learn about oneself. Thispurpose of living life to the fullest can
challenge fullest through challenge was enhanced byemotion. Wrestling is an emotional roller coaster.
We all know this. Through practiceand competition, we experienced the highest
highs and lowest lows. If youadd being a female wrestling in the late
nineteen nineties and early two thousands whois trying to prove herself worthy to compete
in a then male dominated sport,the swings between frustration and lation had to

(01:09:55):
be magnified. Patricia's passion to thisfor challenge was ever present. It showed
her wrestling career, but also throughacademics. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
Stanford and got into Yale, thetop law school in the country, and
her current job, where she fightsfor the rights of people who are unable
to defend themselves. Once you havea passion for something, the second part
of being gritty is to persevere.Passion motivates people leave their comfort zone.

(01:10:17):
Once they're out there, gritty peoplewill persevere through the discomfort. Perseverance has
three major components, pods of mindset, courage, and commitment. Regarding pods
of mindset, Patricia has an overwhelmingoptimistic attitude that everything will work out favorably.
This long term belief helped her continuestriving when things had to be difficult.
Patricia also demonstrates courage. Can youimagine the courage it took for Patricia

(01:10:39):
to be the first girl on hermiddle school and high school wrestling teams?
And what about practicing and competing fora D one wrestling program when you're the
smallest wrestler in the squad. Finally, the last piece of perseverance is commitment.
The gritty person must think deeply abouthow they can improve and then devote
thousands of hours to the pursuit.When I had people ask me about Patricia,
I wonder if it was appropriate fora woman to be wrestling on the

(01:10:59):
men team, My response is alwaysthe same, Come and watch your practice
day in and day out. Shegave her all during workouts, then she
would stay for more. She outworkedeverybody in the room. All this is
why I broke down at the homedepot. Patricia will tell you she's not
the best natural athlete. The reasonbehind her success is the reason I love
wrestling more than any other sport.Wrestling favors gritty athletes, the ones who

(01:11:20):
are passionate about improving themselves and willingto continue pushing through that discomfort, grit
defines Patricia. Others have potential.Patricia reaches her potential daily. She's an
inspiring person to know. Sorry havinga home depot moment. She's an inspiring
person to know and someone I wantmy students and myself to emulate in every

(01:11:40):
aspect of life. Patricia, You'reone of my biggest heroes. Congratulations,
Thank you Jay and helping us learnmore about Patricia is Tella O'Donnell Batcher.

(01:12:06):
Hey, guys, I was luckyenough to be on the first Olympic team
with Patricia and even luckier to beone of her friends. For any of
you guys who knows Patricia knows,it's such a privilege and honor to honor
her today. But we don't honorher for her because Patricia really isn't guided
by her ego or any accolades.We honor her for what she values,

(01:12:30):
unprecedented work, ethic, unwavering character, and stoic stewardship. So here's some
facts about Patricia. I mean thishas already been pointed out, but she's
not the most gifted athlete, andshe's not like a natural genius but supposed

(01:12:55):
to be a joke. Fuck,But she's she's never been outworked by anyone.
She's an Olympic medalist, she's aStanford and Yale graduate. And working
alongside Patricia is inspiring and humbling.You recognize working alongside her that you don't

(01:13:19):
have to be a gift, youdon't have to be gifted to be great,
and she shows this and it inspiresus. But it's gonna take a
mountain of work to get there,and and seeing that inspiring yet, you
know, tortuous process every day reallymakes a big difference. As the first

(01:13:42):
cohort at the Olympic and Paralympic TrainingCenter for Women, Patricia's at that high
bar and it made all of usbetter on the team, everyone around her,
and spending time around Patricia, itreally rubs off on you. She
mmm, she thinks critically. She'salways honest, which makes it really hard

(01:14:03):
when we play this game called Mafia, where you have to lie. She
just can't. And she's always willingto talk through your life troubles and give
you honest feedback. Early in ourfriendship, I borrowed Patricia's car and I
ran it over a median in theice and snow, and I was really

(01:14:25):
embarrassed because I'm Gonna Alaskan, andreally I should have known better, but
I really valued our friendship and Iheld Patrician such a high regard, and
so I let her know. AndI was really embarrassed and worried that she's
like, this person's not worth it. But she said to me this,
She said, I never let anybodyborrow anything or money or cars or whatever.

(01:14:46):
If I know that if something happens, if that doesn't come back to
her the way you know, itshould have the ill effective friendship. And
that's some of the wisdom that I'vetaken with me, and it's probably helped
me with my relationships forever. Patricia'slike that. She takes her load of
the responsibility plus plus some One yearat the at the Henry Degall Tournament a

(01:15:12):
nice France, Patricia and Levi andI were having this really intense conversation in
this outdoor cafe and I put mypurse right next to me because I wanted
to keep an eye on it.But our conversations were one of those ones
that just like fill your soul.And I didn't keep an eye on my
purse and it was stolen. Ithad my wallet and all my money and
my passport, and then I hadto go to another town on a train

(01:15:34):
and I end up getting pneumonia andI was really sick, and I actually
don't even remember how I got mypassport, but I arrived home safely,
and Patricia just made sure that thathappened. That's what it's like to be
a friend or on a team withPatricia. She takes care of the people
around her. She's a steady andshe's a constant hero. In two thousand

(01:16:00):
and five, after the two thousandand five tsunami that just destroyed Southeast Asia,
Patricia, Sarah McMahon and I traveledto Sri Lanka and we did we
did tsunami relief, so we werebuilding houses and we had one day off
and on that one day, Iwent off and I explored the culture and
I just kind of just enjoyed theplace that we're at. Patricia had made

(01:16:24):
friends with one of the workers whoworked very hard for very little bit of
money, and she found out thathe lived in pretty much a shed with
a leaky roof. His whole familylived there. So she took that day.
She sourced the materials, she wentto his house and they fixed his
house up. They fixed his homeup, and that's kind of what she
does. She had one day andshe made a significant difference in this one

(01:16:47):
man's life. And that's why we'reall drawn to Patricia. Why it's so
exciting and important for us to honorher, because I'm better and wrestlings better
and the entire world is better withher. There, Thank you, Thank

(01:17:13):
you, teller. Patricia's final speakeris Katie Kunamoto. There she is,
good morning. I first met Patriciain two thousand and two when I had

(01:17:39):
the privilege of joining the resident wrestlingteam at the Olympic Training Center. We
were the first group of women wrestlingathletes to be able to live and train
there. And so Patricia asked meto just do a short, little speech
today, and I had a lotof pressure because Jack said, yeah,

(01:18:00):
you have to say something funny.And so I'm sitting there thinking over and
over again'm like, oh my god, I got think of something funny.
What's funny? And then I justrealized Patricia's just not that funny. So
I'm sorry, Jack, I don'treally have a funny story for you today,
but I did want to share justone short story about Patricia that I

(01:18:24):
learned about her as a kid.So, as a kid growing up,
she and her family, her mom, her dad, her two brothers,
and her sister went out for pizza, and Patricia had volunteered to go and
pick up the pizza from the counter. And she went to the counter and
she ate a piece of pizza.She just couldn't help herself, grabs a

(01:18:46):
piece of pizza, I ate itright there before taking it over to the
table. And so she eats thepizza and she quickly tries to rearrange the
rest of the pieces on the platterto make it look like she didn't eat
the pizza, but she takes itback to the table, and of course
her mom knows what she did,and Patricia knew what she did, and

(01:19:08):
so she had to suffer the consequenceof not getting to eat any more pizza.
And when I heard this story,I was so sad. I was
like, oh, man, sheonly got one slice of pizza. And
I realized it was because at thetime that we heard this story, we
were all cutting weight and starving ourselves. So the thought of just one slice

(01:19:30):
of pizza just made me so sadand felt so sorry for her. But
what I you know what I realizedlater after I wasn't starving. Was that
that really helped, I think shapeher character as a person. That that
life lesson that her you know,parental influence was that, you know,

(01:19:57):
honesty, fairness, importan doing theright thing. I think that just stuck
with her and traveled with her asa kid, you know, as an
Olympic athlete, and even as anattorney today. You know, Patricia just
fights for what she believes is theright thing. And I think that that

(01:20:18):
was a really big influence in shapingher character. She has really made a
big difference for all of the womenand young girls in wrestling by fighting for
us, fighting for the right thing, inequality and fairness for us to be

(01:20:41):
a part of this sport. AndI just wanted to say thank you to
you, Patricia for doing that forus, for our daughters, and for
all of the future generations. AndI just also want to thank the Hall
for recognizing that in her as well, and thank you for letting us celebrate

(01:21:01):
you here today and tonight. Thankyou, Katie. Our next honoree,
listed at six foot six and threehundred and fifty pounds, Jimmy Jackson was

(01:21:21):
the three time NCAA and Big EightConference champion for Oklahoma State University. Sadly,
Jimmy passed away in two thousand andeight at the age of fifty one,
suffering from diabetes and congestive heart failure. I guess there's a little switch
in where we're gonna go here,But I guess we're gonna go first to
Jim Shields, who claims that herecruited Jimmy Jackson to Oklahoma State. Well,

(01:21:46):
he probably did, but he's gonnacome up and speak first. First
of all, let me say hehas no idea how much time people are
doing this, and the reason Iknow he came over to this table with

(01:22:08):
me and the rest of these gentlemenfolks here, I want to know what
time it was. I kept havingto use my phone to show him how
much he didn't have a watch onor a cell phone or nothing. So
I've seen a few people go abouteight minutes, and I took notes on
it, so I know I'm goingto do the best I can though.
Okay, Coach Chesbow is my coachin high school, my high school college,

(01:22:32):
and I became his grad assistant afterhis nineteen seventy one national championship team
I was fortunate enough to be amember of and so grad assistant. He
says, Hey, I'm going tosend you up to Michigan and see this
heavyweight and everybody's talking about he's gota lot of potential. All turns out

(01:22:55):
I'd actually wrestle a little heavyweight myself, and I guess he wanted to put
a heavyweight on a heavyweight in arecruiting deal. So I go up there
and I had never seen him andknew nothing about Jimmy. And I go
up there and go in the houseand family mom, you know, brought
me in the house with like aliving room. Jimmy went there right then,

(01:23:16):
I think he was. He showedup about five minutes there later,
and I'm going, Holy yeah,Dad, this guy's bigger than a house.
And I thought he I can't evenfit in a bed, he's so
big and tall. And I thought, well, that opened my eyes,
and we got We got Jimmy.And I tell you he was one of

(01:23:38):
the most popular wrestlers on a teambecause the kids loved him. After a
wrestling match, which he won threenational titles, he'd be on the mat
with the rest of the team,you know, celebrating after a dual meet,
and the kids just lined up likedeep signed my shirt Jimmy, you

(01:23:59):
know, having one of those sharpies, and they be he'd be signed jim
Jackson and and he's so popular.I brought a picture for his family to
I'm gonna give them to take backwith him. Jimmy. Now, he's
a good sized guy there. AndJimmy's knees are bent and he's been at

(01:24:20):
the waist and he's still head tallerthan that guy. And uh, you
know, he was quite the athletefor a heavyweight. Probably one of the
most athletic heavyweights ever was Bruce bombGardener. We have Bruce there. He's
hiding over there harder than missing.But anyway, Jimmy was athletic. He

(01:24:44):
was very athletic. And so I'mgonna try to get this under control.
Here, I had order. Herewe go. Uh. Things that Jimmy
and I had in common. Onefirst name is jim I was growing up
and named Jimmy. I got identifiedwith somebody named Jimmy. He really liked

(01:25:05):
kids, and he liked working inwrestling clinics. I took him to several
clinics and they just loved him.He was just great, a great report
in communication with these kids all sizes, you know, the little kids up
to the high school kids. Hejust loved the sports so much. We
talked with the family a little bitago and said he had a chance to

(01:25:25):
go to football and whatever else.He could play basketball. I could.
I think he could nunk a ball. I could jump that high. And
actually we both kind of got itinto pro wrestling, just for a short
period of time. I didn't planon it, but I had a job
situation that disappeared on me and thelocal guy in Tulsa been on me for

(01:25:45):
two years to get into and Igot into it about a year and a
half and got out of it becauseI was away from my family so much.
But you know, and Jimmy,I know why they recruited him,
three times heavyweight national champion. That'sthe kind of guy. You can really
promote it if he buys into it. But I guess he really didn't care
for it, according to the family. And I wrestled heavyweight so I could

(01:26:10):
identify with heavyweights a little bit.Not on purpose, but it's the way
it went. The A couple oflittle stories to share with you, and
I won't get my order here becauseturn them over before you get them messed
up even worse. Yeah. Itook Jimmy to several clinics, but the

(01:26:35):
first time it was kind of interesting. I had a clinic set up.
I've been doing Alabama for several yearsfor a coach down there, and he
always had a good turnout for highschool kids and little kids. And so
Jimmy, he's going to be thefeatured guy. Right, So we load
up in my Volkswagen Bug. Wehad to seat on the iver's side,

(01:27:00):
a shotgun side, all the wayback. We finally get Jimmy in.
Now I'm driving down the highway andit's tilted like this. Jimmy's over here
three forty or so. I'm onehundred and ninety five on this side,
and I'm thinking those tires are goingto blow. I mean, we're indeed
trouble. We'll never get to theclinic on time. It's about a day

(01:27:20):
drive, but we made it.Yeah, Volkswagen Bugs, they don't have
a lot of room in the shotgunseat. Okay, I don't want to

(01:27:40):
repeat it something I'm gont pass itanyway. On the first day of the
clinic, I kind of started outbecause I'm the college coach, right,
So I worked on things. Wego stance, motion tie ups, penetration
drills and all that. Get thefirst kids going first half hour or forty
five minutes to an hour, andthey think, well, they're there to

(01:28:03):
see Jimmy. Okay, this isthe first session of the first day.
Did to a day. So Isaid, Jimmy, what do you want
to show? You're here to seeyou? And he goes arm drags.
You know, holy crap, that'swhat I want to show. Because I
had a whole series of arm dragsand it's very intricate. There's how you

(01:28:23):
grab the guy, how they grabyou, and you can find ten ways
to get a guy out it downor more. We're doing armbrags. Oh
my god, I don't know ifhe's that technical. Well, he did
an unbelievable job. The only problemwas I was his partner for an hour.
I weigh one hundred and ninety fivepounds and he's over three thirty I

(01:28:44):
believe at the time. And Ispent an hour getting up after being taken
down and having him land on mefor an hour. It was I was
about done for the whole week.Right after the first session but we had
so many coaches would come up throughoutthe week and say, man, that
guy is technical. He's really gotit down. Now did he use all

(01:29:06):
that in his matches? Didn't?All you have to? But he knew
it and he could actually impart andshare that great information and impress those kids
and those coaches just because he washe's so agile and he was he could
break it down, literally break itdown, so it was understandable. Like
you don't just shoot a double leggand dive in. You set it up,

(01:29:27):
you have penetration steps, you doall the things that they are necessary
to have good technique to be awinner. And he did that and it
was just like a stole my thunderbecause that was one of my favorite things
to teach. But it was great. I'm so glad that's what he selected
to do. Jimmy, Uh,Jimmy had some issues. His issues were

(01:29:55):
he was decepted. There's a storyof about him being in the airport ol'd
hair Chicago O'Hare and some guys youknow was a pickpocket. He saw a
big old Jimmy who was you know, pretty big around just sitting around and
he thought, well, that's aneasy Mark. So this guy picks picks

(01:30:16):
Jimmy's pocket, gets his wallet.Well, things didn't go real well for
the after that. Uh, Jimmy, you know that's a that's a big
terminal there if you've ever been upthere. Jimmy ran the guy down,
Big old Jimmy wrens this guy down, catches him, sits on him.
You know, you know, here'sthree hundred and forty pounds sitting on him,

(01:30:41):
and you know, they're waiting patientlyfor airport security. And the cops
come and they handcuffed the guy,and you know, there was a witnesses,
so they had everybody ass the thingis. In the next day,
there was an article in the onthe papers and there's a newspaper basically said,

(01:31:03):
moral of the story is, don'tpick the pocket of a three hundred
and some pound three time NCA wrestlingchampion and I don't think he can catch
him. And uh, you know, the moral of the story was find
somebody else a little bit slower thanJimmy Jackson. But yeah, that was

(01:31:24):
just kind of the incredible little storyabout what he had he could do.
And leticism, for one, dohow do you run a guy that's like
that? Okay, I got acouple of little more things to do and
get it out of the way.Uh. I always put things in numbers

(01:31:44):
and then then I mix them upanyway. Chessbro would always call him Jimmy,
and they called me Jimmy, andpeople confuse us. How do you
confuse us? Wait a minute?But Doc Cooper used to call me the

(01:32:05):
little Jimmy Shields, and so Ithought, well, I can live with
another Jimmy around here. I'm goingto try to get wound up here because
uh the there's a there's a there'sa and I'm done just there's a person.
There's a The person next person comingup behind me has a real good

(01:32:28):
we Swiss. For special reason,there's a galln named Reba McIntyre, very
famous singing homegrown Oklahoma Gallon. Shesang a song called when the Knights go
Out in Georgia. When when thelights go out in Georgia, Well,
the next speaker he could have writtenhis own song because when the lights went
out Gallagher Hall because he did somethingincredible and he was you want to Jimmy's

(01:32:51):
teammates. He knocked off a guywho wasn't supposed to even touch in the
in the Big Eight finals that wonO s U the Big Eight champ and
shipped that year got down to thelast match basically for us. And how
many have you, ever, howmany have you ever heard of sonic boom?

(01:33:11):
See, most people haven't. Asonic boom is a decibel level that
a jet hits, hits the dealand blows your ear drums out. And
I was raised right by air Forcein southern California. We heard sonic booms.
Now they're illegal, now they can'tdo it. Well after what Mino

(01:33:31):
did. He blew us out andwe were talking about it earlier. And
the loudest noise I ever heard,ever heard in anything was Gallagher Hall going
crazy. I sat along with hundredsof people in an aisle, not in
the bleachers, in the aisle becausenobody there was no seats. What's the

(01:33:59):
Yeah, I know it, butI'm gonna tell you anyway, We're not
gonna I'm gonna finish. Uh doyou mind me of John? John throws
that in all the time nowadays.He Uh, they broke windows, the
lights flickered out, and this iswhat Otto's gonna talk about. Well,

(01:34:19):
Mino should talk about it, becausehe's the one that caused the problems.
All right, no, you're done. He was the first guy to come
up here and talk about other peoplegoing past their time limit? Are you

(01:34:44):
kidding me? Oh? Well,you know he doesn't get out very muchlf
it is. Anyway, I'm hereto tell us a little bit more about
Jimmy. Is Daryl Mona Smith,one of her teammates when Jimmy was here,
Come on up, well, goodmorning everybody. A lot of you

(01:35:15):
probably don't know who I am orhave ever seen me because I stood right
next to six foot six, threepoint fifty to three eighty five my whole
career. So I was in theshadow of a big man. But we
had some great times together. Thefirst time I saw Jimmy was well,
when I got recruited at Oklahoma State, I found out all the guys are
going to becoming coach Chesbroel told me. He said, probably the biggest guy

(01:35:40):
that we got, well, definitelythe biggest guy we got was Jimmy Jackson
Michig, Michigan. He's going tobe wrestling in Iowa City his senior year.
After our senior year, we allwrestling. Paul Martin did Dave McQuaig
a lot of the guys and Ididn't get a chance to talk to Jimmy,
but I saw him and he's huge. But he didn't win that tournament.
In fact, John Bowlsby won thattournament nineteen seventy four in Iowa City.

(01:36:05):
Jimmy got third. So you know, we didn't know how good he
would be, but he would bea big guy. That was my introduction
to Jimmy. And then he comesto Oklahoma State and I get to know
him, and what a guy.He's absolutely a prince of a guy.
I'd call him a giant teddy bear, but he wasn't a teddy bear.

(01:36:27):
But he was a friend. Hewas funny, you could converse with him.
He wasn't overly proud of himself.He was just a great guy.
Anyway. That was my introduction tohim. And then the next thing that
I learned about Jimmy, Man,could that guy eat. I mean,

(01:36:48):
now, I pride myself in beinga big eater, but Jimmy, when
we'd go places and we'd sit,you know, like after away ends or
whatever, and you'd sit like twoto a tape to a table, Jimmy
knew that the only way to getthings done was you got to grab the
waitress. So he'd grab the waitressand he'd say I want this, I

(01:37:08):
want this, I want this,and want this and want this, and
she'd write it down and then she'djust leave, figuring he'd order for the
whole table, but he was justordering for himself. So the guy could
eat, and he and I gotto do a lot of extra eating because
I was always underweight at one hundredninety, and of course he didn't have
to worry about his weight. SoCoach chesbro sneaks a little money and we

(01:37:30):
could go out after other guys hadgone to sleep or they, you know,
kind of gone to bed hungry,waiting for the way in the next
day. So I got to knowJimmy a little bit better in that regard.
The other thing about Jimmy that itwas alluded to by jim the athletic
ability of the guy. Now withwrestling, you know, there's some guys
that have great wrestling ability, butthere's some things that make a guy athletic

(01:37:56):
that go beyond just what he cando on the mat. For example,
Andy how Joy here about like hecould squeeze plyers together, he could do
chin ups one handed, on flooron a floor, Joyce doing it this
one. The guy's incredible. Thatdoesn't mean he's a great wrestler, but
that's just his act likeability. Well, Jimmy did a couple things in the
dorm that I thought were pretty impressive. One was we were having a water

(01:38:16):
fight with a basketball team and I'mstanding by a door with Jimmy about ten
feet from the door. The dooropens up and Olus Holder has a five
gallon bucket of water and he tossesthat water at us, and so it
comes out like in a big sheet. Well, I can't get out of
the way. I mean, itjust splashes and gets me. Good,
Jimmy was able to duck and scootout from underneath, and did you get

(01:38:39):
a drop of water on him?Try to do that at home, folks.
That's hard to do, but Jimmycould do that. The other thing
that was pretty impressive I thought Jimmythat Jimmy did was we were in Steve
Barrett's room and Steve and me anda few of the other guys. I
don't know if you know it's aroundOklahoma here, but there's a lot of

(01:39:00):
beans and scrub oak and stuff likethat. All around Great snake hunting country,
Great spider hunting country. We wereout doing stuff like that all the
time. Well, Steve caught abig tarantula, named him Ranch, and
he was as big as your hand, a big, big spider. Well
it was on Steve's desk, andthere were probably ten fifteen guys in the
room looking at this spider like wewere. And I mean all the guys

(01:39:21):
are looking at him, and andthey're thinking, this spider could kill you,
a spider that big. And Isaid, you know, really,
tarantoles aren't that deadly poisonous black widowor a brown recluse. Just little spiders
are more poisonous, but they're prettyformidable looking. And then I kind of
tried to poke him a little bit, and the pair of palps that they
have have like claws on the end, and he pulls him up like this,

(01:39:42):
you know, And Jimmy is clearin the back and he's going mon
his eyes for this bag. Andhe was like hiding behind the guys clear
in the back of the room,and there were like ten or fifteen guys
in the room and all of uswe're looking at him, and I said,
you know, if we just leavehim alone. He'll just stay there
on the desk. He won't athing. So he's on the desk.
We start talking about other things,maybe the wrestling match coming up or whatever,

(01:40:05):
and in the meantime, Leroy Smithgets just relaxed enough he kind of
just leans back on Steve's bed,which is right next to the desk.
So here's Leroy sitting back like this. That spider literally jumped from right here,
right on to LeRoy's chest, andLeroy looks down and goes throws the

(01:40:25):
spiders spinning around in the air.Now before the spider even hit the ground.
Jimmy, I don't know how hedid this, but he catapulled it
over. Everybody does a front circlesomersault and hits the door running right as
the first guy in the line getsto the door. They wedge themselves in
the door so tight nobody, Imean, it's like and they're going like

(01:40:46):
this trying to get out, andthen all ten of the other guys hit
them in the back of s likea big ZiT exploding right out into the
hall, and we're out in thehall laughing our butts off. I mean,
that was so funny. Look backin and here's the port transil just
shaken and one of its legs isgone. Somebody knocked one of the legs
off. So anyway, that's theathlete, Jimmy Jackson. Now, as

(01:41:12):
far as wrestling Jimmy was, Imean he was, well, he's at
Oklahoma State. He's a phenomenon.I mean, people you talk about Jimmy
Jackson, they know what you're talkingabout. His freshman year, he was
just kind of a good freshman.I mean, he had a good record,
but he won some He won alot, but he lost a few
too. You know, he wasjust a good wrestler, but he was
learning. His sophomore year, thefirst or second match we wrestled, he

(01:41:35):
wrestled Larry Bielenberg from Oregon State,the returning national champ. He beat him,
and you know there's something about whenyou beat a national champ, you
just think you're pretty good after that, and Jimmy was really a lot confident
after that. He did well.He still lost a couple of matches,
but then in the national tournament hebeat Larry Bielerberg again and he beat Gibson

(01:41:57):
for moregan in the finals. Tworeally good wrestlers National champions. Sophomore year.
Then he went to the Olympics.I didn't go to the Olympics,
but something about the Olympics changed Jimmy. He was a different wrestler after that.
On his feet he was mister confidence. I mean he could move.
If he'd get in a bad position, he knew how to get out of

(01:42:19):
it. There's just something about theOlympics, the training or whatever made him
a different wrestler. His junior andsenior year, he was awesome, very
tough. John Bowlsby always gave himgood matches. But did you ever beat
him in college? John didn't butgave him good matches. I mean,
Jimmy had good matches, but hedidn't lose very many, and I don't
think his junior His junior year helost to Larry Bielenberg one time and then

(01:42:41):
beat him in the Nationals. Andhis senior year nobody touched him. So
he did pretty well. And anyway, let's see, I've got some here
to him. I'm a little losttoo here jim Basically, he did it
really well. And I've got acouple stories. And Michelle, now,

(01:43:02):
no, I got this one.You got to hear this one. How
many of you guys were the OuOklahoma State wrestling duel in nineteen seventy four.
Do you remember that duel? Anybodyremember that? Okay, Okay,
Well, here's what the deal was. Oklahoma was the retorning national champion team.
They were very good. And ifyou know anything about the rivalry between

(01:43:25):
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, it's prettyserious. Okay, it's called the Bedlam
Series. Anyway, the match wasat Oklahoma State. I'm a freshman,
Jimmy's a freshman. We come outthere and it's a packed house. Gallagher
Hall holds sixty five hundred people,and I think sixty five hundred people were
there. Anyway, we do wellenough that we're ahead of Oklahoma. Jimmy

(01:43:47):
doesn't have to win for us towin the duel, So the Oklahoma State
people are given Ou the hard time. You know, poor Sooners, poor
Sooners. Jimmy Russell, the guythat's an All American from Ou named Bill
Caulbrinner, the senior, pretty tough. Jimmy's a freshman. Well, when
they go off the mat, justkind of go off the mat. The
referee blows the whistle, turns aroundto go back to center. Bill Calgbrenner

(01:44:10):
shoves Jimmy, and Jimmy gets pushedand everybody in the crowd is kind of
like a Pearl Russell match, youknow what's going on here. Anyway,
The referee then turns around, doesn'tsee anything, and Calberner just goes like
this, you know, So theygo back to the center. That happens
twice. Well the third time ithappened when they went off and Calbrener shoves
Jimmy again. Jimmy turns around andshoves him so hard, throws him through

(01:44:34):
the press table, knocks a typewriterclear up in the air. I think
Wayne Bishop was the guy that wentflying backwards. And at that time,
Bill Calgberner's brother comes flying out ofthe stands and lax hits Jimmy in the
face. And then one of ourguys or maybe it was a football player
him, came jumping out of thestands and bust Calgbrenner's brother. Then a

(01:44:58):
bunch of football players came out fromOu, and then the Oklahoma State football
players came out, and then Oklahoma'swrestling team came out. Stan Able and
Tom chessbroke over there, and everybody'sfighting duking it out. It was crazy.
I mean it was all it wasnuts. And then the police came
out. They got everybody off,and then Bob Billinger was announcing. He
said, hey, let's get backto the sport of wrestling. So everybody

(01:45:21):
kind of cleans out. But youknow, if somebody had dropped a pin
wrong, it'd been fighting all overagain. Well, anyway, they start
again, the referee talks to him, both start wrestling, and Bill Calburn
just takes Jimmy right down and thenhe lets him out, and he takes
him down again, kind of likewhat Oklahoma State used to try to do,
and so o you people are kindof cheering, Yeah, yeah,

(01:45:43):
we're gonna beat this guy. Andthe third time when Cauldburnder let him up,
when he took him down, hegot in too deep and tried to
lift him up, and you cansee one of his knees kind of shake
like this. He went down sideways, Jimmy headlocked him and pinned him.
And when Jimmy pinned him, ofcourse the crowd just went And then Dave
Martin, our assistant coach, whenwe're going down to the locker room,

(01:46:03):
he yells at everybody says, we'llsell this place out. The rest of
our lives, people will come outto see if this happens again. Sure
enough, we sold that place out, I think the rest of the time
that Jimmy was there. Okay,fast forward to senior year nineteen seventy eight,
the Big Eight Tournament. Okay,that it well, when that happened,

(01:46:27):
Jimmy tells me afterward, says Mono, we started out with a great
match and we ended with a greatmatch. Isn't wrestling a great sport?
And I said, you know what, Jimmy, it is. I don't
know what happened to Jimmy so muchafter that is aft He kept wrestling,
but he died way too soon.He's a great guy and this is a
great honor. Thank you very much. Okay. Our final distinguished member honoree

(01:47:00):
is Joe Williams. Joe is athree time NCAAA champion and a four time
All American for the University of Iowa. He then went on and finished fifth
in the two thousand and four Olympicsand was a two time world bronze medallist.
Here to tell us more about Joeis Mark Ironside. Hey, everyone,

(01:47:21):
Mark Ironside here. Sorry, Icould not be there in person.
I'd much rather be there talking aboutJoe Williams and bragging them up in person.
But one of the things that Ido in my life now is I
actually drive race cars, and tonightjust happens to be the biggest race of
the season for me in my latemodel car here in Cedar Rapids. So

(01:47:41):
we're gonna do this. We're gonnamake use of technology these days. But
Joe, who's been an amazing friendof mine. I have known Joe for
a lot of years now, sincenineteen ninety three exactly, So what is
that twenty thirty years? Can believethat Joe thirty years? That's crazy.
But I remember the first time Iever met Joe. We were on our
recruiting trip in the Iowa Wrestling Roomand we were sitting there watching practice and

(01:48:04):
I look over and there's Joe Williamsand he was all bundled up. It
was cold out his wintertime, andhe's wearing his park and he's got his
hood up. And the thing thatreally kind of drew me to Joe was
that he was really quiet, justminded his own business. He really didn't
say much to anybody, but youcould just see in his eyes he just

(01:48:25):
studied the sport, you know.And he was honestly probably sizing up Tom
Brands and Lincoln Macrave at the timebecause he knew he was going to be
going in there and competing with themon a daily basis in the wrestling room.
And and that's how Joe, that'show Joe's mind worked. Is he's
not one of those guys that youknow, talks about himself for brags,
and social media wasn't a thing atthat time obviously, but you know,

(01:48:46):
but it is now. And andhe never really like promoted himself, and
in that aspect, he's always justkind of low key and flies under the
radar as much as he could anyway. So you can't really fly under the
radar when you're a three time nationalchampion and you're chiseled like Joe Williams and
you're going out and you're winning bigmatches. So it was he was a

(01:49:08):
crowd favorite. Everybody loved Joe andfor a good reason too. And and
he always came through in clutch performances, and and he didn't have an easy
road, you know. I mean, he had some tough, tough competitors
within that Big Ten conference and atthe national level. You know, Brandon
Slay was a major rival of hisover the years, and obviously Brandon went
on and won the Olympic gold sothat was that was big for Brandon as

(01:49:30):
well too. So but Joe Ialways kind of rassed him a little bit
because he let a lot of matchescome down to the end and made him
closer than they probably needed to be. And I just wish I had half
of that talent that he had.But he was a type of wrestler that
you never wanted to take your eyesoff the match because either won, he
was gonna hit an unbelievable explosive likezero point five second stand up, which

(01:49:55):
I can't even believe someone can getout that fight and stand up and stand
up that fast, or he's tojust blow you off your feet with a
double egg, And it was justit was a lot of fun to watch,
and he was a crowd pleaser.So congratulations to Joe. It was
it's been an honor to have youas a teammate and a friend over the
years. I'm very happy for youto be getting inducted into the Hall of

(01:50:16):
Fame and being a distinguished member outthere in still Water it's I'll never forget
our Uno games and never get playingping pong and you taking money from kids
with the dollar bill game that youalways played. And and that's why people
love you, Joe, is youknow, I mean, people knew who
you were off the map, butif everybody understood who you were, or
people loved you on the map,but if people could actually understand who you

(01:50:40):
were off the map, they'd evenlike you that much more. It was
just so fun to hang around.And I'm glad that I got to spend
that time with you in Alaska aswell too, and get you out of
your element. And that's where Iyou know, loved is the outdoors.
But to see Joe up in Alaskawhen we did the clinic for Lenny's Aleski,
it was a lot of fun aswell too, and see him freezing

(01:51:00):
cold and trying to do some samand fishing and climbing some mountains and seeing
some moose and just so many differentexperiences. And that's what you do when
you're when you're talking about Hall ofFame and you're looking at, you know,
memories, and you kind of goingdown memory lane, and we have
so many of them, and aswell does everybody else that's there that night.
So Joe, congratulations, super proudof you and you could not be

(01:51:21):
more deserving of this award, andI wish I could be there for you
in person today, buddy, Sohave a good time, and congratulations to
all the other recipients that are receivingrewards there today as well too, And
a special shout out to Bob Bolsbyfor his outstanding the American Award as well.
Bob Boseby was athletic director at IOWA, and I was there and got

(01:51:42):
to know him, and he gotto know him even more so probably after
he left Iowa, and I've justalways followed his career and been in all
of Bob Boseby as well too,and the things that he learned growing up
in Waterloo and through the sport ofwrestling to conquer what he did at a
business level, at a job thatwas not easy. You have to have
thick skin, you got to thinkoutside the box, and you gotta be

(01:52:04):
tough, and he did it andhe was very professional about it. So
congratulations to you as well, Bob, and enjoy the day. Thank you
well, and our last speaker tonightto share a little bit more about Joe
is Hardell Moore, What up everybody? I think we just found something else

(01:52:33):
about mister Joe Williams. Man,that dude was a hustling man. You're
taking dollars from kids, doctor,Come on, bruh, come on,
bro. They got to buy somestarbursts, some gum. Just hustling,
hustling. Congrats to all the inductees. I want to thank to the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame for allowing usto be here this evening or this morning

(01:52:54):
right now, and a big thankyou to mister Joe Williams for reaching out
to me and asked me to bea part of this special day because it
is a special day because first andforemost today's my wife's birthday. So when
I got the call from Joe andwe were communicating back and forth, I
called him to congratulate him, andthen we started talking some more back and
forth, and he asked me ifI would be up to do this,
and I was like, hold onone second, boss, let me check

(01:53:15):
with the point, right. Ilove you, brother, but I got
other priorities first, right, SoI asked the Queen Bee at the house
and she said, Babe, that'sfine. So you know, hey,
I got permission to be here today, so I'm pretty fired up about that.
Just like a lot of things thatfolks have already been talking about,
this is a wrestling family. Ironsidementioned one of the great things I love

(01:53:36):
about Joe Williams his humility, andif anybody in here knows Joe Williams,
he is as humble as they come. When Sandy was doing his introduction yesterday,
the way he was standing like thiswas that dude off of the map,
and almost it was that dude onthe mat until he had to go
put some points up on the board. Okay, but his humility is unlike

(01:53:58):
any other, whether it was Bigten titles, NCAA titles, becoming an
Olympian World bronze medalist. I veryrarely saw Joe celebrate, and I can
say that positively because he beat mefour times and I never beat him,
So that's coming from experience. Thefirst time I had the pleasure of even

(01:54:18):
interacting with Joe was the first timewe had a chance to rustle. At
that point in the time, innineteen ninety three, Joe was the number
one one sixty five pounder. Iwas the number three one sixty five pounder
and team Oklahoma traveled to Illinois forthese national duels. Obviously it's a lot
bigger now. I was talking toTJ earlier and I used to have this
old patent jump. I still sayDayton Fixed stole my jump, and he

(01:54:40):
cheats because he rolls and jumps.I just jumped, So I think I
still got better ups than that.But the first time Joe and I had
the chance to Russell was in Chicago. Like I said, one in three,
I knew about him. I'm prettysure he knew about me. We're
getting out there, we're scrapping.Its a tight match. I get in
on a leg, I get himelevated, and I'm thinking, okay,
I'm about to score right here.Yeah, nine times out of ten I

(01:55:01):
scored in this position. I don'tknow what happened, but this dude ended
the back up on his feet andwe ended up out of bounds and I
didn't score in that double, sothat was pretty upsetting. I ended up
once again. He beat me everytime we wreshed. So yes, I
did lose that match, right,I did lose that match. So that
was the first time I had thechance to interact with Joe and get a
chance just to scrap with him.Like I said, we were competitors,
and we became friends after, right, because anybody in her knows when their

(01:55:26):
baby and your baby is wrestling eachother, they ain't friends. Right at
that point in time. It takesa little while, right, It takes
a little while. So let's moveon to college. We already know his
accolades. Three time NCAA champion,four time All American, two time Big
ten champion, with the overall recordof one twenty nine and nine. And
the thing I was telling him aboutyesterday is some people sleep on this or

(01:55:46):
forget about it. Maybe I don'tknow how you can but a ten time
Menlanz champion consecutively. Right, Sofrom what was it, nineteen ninety four
to three, Joe just out therebeating dudes up. Now, we got
to remember in four he made theOlympic team, he won the Midlands and
three and this joke is still wrestlingfreestyle on the international level. Let me

(01:56:09):
just go beat this college dude upreal quick. Right, Let me just
go beat him up real quick.Okay. Joe was a great competitor.
He brought the best out of me, and I hope I did the same
to him. National Duels. Ilike to quote this as the match.
Now if anybody remembers the old schoolNational Duels in Lincoln, Nebraska, two
day tournament, a little run upbefore the NCAA's and you had everybody and

(01:56:30):
their mama at those duels, andthe cool thing about it was you had
to sit side by side by yourcompetitor. Now, we didn't have cops,
we didn't have nobody come out tothe stands like Jimmy Jackson pushing and
throwing people anything like that, butit was pretty close. So this was
the finals O State versus Iowa.O State's on the right side. I
was on the left side. Andit's just a pathway that the coaches and

(01:56:54):
wrestlers can walk through and they cango a little bit outside, right,
So I mean, we can ifyou didn't brush your teeth that morning from
eyeb but we can smell it.If we didn't brush our teeth that morning
from O State, you could smellit. So we side by side,
right. Obviously Tigue was there,Pat I think you were there as well.
But this was just a great event. So matter of fact, mister

(01:57:15):
Tom Galen from Baltimore Maryland was theofficial at this match that I'm getting ready
to talk about. So we gota chance to catch up a little bit
yesterday. So we're getting ready towrestle, getting down. Every match was
pretty much close. Joe and Igetting ready to go out. This is
probably the second or third time Ithink we've wrestled. I look over there,
I see coach Dan Gable getting apatent no slap, that old patent
slap, and I'm like, wooh, that looked like it hurt right there.

(01:57:38):
Right, I also got hit withthe famous Gable stall call. Right.
I wanted to walk over and tellthe coach man, I really wasn't
stalling, man, I was justtrying to circle back to the middle a
little bit. Right then. Wehad at that time the cool old J
Dove would always stand over there anddo like this was getting ready that that
old J Dub and him and Gabwould be eyeballing back and forth. So
needless is saying there was some intensematches on that map, but there were

(01:58:00):
some tense words and intense sayings onthe benches as well. Probably some of
these little ones wouldn't be up tothat language that was there, but it
was an awesome, awesome atmosphere towrestle in. So to give you a
little background on what the story wasand how this match went down one to
one and back then back then.Like I say, this sounds like I'm
really really, really really old,but I'm not. But back then,

(01:58:24):
it was just one flip right,one flip. Whoever gets it that person
nine times out of ten, you'regoing down. Okay, we did have
the one minute overtime. Nobody scoredthere. My call, my color red
or green, whatever we were.I chose down position. I'm thinking in
the back of my mind, man, this Joe came about to ride me.
I'm'a have to hit by of themopoint five seconds, escapes on Joe

(01:58:44):
like we just did with one anotherin the second and third period. Needless
to say, that did not happen. I get to my feet, Joe
returns me. I get back up. Joe returns me. We go out
of bounds, come back. There'sprobably about twenty seconds left at this time.
What's the blows bot point five second? Stand up? Get to my
feet. That Joker locked his hands, return me. I kicked down.
I end up kicking and I kickedand I get free. Now. If

(01:59:09):
anybody knows Joe Williams, he gotsome long armors, right, and they
hang down to his knees. Okay, we'll talk about that double leg here
in just a minute. But theyhang down to his knees. And I
kicked, and I'm pretty athletic andcould move, but once I started to
turn, I felt a fingertip grabmy foot and pulled me back in.

(01:59:29):
And I'm donkey kicking, donkey kicka donkey kicking, turn around facing and
I get in the body lot andby the time I get right here,
I'm trying to back out to breakhis hands, and Tom runs out.
I'm doing one like this. CoachSmith is doing one like this. I
heard my mama in the stands yellat one like this. I look at
Tom the official, because we'd endup knocking Tom on his butt. He

(01:59:53):
told me that that we go outof bounds. I think I think Joe
pushed him, and that's really whatI think. That's just between right here.
I look up at Tom, nopoints. I'm like, dang Joe,
humility, calm, cool, collective, walks, takes his ankle,
band off, shakes hands, goesoff the mat. Great match, Great

(02:00:14):
atmosphere. Let's talk about his internationalcareer. Two time pandem champion, ten
time National freestyle champion, four Olympianfinishing fifth and still beating on them young
boys at the Midlands and three anda two time World bronze medalist. Calm
Cool collective, Calm Cool collective.That was Joe Williams. It was an

(02:00:40):
honor to wrestle Joe Williams. Andwe've talked about that. Ironside hit on
it earlier, talked about that patentdouble leg takedown. If you made a
mistake, you're gonna pay right.And in all the respect, that's probably
why I know Ironside said he probablyrased him a little bit for these two
ones three to one matches. Everytime we wrestled, it was pretty much
that except once in the NC doublea's and he kind of put foot to

(02:01:00):
behind on that one and it waseight to three. Did I like it
at that point in time? HeiGno. But just like anything thirty some
odd years, you kind of getover it, right. But once those
fingers got behind those legs on thosedoubles, it was a rap. But
his humility and the way he hascarried himself on the mat off the mat,

(02:01:23):
as a husband, as a father, as an ambassador, as one
of the most decorated American wrestlers thatwe have ever seen had, whatever the
case may be, he is upthere at the top. Joe Williams to
his family, thank you. It'sbeen an honor up here sharing some of
these stories about you, your success, but more importantly of who you are.

(02:01:47):
And Joe, was that quiet dude. It was the calm before the
storm, and once that old patentgable slap happened, that was the storm.
Joe Williams, congratulations. Thank youguys for having me be here this
morning, and now I will leaveand go celebrate my wife's birthday. Joe

(02:02:08):
Williams, congratulations. You want tomove all right? First I want to
say thank you for all the guysthat have got up here and spoke today.
They have a pretty good sense ofhumor, don't they, a lot
of these wrestlers. But first ofall, I want to thank everyone for

(02:02:29):
attending this tribute. Congratulations to theclass of twenty twenty three, and we've
enjoyed learning about each of you.We hope to see you all back here
tonight at the Night Center, sameplace for the performing arts this evening for
the forty six Honors Induction ceremony,which will be held in the same room.
The only difference is you'll be sittingout there in the seats and the

(02:02:50):
people with things will be up here, so you don't have to Yeah,
especially you're getting special seating tonight.It with comfortable seats. So the reception
tonight begins at five point thirty pmand the banquet starts at seven pm.
And I want to get a specialthanks as we close right now to Jack

(02:03:12):
Carnifix because Jack's the one who wroteall this information that I have in this
book and what we've talked about toyou. I think Jack could actually give
this talk without any notes. Heknows that much about every one of these
people that are here today. ButI want to thank you all for coming
because it's a big deal to keepwrestling on the forefront in America. Don't

(02:03:34):
ever think it's just here to stay, and it's just a sense we've got
to keep pushing and pushing and pushingour sport because there's a lot of other
things going on out there too.But we really appreciate you taking your time
to come here and celebrate with thesepeople. So thank you very much.
Hope you'll be back here again tonight. If we can have our honorees,

(02:04:00):
sports and presenters for tonight, Pleasestick around because we're going to do a
brief walkthrough for this evening all right. Legends is a presentation of the National

(02:04:27):
Wrestling Hall of Fame and produced bythe Matt Talk podcast Network. If you
want to hear more from Wrestling's Legends, contribute to the project today by going
to Matt talkonline dot com slash contribute. We hope you've enjoyed this look in
the wrestling history. This has beenLegends. I'm Jason Bryant, Recamilpa of Deploment

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