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, present, and
future. As we'll hear are thegreat stories of wrestling and success from the
true legends of the sport here onHall of Fame Legends. So, without
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any more ado, let's go aheadand get started. I might say that
we hope everyone enjoyed the meal,and now it's time for the program to
begin. This is another opportunity forus to learn more about this special group
of individuals who we are honoring thisweekend. We're going to hear from those
who know them the best, andthat's their family and their friends. Each
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of the speakers will be allowed totalk for five minutes. Unfortunately, there
will be no injury timeouts, andwe don't have any time for overtimes.
Okay. One of the awards thatwe present annually is the Order of Merit,
which is given to an individual whohas made a significant contribution to the
sport of wrestling, but not necessarilyon the mat. We will now hear
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about our twenty twenty four Order ofMerit honoree, Darryl Miller, beginning with
twenty twenty one Distinguished member and USAnational team's freestyle coach Bill Zadig, happy
with, Well, it's my honorto be here to recognize Darrel Miller,
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and I'm going to try to dothis as succinctly as possible. But how
do you put thirty years of impactinto five minutes? What do you leave
out? One? Do you include? To know Darryl to honor him?
You really have to know him.Darryl's first and foremost. He's a Christian
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and he's guided by his faith inall ways. He's a family man.
His family is absolutely vitally important tohim. He's a Marine Marine retired ranger,
trained Force recon It's very important tohim, and if you're around Darryl,
he speaks about it frequently, andhe speaks about the love of his
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Marine brothers and sisters. Daryl's impactas an athletic trainer spans twenty three years
officially, but it's much longer thanthat, even four Olympic Games, nine
World teams, spanning five national coachingten years, and just a small sample
of the athletes that he's impacted inhis career. David Mark Schultz, Bruce
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Bumgardner, Kevin Jackson, Kenny Munday, Kenda Cross, Lincoln Mcaraby, Carrie
co Lot, Lescotchis, Henry SejudoColeman, Scott Jordan Burrows, Kyle Snyder,
Jake Barner, Logan Steber, KyleDake, Joey McKenna, and many
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many more. Those are a lotof big names just to kind of talk
about the eras that he's impacted.But the thing about Darrow is he loves
people, and he loves relationship,and he gives as much to everybody in
the room. When he sees aneed, he fills the need. He's
the last guy out of the roomand he's the first guy into the wrestling
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room. I can't tell you howmany times he's been on trips with me
when I was an athlete, helpingme maybe midnight, one o'clock in the
morning, run in to get ice, help open athletes to recover and get
what they need the following day sothey compete at the highest level. Now,
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maybe if say sport we're around backin those days, we'd be talking
about somebody else today. But yeah, Daryl's been had a massive impact on
the performance side of wrestling. Butto truly know him. His faith is
number one. I talked to himprobably at least monthly, and over the
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years. He's always telling me howhis men's group, his Bible study group,
they're praying for me, they're prayingfor our team, they're praying for
our athletes, and our athletes feelthat. You feel that when you're in
his presence. He reflects that spiritall the time. His family, his
wife Mary Lee, who's really thecommandant of the family. His children,
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daughter Merchaale and her husb Been Marcus, his son Jake, his wife Laurie,
and their grandchildren, the Hardwood children, Oak, Alder and Maple.
He loves them unequivocally talks about themoften. I get well Daryl's positive attitude
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right, almost annoyingly positive. Iget phone calls from him at six in
the morning when he's taking a breakat the twenty mile stop of his bike
ride, just to you know,give me a call and check in,
see how things are going. What'sgoing on, Billy, Well, I
was trying to sleep, but I'mup now. Or maybe their babysitting and
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sometimes it's bathtime and they the grandswant to call Billy Z, which I
love that. I love that.I love that Daryl's impact in the sport
of wrestling has brought that family atmosphereto all of us. Us. Of
course, his military service as aMarine. We all know the motto of
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the Marine Corps Sumper fidelus always faithful. I think if you define Darryl Miller
in one phrase, it's always faithful. He's been always faithful in his walk
with the Lord, with his family, with his Marines, with our team,
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with me an incredible example, anincredible, massive impact in the sport.
But I would argue that his impactoff the mat and out of the
arena has been much much greater.I would also think, I don't know
if there's anyone inducted in this hallthat has impacted more inductees than that man.
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So Darryl, I love you,I'm grateful for you. Simplified Daryl
Miller. Thank you, Thank you, Bill, appreciate your words. And
here to speak more about Darryl ishis son Jake Miller. Hey, gang,
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we had a family first last night. My kids saw fireflies for the
first time in their life. Whoknew We chased him go Oklahoma. So
anyway, you know the chain ofevents that starts this off today is there's
a number, and then number isone point six. One point six.
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It's a chain of events that numberstarts us off in nineteen sixty nine.
One point six is his grade pointaverage in nineteen sixty nine. And that's
when the draft board picks him upand says, hey, you either volunteer
or you go it, or we'vealready picked you up. And he goes
into the Marine Corps and from thereon, the Marine Corps is a strong
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tradition of straightening men out and puttingmen on the right path, as the
men that he'd invited here today canattest to. And it's there that he
learned, and these men here exposedhim as a masochist. The more pain,
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the more suffering, the better,asking me, how I know my
entire life. So we have that, and he gets into the Marine Corps
and it becomes the highly successful Innessunit. And he gets out and he
gets on. He spends the nextfive six years on the honor roll at
the University of Wisconsin and where hemeets Dave Schultz and Andy Ryan, two
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of his besties at the time,and no one else wanted to be the
sports medicine guy for University Wisconsin.Who wants to go in and be around
smelly, sweaty, different people,right, that's the rest of the community.
It's just different, and it's there. He realized that he fit like
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a glove because wrestling loves pain andsuffering. He loves pain and suffering.
David and Dave Schultz and Andy lovepain and suffering. He's part of the
family. And that's when the shoefit and he never looked back for I
think that was nineteen eighty four,eighty five, something like that, and
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he also met Mitch and later onthat all came full circle nineteen in the
early nineties when he was put intothe system and they realized that what they
had was a gem. To say, this guy puts out one hundred percent
maximum effort every single time. There'snever a time you'd be like, oh,
Darryl's effort was poor. Any internationaltrip you can ask I have all
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the guys and just say, Idon't know how your dad does it,
but it's maximum effort all the time, fully committed. He loves everyone.
There's never any bias. I remembergoing to a tournament and Lincoln was there,
and Lincoln was like, Jake,here's The thing is most most guys
in your dad's position have biases,and they're gonna help this guy more than
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they're gonna help that way, thereis no bias in my dad's jam,
right. He is just he doesn'tcare. He's gonna help the number two
as much as he's gonna help thenumber one. And that's what makes him
across the age is so successful.Is everybody knew in sports medicine that him
be on the mat side. He'sgonna get him out there and he's not
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going to care whether you're number oneor two. He wants you to compete.
He wants you to win, evenyou're you know, if he loves
both the guys in the mats thatare competing, and he was like he'd
always say, it's really hard andthere's always heartbreak because you want both guys
to win and only one can.So anyway, there's never any bias.
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There's never any ego with my dad, and that's what makes him. That's
what made him a mainstay in USAwrestling for for thirty years approximately, well
it feels like thirty years, maybeit was less. So you know,
the other the other part of thatis sports medicine and that whole industry is
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full of ego. And I saidthat before, but it's really important to
note that that helping people is whathe did, and that's what consistently gave
him the time over and over andover again. And I remember Bruce Burnett
being like, hey, you shouldonly get one Olympics, right, Instead,
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my dad got Atlanta, and thenhe went to Beijing, and then
he went to London, and thenhe went to Rio. And when I
was talking to Bruce Burnett, itwas He's like, I can't not listen
to the guys on these trips.Do all these guys want your dad and
all these other sports medicine people wanttheir chance at the Olympics. He goes,
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and I can't give it to himbecause your dad is demanded, because
because he shows up, puts outmaximum effort every single time there, and
there is no he goes. Hegoes. Now that no other sports medicine
guy is going to carry the athletesbags, is going to get into the
sauna and help them cut weight,get down, I said. I was
talking to Bill. I was like, Bill, how many guys don't have
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championships without my dad? And hewas like, I don't have championship without
your dad, because what other sportsmedicine guy gets in the sauna and cuts
weight and loves it because it's painand because it's suffering, because you had
to endure that is that is hisone hundred percent. That's who he is,
right So uh, that's why hecontinually would always go and go and
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go. Now. I don't rememberhim as a kid ever missing, you
know, as busy he's he wasalways. I don't remember him missing an
event of mine or mar Kales forthat matter, just doesn't happen. He
would reschedule the trip and be like, I'm not going to krasny Yark's,
Russia because Jake's wrestling on this day. Now, no one misses kresny Arks
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Russia. But he is the guythat went more times than anybody else.
Why because it involves pain and involvessuffering, and that's who he is,
right Uh. And I couldn't openwe Marquev's side note Marcile and I could
not open Christmas presents on Christmas morningbecause someone had to work out first,
and we'd be down there at sixo'clock being like, let's let's go over
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in presents. Nope, not thecase, somebody's got to get he's leaving
for a run. I'll be backin an hour, and then we sit
in front of the presence for anhour because he has to get his calisthetics
in. He's got to get hisgood morning darlings, he's got to get
his flutter kicks, he's got toget his push ups everything. And now
he's getting them. He's getting myboys into the mix too. They come
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over, they sauna, they dotheir calisthetics. It's nuts. Anyways,
the next generation is being trained.It's skipped a generation. Okay, it's
flat out dead anyway. There's there'sone verse that and it's basically for I
know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, giveyou plans to give you a hope in
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the future. And that is thatstarted kind of in nineteen sixty nine,
is when he took the big turnaroundand set up the chain of events here.
And it's a it's an honor tobe here, and we're so thankful
for the Hall for all the workthey've done. So thank you. And
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kJ called me and said, hey, make sure you say he's in it.
To win it all right, Thanksguys, than the end of it.
Thank you Jake. Next, dueto unusual circumstances, we will have
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one more speaker for Daryl. MisterAndy Ryan. Ryan is a distinguished member
of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, is unable to be with us today
in person. He is currently participatingin the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Power
Beyond Endowment campaign, which is raisingfunds by hiking the two thousand, ninety
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seven mile Appalachian Trail. Talk aboutdedication. With this unique journey, Andy
is endeavoring to help secure the Hallof Fame's future. You can find more
information online at the Hall of FameWrestling website, which is if you'd like
to write this down, it's Capital, w Ncapitol, WPH, capitocapitf dot
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org. So if you want togo to that website you can learn more
about this. So let's hear fromAndy. We're going to play a video
Darryl Miller, how you doing,buddy, Hey, Andy Ryan on the
Appalachian Trail, trying to raise moneyfor the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Power
Beyond Endowment campaign, and things aregoing well on the trail. I wish
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you were here with me. I'msure you wish you were here with me
instead of wearing that funny tuxedo.I've been wearing the same clothes for eight
days in a row, haven't hada shower, and I feel great.
Hey, I'm reaching out to youtonight to give you some praise and honor.
Congratulations on your meritorious award with theNational Wrestling Hall of Fame. Well
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deserved, your commitment to the sportof wrestling, your care that you've given
the athletes over a tremendous number ofyears. You're a special man, and
I always knew it from the dayI met you. Your positive attitude,
the spirit that's within you that youshare with the athletes, and I really
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believe that you've inspired a lot ofathletes to do better than maybe they could.
In other words, you're partly coachas well. But congratulations to you
and your family, Mary, Lee, Markaale Jake, great family. I
love you, guys, Take careand enjoy the evening. See Yah.
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Good evening, everyone, Welcome,Welcome to the twenty twenty four Hall of
Fame Induction of honor Rees. We'redelighted to have you here with us.
This weekend and this evening. I'mhappy now to bring to the podium the
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Chairman of the Board of the Governorsof the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,
Tom Slowey. Good evening, actuallygreat evening on behalf of the Nasha Wrestling
Hall of Fame. Welcome to theforty seventh Honors Induction ceremony. This evening's
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turnout is certainly a testimony through theexceptional individuals week Honors this evening, but
also to the fantastic and lawroyal supportof our wrestling community. So thank you
for being here. The National WrestlingHall of Fame is grateful you're with us
to celebrate the class of twenty twentyfour inductees. This is a very special
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time as we recognize and enshrine oursports very best and honor their extraordinary achievements.
The class of twenty twenty four inducteesour inspiration to us all. Their
life pass and accomplishments offer positive guidanceand examples to us all, and especially
to our country's youth and future leaders. The National Wrestling Hall of Famer is
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privileged to host and celebrate Honor's Weekendwith them. As we all know,
wrestling teaches invaluable lessons. It alsoinstills positive traits that serve us well over
a lifetime. Determination, commitment,perseverance, persistence, and resilience, to
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name just a few. And soas we move forward in life, we
are well prepared to manage the challengesand opportunities that we want to encounter with
purpose and excellence, and as leadersas an example for others to follow on,
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behalf of the Sponsors Volunteers, NationalWrestling Hall of Fame Staff, Board
of Governors, Governors Associates. Thankyou for sharing this evening with us as
we proudly celebrate the Class of twentytwenty four. Thank you. Order of
Merit recipient Darryl W. Miller.I was born in Madison, Wisconsin,
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in a single parent home. Mymother raised my brother Dudley, and my
sister Jackie and I, and shewas a wonderful provider. She always had
food on the table, we nevermissed church, and she promoted a strong
work ethic. With that work ethic, my brother and I lived and worked
on Dairy Foe in our high schoolyears and then built Cement Dave Stylists well
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into our college years. Well innineteen seventy after three semeters of really enjoying
the college life. I found myselfon final probation and the United States Army
thought they had a better plan andI was drafted. I immediately enlisted in
the Marine Corps and after boot camp, I spent a year of rigorous training
in competition to get into the MarineCorps Special Forces with as Forced Reconnaissance and
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that changed my life forever. ForceRICON is a special operations unit of the
Marine Corps. We are the onesusually jumping out of airplanes and blowing things
up. When I first joined thecompany, Darrow was my team leader.
He was always fired up, prepared, and mission ready. He was sent
to US Army Ranger School before Venting, Georgia, where he excelled and finished
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at the top of his class.That's how he earned his nickname Ranger.
Discipline, duty, self sacrifice,on encourage commitment was instilled in me from
that point on. Well. Innineteen seventy eight, I was a new
graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsinand to get to the training room,
I walked by the Wisconsin Wrestling Roomevery day, poke my head in and
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I was always excited and to seethat energy that toughness and that camaraderie that
was there. And we had astaff meeting and our head trainer asked if
anybody wanted to take up wrestling.Not a hand went up, so I
jumped on the opportunity. I hadthe privilege of working with athletes like Leroy
Camp, Andy Ryan, Jimmy Haynes, Jack Ryan, Wan, Mitch Hall,
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and many others. I first metDaryl when I was an athlete and
an assistant coach at the University ofWisconsin under Russ Hellickson and Darryl's strength is
his ability to build relationships and earntrust. He'd be taking part with our
conditioning workouts, he'd be in thesauna when our guys were practicing there.
And one time we did a deadhang content as with a partner on our
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back to see if you could lastthe longest, and I took second to
the trainer, Darryl, and asRuss still reminds me, it wasn't even
close. As an athletic trainer.To be certified, you have the basic
skills to take care of one morehave any injury that comes forth, the
critical skills that go beyond the taperand ankle and doing your basic evaluation in
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your room when you have time arethe moments when you're on the mat,
you have a time limit and theperson has a lacerated warhead, he's been
concussed, he's got a dislocation.Then you've got to be able to think
on your feet at that moment todetermine what's best to get that athlete to
contigue, to rustle, or totake them off the mat. Intend to
help them psychologically, motivate them whenthere's injuries that appear to be long lasting.
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Being able to work with them whenthere's hardships and making weight as well
as being there, formed me emotionally. Soon after I became national Teams direct
I contacted Daryl and told him weneeded him in our athletic trainer's pool,
and eventually it was our elite freestyleathletes and our national coaches Bruce Burnett,
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Kevin Jackson and Bill Zaddik told meto make sure that the committee assigns Daryl
to the World Championships in the OlympicGames. Every day that I worked with
Daryl was a portrayal of endless enthusiasm, positivity, tireless work ethic commitment to
doing his very best caring for othersand giving back. Darryl is a strong
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man of faith who lives his faithand wats his talk. My faith means
everything to me but one. ForGod's danny grace and is steadfast love,
I would not be here today.I'm forever grateful that He's been in my
corner, is in my corner,and then I'm in his grip. He
is a warrior servant. If Itook a poll over the last thirty year
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all the senior level athletes and coachesof who they would choose as their training
to take on any tour, whetherit's Olympic Games, World Championships, World
Cup, Daryl Miller would be atthe top of the list. Daryl Miller
is all in. He always keepsthe energy high and positive. He had
a real impact on the way thatI competed on the trips that we shared.
Whether it was sitting in the saunaall day with each member of the
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team, stretching you out after practice, or exploring the area that we were
competing in. Darryl Miller was alwaysthere for you. He lived a life
of service. One of the mostimportant skills is being able to connect with
that athlete and knowing that athlete personally, knowing what they can endure, and
that begins with you surround yourself withgreat people and being able to learn from
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those people every day. The secondthing is being able to gain that athlete
trust and respect. And the thirdthing is when you're making a trip,
you need to be the first oneup, the last one to bed,
and making sure that athletes are tendedto. When Darryl Miller's on the trip,
the athletes are better. He istruly an advantage for Team USA,
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and I think he's one of akind and there's never been another like him.
I've never run across another individual thatit wants to serve the needs of
his team and his athletes as muchas Darryl does. I've had the privilege
of working at the high School Ridomin Colorado, covering thirty some state championships
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pigs level at the University of Wisconsin, which was a phenomenal experience, and
then working with USA Wrestling covering fourOlympics, eight World Championships, twelve World
Cups, and numerous Grand Prixts andother tournaments along the way. So I've
had wonderful support through all the yearsof working for USA Wrestling. For my
family. Marily and I will celebrateforty nine years I'll marriage this month,
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and she has been a cornerstone oflove, support, the patients, and
faith. I have a daughter Markleto Marcus, the wonderful man, my
son Jake who's married to Laurie,an incredible mother and teacher, and three
grandchildren Whole Calder Maple, who Ibelieve were the best of the best.
It's absolutely humbling in an honor tobe inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of
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Fame. To know that my workhas been recognized and appreciated by the best
athletes in the world, the bestsport in the world, and to be
representing our country around the world isa blessing. Belyon Besher, I am
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delighted to bring to the stage ourrecipient, Darryl with his presenters, distinguished
member of the National Wrestling Hall ofFame and National USA Freestyle coach Bill Zadok,
and Daryl's wife, Mary Lee hw M. I would like to
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begin by extending my gratitude to LeroySmith and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Boarder directors for their important and challengingwork each year and bringing recognition to the
Wrestling Hall of Fame. Congratulations tothe other inductees this evening. It's certainly
a moving and inspiring to hear allyour credible stories and as Jr. Said,
to look up there. You're humbledto be in that group. A
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heartfelt thank you to Doc Bennett fornominating me and reducing the video. A
special friend an individual for sure.Also grateful to USA Wrestling, Rich Bender
and Cody Bickley for supporting me tomake the cut each year to travel with
the USA team early in my sportsmedicine career. Several people were instrumental in
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my involvement with the USA Wrestling Manyare here tonight. Doctor Wayne Gersoff for
hiring me to help start the Universityof Carrail sports medicine program in Denver,
A cherish friend for over thirty sixyears. Doctor Andy Mosse for supporting me
and making several USA Wrestling trips asa covering physicians such and we had incredible
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memories and he's a cherish friend aswell. Doctor Susanne Tanner for recommending and
believing in me for a position totravel with USA Wrestling. I was approved
and that was the beginning. Iwas hooked and never looked back thirty remarkable
years. Thank you, Suzanne.I'd like to personally thank those for taking
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time from this busy Olympic schedule tobe here this weekend. I have had
the amazing experience to work with Billwhen he was an athlete as well as
a coach. He is one ofthe best in the business and a very
dear friend. As I've worked withUSA Wrestling, I came in contact with
many extraordinary coaches, athletes and supportstaff, those who lagiships forged lifelong friendships.
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Doctor Bobby Hines and doctor A.J. Monsell. Thank you both
for the many wonderful and crazy momentswe shared covering world and Olympic events.
Joey McKenna, thank you for beinga man of faith and character as well
as an example of true grit andpersistence and rushing back to be the lock
in there at the last Olympic Trialswas truly outstanding. Mitch Hall, thank
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you for the early years support atWisconsin USA Wrestling and the lead clinician for
the annual Demmer Public Schools Championship WrestlingClinic on Wisconsin. Most important, I
have two families here tonight. Myfirst family. A heartfelt thank you to
my wife Mary Lee. She's beenthe love of my life in our cornerstone
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of unselfish love, patience and strength. I would not be here without her.
In fact, we're going to hitforty nine years this month. My
daughter Markle, my daughter Markle andher husband Marcus, and my son Jake
and his wife Lori, and mythree phenomenal grandchildren, Oak, Alder and
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Mabel. We call them the HardwoodBoys. They're the best of the best
and they're always in it to winit. They're an amazing family who have
supported me and endured all the adventuressuch as assembling snack bags for each wrestler
and coach prior to overseas trips,all the trips to the airport regardless of
the weather, accommodating athletes at thelast minute for overnights meals, and Shelli
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Servis to the airport, not tomention the athletes massages on our dining room
table. Also joining me tonight mybrother Dudley from Michigan, who served in
the Navy as a Navy Seal,my sister Jackie from Wisconsin, my cousin
Nancy and her daughter Katherine from Georgia, my sister in law Heather and her
friend Paul from Colorado. And alsowe have my family friend from our special
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guest, Aaron Palmroy from Colorado,who is our grandson's wrestling coach and actually
wrestled for Canada. My other veryspecial family is the Eleventh Force recon Marines
I served with over fifty years ago, and Major General Ray Smith. That
are here tonight, a remarkable assemblyof true Americans. You men have been
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everlasting beacons, a solid friendship andlove. Thank you for being here,
Marines Seperfi. In closing, andby far most important, I am forever
grateful for God's on ending grace andunconditional love, and do you alone be
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the glory. Thank You. Legendsis a presentation of the National Wrestling Hall
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of Fame and produced by the MattTalk podcast Network. If you want to
hear more from wrestling's legends, contributeto the project today by going to Matt
talkonline dot com slash contribute. Wehope you've enjoyed this look in the wrestling
history. This has been Legends.I'm Jason Bryant, the potecipant