August 7, 2024 • 27 mins
The tribute speeches and induction ceremony for 2024 National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished Member Tadaaki Hatta.
Tribute speakers: Nancy Schultz Vitangeli and Anthony Spooner. Tribune emcee: Dave Martin. Induction ceremony emcee: Sandy Stevens.
Recorded June 2024.
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Tribute speakers: Nancy Schultz Vitangeli and Anthony Spooner. Tribune emcee: Dave Martin. Induction ceremony emcee: Sandy Stevens.
Recorded June 2024.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW
Apple Podcasts | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Android | RSS
Contribute
And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a contributor today.. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of patronage. If you like wrestling content — scratch that — if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a contributor. How much you give is solely up to how much you believe it's worth to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is Legends.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Jason Bryant. Prepare for a journey through wrestling's past, present,
and future. As we'll hear are the great stories of
wrestling and success.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
From the true legends.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Of the sport here on Hall of Fame Legends.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
So, without any more ado, let's go ahead and 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 for us to learn more about this
special group of individuals who we are honoring this weekend.
We're going to hear from those who know them the best,
and that's their family and their friends. Each of the
(00:55):
speakers will be allowed to talk for five minutes. Unfortunately,
there will be no injury timeouts and we don't have any.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Time for overtimes.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Our first distinguished member is Tadaki Hatta.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Speaking first on behalf.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Of Tadaki will be Nazi Schultz, an Order of the
Merit recipient and longtime supporter of the Hall of Fame
in wrestling.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Goodness, Wow, what a weekend. Huh, it's so fun. First
of all these people right here congratulations to all the inductees.
What a tremendous group of people right there, Tadaki. I
(01:44):
have been serving on the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Board or Board of Governors since nineteen ninety seven, and
I would like to say that I think Tadaki Hatta
is one of the most deserving inductees I've had the
honor of watching be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Here's years of devotion to this sport have been deep,
impactful and remarkable. So I want to say congratulations Tadaki
(02:05):
into the hot of family. When I was first introduced
to Tadaki, of course through you know, Dave Schultz, I
was absolutely and completely terrified of the man. He was
a man of few words.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He was like a warrior.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
He had this Japanese spirit about him. He was a
disciplined individual, and I had already heard thousands of people
talk about how much respect they had for him. So
I was completely intimidated by him. But now that tea
dog has become a grandpa, lots of that has changed.
He's a much different person now.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But for the first like five.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Years I knew him, I was just trying to desperately
earn his respect in some manner hopefully. As you may know,
Dave Schultz had some controversial times in his life, choked
a few people when he shouldn't have, and coaches would
come up and give him these long winded speeches and
emotional outcries of sud should be doing whatever he was
doing at the time. Tadaki would walk by and say, Dave,
(03:05):
don't do that.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
That was it.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Dave wouldn't do it anymore. There's so many people that
you're going to hear about Tadaki's career as a wrestler,
his heritage tonight, we're going to hear more stories his coaching,
and you know how much success he had in all these.
But there are a few people in the world I've
learned most more from from being close up with the
(03:31):
hot A family Susan, Mariah, Robert, and Ben, and also
from Afar watching them him coach and basically developing these trusting,
significant relationships and building better human beings that just happened
to wrestle. As I've watched over the years, I've got
(03:52):
a few takeaways from to Doki's style and emphasis no ego.
He coaches anybody from a novice to an Olympian, anybody
that has a moment to listen and learn, he's there
for them. Open minded, learn from anybody, be open to
(04:14):
every culture, every learning situation you can and take it in.
And I know specifically that Dave Schultz took that to
heart his entire life and it changed his wrestling abilities,
and I know that it's affected many many other athletes
about having that mind open to learning. No bullshit, no dramatics,
(04:37):
no gossip, get the job done, do your job and
more coaches, job is never done. It's not just defined
in these certain situations. It's whatever needs to be done,
whether it's get the water, whatever it is. Tadaki does
what needs to be done, from kids to Olympians. And
I think he's always been a role model as a wrestler,
(05:00):
as a coach, as a father, as a grandfather, as
a friend. You can always look up to him always,
and I think the most the best thing is he
usually tells you to have fun. Have fun in wrestling,
have fun in life, enjoy yourself. Shultzi once told me
that if he had to break his gold medal up
into the pieces and give it to everybody that influenced
(05:22):
him on his way, to winning World and Olympics, You'd
never recognize it as a medal, And I'd like to
flip that idea on its head. If every person that
Tadaki has influenced took a little piece of their medals
and gave it to him, we'd be looking at a
gold medal the size of this auditorium. Congratulations to Doaky,
you have an amazing job.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Thank you Nancy. Helping us learn more about Tadaki is
Anthony Spooner, a longtime friend and head mentoring and coaching
of Beat the Streets in Cleveland.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
Wow, okay, good morning. Actually this seems to be a
great morning so far. Allow me to reintroduce myself. My
name is Anthony Spooner. I am the head of meditoring
and coaching for Beat the Streets Cleveland. Let's clap it
up for the kids. Thankfully, my role with Beat the
(06:33):
Streets Cleveland has a direct relationship with the man I
am honored to present today. This is a truly great
and unique group of distinguished members. You see, I'm just
a kid from Cleveland. And Logan was the first four
time NCAA champ I watched on national television. Takar was
the first Olympic wrestler from Cleveland that I ever learned about.
(06:56):
And Coleman Scott, well, he used to beat up on
my teammates in higshot. As for the man from Japan,
here's why this class is unique. The beautiful Trailblazer to
car Montgomery remembers Coach Hotter as her Olympic coach and
how he handled rude airport security for her simply because
(07:16):
she was wearing a baseball cap to board a plane.
Coach had to jokes that the security was lucky they
really didn't upset the car because they didn't want that.
Logan stever, also trusted in Coach Hotter's training, and while
at the US Open, Logan was penalized in his opening
match for using a move taught to him by Coach
Hotda that was deemed too dangerous and now illegal. And
(07:40):
fellow Oklahoma State alumni Coleman Scott took his UNC team
to Japan a little while back to help with the
help of a legend from Tokyo. It's just a reminder
of how intertwined our wrestling community is by nature. So
today we are inducting Tadakihada into the National Wrestling a
(08:01):
true man of service to others, with the most impressive
moral compass and compassion for all, unless it's the college
age Ta Docy kicking shins in the cafeteria. So the
story goes, he was in the building not too far
from here, being sized up and teased by a basketball
player that was slowing down a lunch line, and instead
(08:23):
of revealing his broken English, he kicked a much taller
athlete right in the Shen pointed for him to keep moving,
and the.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Kid did just that. It needs to be said that this.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Honor, in his own words, is a moment bigger than me,
to which I replied, well, most things are, coach. Before
I realized what I said, I was being leg laced
across the man. Regardless, we are inducting a Hata into
the Hall of Fame. This moment honors a Samurai lineage
(08:59):
from his great great grandfather and the birth of wrestling
in Japan from his father, as well as honoring his
coaches and teammates, his wife, his family, his children, his grandchildren,
the athletes he has coached.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And the students he has taught.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
You are inducting a name that represents relentless passion for
the sport of wrestling. Tadoki is a true master of
his craft, made obvious by his technique, books, experience with
ten minute periods and the one point takedown. Even more so,
his mastery of this sport is always on display during
(09:44):
the twenty or so clinics and camps he still facilitates
each year, where his skillfully deconstructed art of wrestling into
let me repeat that, where he skillfully deconstructs the art
of wrestling into the most simplistic forms of effectiveness at
(10:04):
every level. I will end with my favorite quote from
an eight time Olympic coach. Do you know what wrestling is?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It's a fight teaching us.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Although there's no kicking, punching, or biting, or at least
there shouldn't be, this spore will always be a cause
of our blood, sweat and tears. The Hall of Fame
is privileged to have a hata's blood, sweat, tears, passion, wisdom,
and service to others as a historic representation of their
(10:40):
mission to honor those that are legends on and off
the man.
Speaker 7 (10:46):
Good evening, everyone, welcome, Welcome to the twenty twenty four
Hall of Fame Induction of Honor Rees. We're delighted to
have you here with us this weekend and this evening.
I'm happy now to bring to the podium the Chairman
(11:08):
of the Board of the Governors of the National Wrestling
Hall of Fame, Tom Slowey.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
Good evening, actually great evening on behalf of the Nasha
Wrestling Hall of Fame. Welcome to the forty seventh Honors
Induction ceremony. This evening's turnout is certainly a testimony through
the exceptional individuals we honor this evening, but also to
the fantastic and loyal support of our wrestling community. So
(11:41):
thank you for being here. The National Wrestling Hall of
Fame is grateful you're with us to celebrate the class
of twenty twenty four inductees. This is a very special
time as we recognize and enshrine our sports very best
and honor their extraordinary achievements. The class of twenty twenty
(12:02):
four inductees are an inspiration to us all. Their life
pass and accomplishments offer positive guidance and examples to us all,
and especially to our country's youth and future leaders. The
National Wrestling Hall of Famer is privileged to host and
celebrate Honors weekend with them. As we all know, wrestling
(12:24):
teaches invaluable lessons. It also instills positive traits that serve
us well over a lifetime. Determination, commitment, perseverance, persistence, and resilience,
to name just a few. And so as we move
forward in life, we are well prepared to manage the
(12:45):
challenges and opportunities that we want encounter with purpose and excellence,
and as leaders as an example for others to follow
on behalf of the Sponsors Volunteer Years, Nasal Wrestling Hall
of Fame Staff, Board of Governors, Governors Associates. Thank you
(13:07):
for sharing this evening with us as we proudly celebrate
the class of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7 (13:13):
Thank you our first distinguished Member, our first honoree, Tadaki Hatta.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They were in that front line.
Speaker 9 (13:23):
So if there's a battle, my ancestor was first one
to go with a spear, and my great grandfather, shimpe
Hata was the sword master and he used to run
the sword fighting school in the city of Kanazawa.
Speaker 10 (13:47):
Well, I guess ex wrestler Ray Brindzer stated it best
as he was an old samurai roaming the land in
the wrong time.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And I kind of feel like that's my dad. Uh
you know, he's very much like mister Miyagi.
Speaker 10 (14:04):
He's an old Asian man who spits out crazy knowledge,
has been all around the world, knows many languages, several
martial arts. He's an artist, he's an author. He's a
renaissance man, is what I would say. You know, but
you wouldn't know it because he's super quiet.
Speaker 11 (14:23):
Todaki is a student of wrestling. He knows what works
and why, what makes you, what makes a person better, and.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
He likes working with people.
Speaker 11 (14:33):
Yeah, he's a good guy, just just one of those
really good guys.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
He will coach anyone.
Speaker 12 (14:40):
There is no like exclusivity to accessing my dad. He
will get down on the mat with a six year
old who's never wrestled before and show them the very
basic techniques to a beginner wrestler, and then he will
give just the smallest of advice that tweaks you know,
(15:01):
an elite level or an Olympic level wrestler, and will
change the outcome for them and everything in between.
Speaker 9 (15:07):
I was born in China during the World War Two
because my father.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Was in an army at that time.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
Then my father wants me to come here. That was
after my high school time. I think mainly because he
learned wrestling from America in nineteen twenty nine. I think
there's no judo in this country at that time, so
(15:37):
he was one of these guys came over to promote
judo and put up a judo exhibition, and then they
had a wrestling match, and also they had a.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It looks like now it's like a grappling.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
A match against a wrestler was in different universities and
they got beaten up in like grappling, and a one
of them had to spend about ten days in hospital
from I think now it's called here I could.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Cradle.
Speaker 9 (16:20):
They put him in the cradle and I think I
don't know. He was back his heart or something for
ten days in hospital. That's when my father decided to
study wrestling. So he took the wrestling back from that
time to Japan nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 11 (16:41):
So many shoots on his legs and they don't score.
They're in a lot of trouble. He could just about
tear a guy's neck off, just just he had a
really good way of doing record Nelson, and he did
it very very well. I remember him showing me and
I'm going Okay, I'm gonna work. I'm gonna work on that.
Speaker 13 (16:59):
I think that he like very like practical wisdom when
it comes to it, Like it's not just him going
to teach you a move. He's going to teach you concepts.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
He's going to teach so.
Speaker 13 (17:11):
You can apply it across the board to different moves,
and so it isn't just he's going to teach you
one move today and you're going to improve that move today.
It's stuff like entire philosophy's about wrestling that will translate
into stuff that he taught me has translated into other sports.
Speaker 9 (17:26):
In those days, you know, you cannot get into wrestling
room every day. It's locked up, you know, especially on
like a Sundays. So we had to use like a
football practice field.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's on the grass. And I was like with a
Bobby Douglas, it was my roommate.
Speaker 11 (17:47):
But let's look at the body of work that he's.
Speaker 14 (17:49):
Accomplished as an athlete, as a coach of numerous world
and Olympic teams for men, the.
Speaker 11 (17:56):
Myriad of camps that that guy does, and being an
early supporter of women is so important.
Speaker 14 (18:03):
Being the two thousand and eight Olympic coach, and on
top of that, the work as a liaison for USA
Wrestling has been so instrumental in the success of our teams.
Speaker 15 (18:14):
He looked at me and you said he's going to
play Dave, and it said, Mark, why don't you go
suit up and we'll wrestle with these guys. I had
no idea this was going to happen. I got my
student and we and we did this move that I'd
been working on. And I do it once and I
look up and to Doc Keys, he smiled.
Speaker 14 (18:40):
To Docky has supported in so many different roles in
the world of wrestling that it is very fitting that
he be inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Speaker 11 (18:51):
And he also has contributed hard work things that he's
done with his art.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I became a honor remember of a Tesla Nation to.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Docky's packed on wrestling, I think can.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Really be summarized by his book.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
When I was in high school, I used to draw
pictures and after I learned some moves in different training camps,
and I kept those drawings in.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
About different techniques.
Speaker 9 (19:27):
And also I took notes after every practice at the
Oklahoma State the freshman year, so I have a couple
of notes all together, and I said, let's let me
write a book about different techniques.
Speaker 10 (19:48):
He's representing not just himself but also his father in
the HoTT A name, and what it means to the
sport of wrestling, and how important it was in just
the development of world wide I you know, international relations
and wrestlers coming from one country and competing in another
and finding a home in this country.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
He's spent his entire life.
Speaker 12 (20:13):
Giving to, enjoying and being surrounded by the sport of wrestling.
It's defined him, It's defined much of my family's.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Identity and life. And to see all of.
Speaker 12 (20:27):
That honored and to see him feel honored and recognized,
to me is that's what makes me.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Feel good about it.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
You know, he's real quiet.
Speaker 13 (20:39):
You think he's more serious, but like he was a
trip to have on tours, and we used to like
to ground We're like, what's up, te dog? You know,
like it's like we're always just like having fun with him.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So he was great.
Speaker 13 (20:50):
He definitely taught us how to have fun. We're in wrestling,
even though we were very serious about our goals, like
but to relax and enjoy it.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
I'm delighted to bring forward distinguished member to Daki Hatta
and his presenter, Jay Keel, a member of the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors.
Speaker 9 (21:20):
Thank you, good evening everyone, Neon Karaka Gistos you know
you're talking about and it's oo Yakshimas. There are so
many people that I would like to thank for getting
me here. I don't know where to start the only
(21:42):
I have three minutes, Jack, right, so forgive me. If
I don't mention your name, then you know who you are.
First of all, I think my father, it's your hata
for starting wrestling in Japan in nineteen thirty and who
(22:07):
brought the first Japanese wrestlers to Osu, including my brother
Masaki and myself. I thank my family Mariah and Robert
and Meghan and Ben and Seesan and my grandchildren Sydney
(22:32):
and Oliver, especially my wife Susan for supporting me for
in everything for a long time.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
And Hall of.
Speaker 9 (22:47):
Fame staff Leroy Smith and Jack and Chickasaw Nations and
Jake Gel, my old teammate and former roommate and longtime
friend Bobby Douglas. And gratitude goes to John alan Fulp
(23:15):
for supporting the woman's wrestling. And also the late Louis Goldstein,
Deputy Secretary of Department of Education for Civil Rights, for
his effort for supporting woman's wrestling. And also in my
(23:37):
longtime friend with my father, the late Josiah Hanson, for
being believing in me. Also a special appreciation goes to
Nike Wrestling, Eddie Brown, Shane Goodall and Grant Turner. Are
(23:59):
you here, Grant for supporting me. Here's my support. Thank you,
and I thank Nancy Schultz, Vitangeli and Anthony Spooner for
(24:19):
kind words this morning and a Scooter Shows for producing
this evening's videos. Also thank you Sandy Stevens for your
uh informed and dignified and gracious ears of service.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
For wrestling.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And you are the best.
Speaker 9 (24:48):
And I love your voice and thank you. And I
thank mister Wakayama and mister Sugiyama for attending this tonight's
from Nakatsugawa City, Japan historically had a beautiful and welcoming
(25:18):
community where the Tokyo Olympic pregame training camp was held
and the organizer of the training camp and a former wrestler,
mister Mariyama, was not to be able to come to
this event because of his illness. Finally, I would like
(25:43):
to say my life submission has been and will remain
that of connecting people internationally in understanding friendship and a
peace throughout through the sports of wrestling. This was my
(26:04):
father's hope and dream which he passed to me. And
thank you everyone for being here in your support of wrestling. Choking,
makish Gee, whole league. I didn't gonna talk.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
It was I.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
Mus and all is in a walking distance. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
One more, Oh, yes.
Speaker 16 (26:37):
You, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Legends is a presentation of the National Wrestling Hall of
Fame and produced by The Talk podcast Network.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
If you want to hear more from.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Wrestling's Legends, contribute to the project today by going to
matt talkonline dot com slash contribute. We hope you've enjoyed
this look into wrestling history. This has been Legends. I'm
Jason Bryant.
From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is Legends.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Jason Bryant. Prepare for a journey through wrestling's past, present,
and future. As we'll hear are the great stories of
wrestling and success.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
From the true legends.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Of the sport here on Hall of Fame Legends.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
So, without any more ado, let's go ahead and 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 for us to learn more about this
special group of individuals who we are honoring this weekend.
We're going to hear from those who know them the best,
and that's their family and their friends. Each of the
(00:55):
speakers will be allowed to talk for five minutes. Unfortunately,
there will be no injury timeouts and we don't have any.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Time for overtimes.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Our first distinguished member is Tadaki Hatta.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Speaking first on behalf.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Of Tadaki will be Nazi Schultz, an Order of the
Merit recipient and longtime supporter of the Hall of Fame
in wrestling.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Goodness, Wow, what a weekend. Huh, it's so fun. First
of all these people right here congratulations to all the inductees.
What a tremendous group of people right there, Tadaki. I
(01:44):
have been serving on the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
Board or Board of Governors since nineteen ninety seven, and
I would like to say that I think Tadaki Hatta
is one of the most deserving inductees I've had the
honor of watching be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Here's years of devotion to this sport have been deep,
impactful and remarkable. So I want to say congratulations Tadaki
(02:05):
into the hot of family. When I was first introduced
to Tadaki, of course through you know, Dave Schultz, I
was absolutely and completely terrified of the man. He was
a man of few words.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He was like a warrior.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
He had this Japanese spirit about him. He was a
disciplined individual, and I had already heard thousands of people
talk about how much respect they had for him. So
I was completely intimidated by him. But now that tea
dog has become a grandpa, lots of that has changed.
He's a much different person now.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
But for the first like five.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Years I knew him, I was just trying to desperately
earn his respect in some manner hopefully. As you may know,
Dave Schultz had some controversial times in his life, choked
a few people when he shouldn't have, and coaches would
come up and give him these long winded speeches and
emotional outcries of sud should be doing whatever he was
doing at the time. Tadaki would walk by and say, Dave,
(03:05):
don't do that.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
That was it.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Dave wouldn't do it anymore. There's so many people that
you're going to hear about Tadaki's career as a wrestler,
his heritage tonight, we're going to hear more stories his coaching,
and you know how much success he had in all these.
But there are a few people in the world I've
learned most more from from being close up with the
(03:31):
hot A family Susan, Mariah, Robert, and Ben, and also
from Afar watching them him coach and basically developing these trusting,
significant relationships and building better human beings that just happened
to wrestle. As I've watched over the years, I've got
(03:52):
a few takeaways from to Doki's style and emphasis no ego.
He coaches anybody from a novice to an Olympian, anybody
that has a moment to listen and learn, he's there
for them. Open minded, learn from anybody, be open to
(04:14):
every culture, every learning situation you can and take it in.
And I know specifically that Dave Schultz took that to
heart his entire life and it changed his wrestling abilities,
and I know that it's affected many many other athletes
about having that mind open to learning. No bullshit, no dramatics,
(04:37):
no gossip, get the job done, do your job and
more coaches, job is never done. It's not just defined
in these certain situations. It's whatever needs to be done,
whether it's get the water, whatever it is. Tadaki does
what needs to be done, from kids to Olympians. And
I think he's always been a role model as a wrestler,
(05:00):
as a coach, as a father, as a grandfather, as
a friend. You can always look up to him always,
and I think the most the best thing is he
usually tells you to have fun. Have fun in wrestling,
have fun in life, enjoy yourself. Shultzi once told me
that if he had to break his gold medal up
into the pieces and give it to everybody that influenced
(05:22):
him on his way, to winning World and Olympics, You'd
never recognize it as a medal, And I'd like to
flip that idea on its head. If every person that
Tadaki has influenced took a little piece of their medals
and gave it to him, we'd be looking at a
gold medal the size of this auditorium. Congratulations to Doaky,
you have an amazing job.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Thank you Nancy. Helping us learn more about Tadaki is
Anthony Spooner, a longtime friend and head mentoring and coaching
of Beat the Streets in Cleveland.
Speaker 6 (06:11):
Wow, okay, good morning. Actually this seems to be a
great morning so far. Allow me to reintroduce myself. My
name is Anthony Spooner. I am the head of meditoring
and coaching for Beat the Streets Cleveland. Let's clap it
up for the kids. Thankfully, my role with Beat the
(06:33):
Streets Cleveland has a direct relationship with the man I
am honored to present today. This is a truly great
and unique group of distinguished members. You see, I'm just
a kid from Cleveland. And Logan was the first four
time NCAA champ I watched on national television. Takar was
the first Olympic wrestler from Cleveland that I ever learned about.
(06:56):
And Coleman Scott, well, he used to beat up on
my teammates in higshot. As for the man from Japan,
here's why this class is unique. The beautiful Trailblazer to
car Montgomery remembers Coach Hotter as her Olympic coach and
how he handled rude airport security for her simply because
(07:16):
she was wearing a baseball cap to board a plane.
Coach had to jokes that the security was lucky they
really didn't upset the car because they didn't want that.
Logan stever, also trusted in Coach Hotter's training, and while
at the US Open, Logan was penalized in his opening
match for using a move taught to him by Coach
Hotda that was deemed too dangerous and now illegal. And
(07:40):
fellow Oklahoma State alumni Coleman Scott took his UNC team
to Japan a little while back to help with the
help of a legend from Tokyo. It's just a reminder
of how intertwined our wrestling community is by nature. So
today we are inducting Tadakihada into the National Wrestling a
(08:01):
true man of service to others, with the most impressive
moral compass and compassion for all, unless it's the college
age Ta Docy kicking shins in the cafeteria. So the
story goes, he was in the building not too far
from here, being sized up and teased by a basketball
player that was slowing down a lunch line, and instead
(08:23):
of revealing his broken English, he kicked a much taller
athlete right in the Shen pointed for him to keep moving,
and the.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Kid did just that. It needs to be said that this.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Honor, in his own words, is a moment bigger than me,
to which I replied, well, most things are, coach. Before
I realized what I said, I was being leg laced
across the man. Regardless, we are inducting a Hata into
the Hall of Fame. This moment honors a Samurai lineage
(08:59):
from his great great grandfather and the birth of wrestling
in Japan from his father, as well as honoring his
coaches and teammates, his wife, his family, his children, his grandchildren,
the athletes he has coached.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And the students he has taught.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
You are inducting a name that represents relentless passion for
the sport of wrestling. Tadoki is a true master of
his craft, made obvious by his technique, books, experience with
ten minute periods and the one point takedown. Even more so,
his mastery of this sport is always on display during
(09:44):
the twenty or so clinics and camps he still facilitates
each year, where his skillfully deconstructed art of wrestling into
let me repeat that, where he skillfully deconstructs the art
of wrestling into the most simplistic forms of effectiveness at
(10:04):
every level. I will end with my favorite quote from
an eight time Olympic coach. Do you know what wrestling is?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It's a fight teaching us.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Although there's no kicking, punching, or biting, or at least
there shouldn't be, this spore will always be a cause
of our blood, sweat and tears. The Hall of Fame
is privileged to have a hata's blood, sweat, tears, passion, wisdom,
and service to others as a historic representation of their
(10:40):
mission to honor those that are legends on and off
the man.
Speaker 7 (10:46):
Good evening, everyone, welcome, Welcome to the twenty twenty four
Hall of Fame Induction of Honor Rees. We're delighted to
have you here with us this weekend and this evening.
I'm happy now to bring to the podium the Chairman
(11:08):
of the Board of the Governors of the National Wrestling
Hall of Fame, Tom Slowey.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
Good evening, actually great evening on behalf of the Nasha
Wrestling Hall of Fame. Welcome to the forty seventh Honors
Induction ceremony. This evening's turnout is certainly a testimony through
the exceptional individuals we honor this evening, but also to
the fantastic and loyal support of our wrestling community. So
(11:41):
thank you for being here. The National Wrestling Hall of
Fame is grateful you're with us to celebrate the class
of twenty twenty four inductees. This is a very special
time as we recognize and enshrine our sports very best
and honor their extraordinary achievements. The class of twenty twenty
(12:02):
four inductees are an inspiration to us all. Their life
pass and accomplishments offer positive guidance and examples to us all,
and especially to our country's youth and future leaders. The
National Wrestling Hall of Famer is privileged to host and
celebrate Honors weekend with them. As we all know, wrestling
(12:24):
teaches invaluable lessons. It also instills positive traits that serve
us well over a lifetime. Determination, commitment, perseverance, persistence, and resilience,
to name just a few. And so as we move
forward in life, we are well prepared to manage the
(12:45):
challenges and opportunities that we want encounter with purpose and excellence,
and as leaders as an example for others to follow
on behalf of the Sponsors Volunteer Years, Nasal Wrestling Hall
of Fame Staff, Board of Governors, Governors Associates. Thank you
(13:07):
for sharing this evening with us as we proudly celebrate
the class of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7 (13:13):
Thank you our first distinguished Member, our first honoree, Tadaki Hatta.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They were in that front line.
Speaker 9 (13:23):
So if there's a battle, my ancestor was first one
to go with a spear, and my great grandfather, shimpe
Hata was the sword master and he used to run
the sword fighting school in the city of Kanazawa.
Speaker 10 (13:47):
Well, I guess ex wrestler Ray Brindzer stated it best
as he was an old samurai roaming the land in
the wrong time.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And I kind of feel like that's my dad. Uh
you know, he's very much like mister Miyagi.
Speaker 10 (14:04):
He's an old Asian man who spits out crazy knowledge,
has been all around the world, knows many languages, several
martial arts. He's an artist, he's an author. He's a
renaissance man, is what I would say. You know, but
you wouldn't know it because he's super quiet.
Speaker 11 (14:23):
Todaki is a student of wrestling. He knows what works
and why, what makes you, what makes a person better, and.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
He likes working with people.
Speaker 11 (14:33):
Yeah, he's a good guy, just just one of those
really good guys.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
He will coach anyone.
Speaker 12 (14:40):
There is no like exclusivity to accessing my dad. He
will get down on the mat with a six year
old who's never wrestled before and show them the very
basic techniques to a beginner wrestler, and then he will
give just the smallest of advice that tweaks you know,
(15:01):
an elite level or an Olympic level wrestler, and will
change the outcome for them and everything in between.
Speaker 9 (15:07):
I was born in China during the World War Two
because my father.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Was in an army at that time.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
Then my father wants me to come here. That was
after my high school time. I think mainly because he
learned wrestling from America in nineteen twenty nine. I think
there's no judo in this country at that time, so
(15:37):
he was one of these guys came over to promote
judo and put up a judo exhibition, and then they
had a wrestling match, and also they had a.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It looks like now it's like a grappling.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
A match against a wrestler was in different universities and
they got beaten up in like grappling, and a one
of them had to spend about ten days in hospital
from I think now it's called here I could.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Cradle.
Speaker 9 (16:20):
They put him in the cradle and I think I
don't know. He was back his heart or something for
ten days in hospital. That's when my father decided to
study wrestling. So he took the wrestling back from that
time to Japan nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 11 (16:41):
So many shoots on his legs and they don't score.
They're in a lot of trouble. He could just about
tear a guy's neck off, just just he had a
really good way of doing record Nelson, and he did
it very very well. I remember him showing me and
I'm going Okay, I'm gonna work. I'm gonna work on that.
Speaker 13 (16:59):
I think that he like very like practical wisdom when
it comes to it, Like it's not just him going
to teach you a move. He's going to teach you concepts.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
He's going to teach so.
Speaker 13 (17:11):
You can apply it across the board to different moves,
and so it isn't just he's going to teach you
one move today and you're going to improve that move today.
It's stuff like entire philosophy's about wrestling that will translate
into stuff that he taught me has translated into other sports.
Speaker 9 (17:26):
In those days, you know, you cannot get into wrestling
room every day. It's locked up, you know, especially on
like a Sundays. So we had to use like a
football practice field.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
It's on the grass. And I was like with a
Bobby Douglas, it was my roommate.
Speaker 11 (17:47):
But let's look at the body of work that he's.
Speaker 14 (17:49):
Accomplished as an athlete, as a coach of numerous world
and Olympic teams for men, the.
Speaker 11 (17:56):
Myriad of camps that that guy does, and being an
early supporter of women is so important.
Speaker 14 (18:03):
Being the two thousand and eight Olympic coach, and on
top of that, the work as a liaison for USA
Wrestling has been so instrumental in the success of our teams.
Speaker 15 (18:14):
He looked at me and you said he's going to
play Dave, and it said, Mark, why don't you go
suit up and we'll wrestle with these guys. I had
no idea this was going to happen. I got my
student and we and we did this move that I'd
been working on. And I do it once and I
look up and to Doc Keys, he smiled.
Speaker 14 (18:40):
To Docky has supported in so many different roles in
the world of wrestling that it is very fitting that
he be inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Speaker 11 (18:51):
And he also has contributed hard work things that he's
done with his art.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I became a honor remember of a Tesla Nation to.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Docky's packed on wrestling, I think can.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Really be summarized by his book.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
When I was in high school, I used to draw
pictures and after I learned some moves in different training camps,
and I kept those drawings in.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
About different techniques.
Speaker 9 (19:27):
And also I took notes after every practice at the
Oklahoma State the freshman year, so I have a couple
of notes all together, and I said, let's let me
write a book about different techniques.
Speaker 10 (19:48):
He's representing not just himself but also his father in
the HoTT A name, and what it means to the
sport of wrestling, and how important it was in just
the development of world wide I you know, international relations
and wrestlers coming from one country and competing in another
and finding a home in this country.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
He's spent his entire life.
Speaker 12 (20:13):
Giving to, enjoying and being surrounded by the sport of wrestling.
It's defined him, It's defined much of my family's.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Identity and life. And to see all of.
Speaker 12 (20:27):
That honored and to see him feel honored and recognized,
to me is that's what makes me.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Feel good about it.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
You know, he's real quiet.
Speaker 13 (20:39):
You think he's more serious, but like he was a
trip to have on tours, and we used to like
to ground We're like, what's up, te dog? You know,
like it's like we're always just like having fun with him.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So he was great.
Speaker 13 (20:50):
He definitely taught us how to have fun. We're in wrestling,
even though we were very serious about our goals, like
but to relax and enjoy it.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
I'm delighted to bring forward distinguished member to Daki Hatta
and his presenter, Jay Keel, a member of the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors.
Speaker 9 (21:20):
Thank you, good evening everyone, Neon Karaka Gistos you know
you're talking about and it's oo Yakshimas. There are so
many people that I would like to thank for getting
me here. I don't know where to start the only
(21:42):
I have three minutes, Jack, right, so forgive me. If
I don't mention your name, then you know who you are.
First of all, I think my father, it's your hata
for starting wrestling in Japan in nineteen thirty and who
(22:07):
brought the first Japanese wrestlers to Osu, including my brother
Masaki and myself. I thank my family Mariah and Robert
and Meghan and Ben and Seesan and my grandchildren Sydney
(22:32):
and Oliver, especially my wife Susan for supporting me for
in everything for a long time.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
And Hall of.
Speaker 9 (22:47):
Fame staff Leroy Smith and Jack and Chickasaw Nations and
Jake Gel, my old teammate and former roommate and longtime
friend Bobby Douglas. And gratitude goes to John alan Fulp
(23:15):
for supporting the woman's wrestling. And also the late Louis Goldstein,
Deputy Secretary of Department of Education for Civil Rights, for
his effort for supporting woman's wrestling. And also in my
(23:37):
longtime friend with my father, the late Josiah Hanson, for
being believing in me. Also a special appreciation goes to
Nike Wrestling, Eddie Brown, Shane Goodall and Grant Turner. Are
(23:59):
you here, Grant for supporting me. Here's my support. Thank you,
and I thank Nancy Schultz, Vitangeli and Anthony Spooner for
(24:19):
kind words this morning and a Scooter Shows for producing
this evening's videos. Also thank you Sandy Stevens for your
uh informed and dignified and gracious ears of service.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
For wrestling.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And you are the best.
Speaker 9 (24:48):
And I love your voice and thank you. And I
thank mister Wakayama and mister Sugiyama for attending this tonight's
from Nakatsugawa City, Japan historically had a beautiful and welcoming
(25:18):
community where the Tokyo Olympic pregame training camp was held
and the organizer of the training camp and a former wrestler,
mister Mariyama, was not to be able to come to
this event because of his illness. Finally, I would like
(25:43):
to say my life submission has been and will remain
that of connecting people internationally in understanding friendship and a
peace throughout through the sports of wrestling. This was my
(26:04):
father's hope and dream which he passed to me. And
thank you everyone for being here in your support of wrestling. Choking,
makish Gee, whole league. I didn't gonna talk.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
It was I.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
Mus and all is in a walking distance. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
One more, Oh, yes.
Speaker 16 (26:37):
You, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Legends is a presentation of the National Wrestling Hall of
Fame and produced by The Talk podcast Network.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
If you want to hear more from.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Wrestling's Legends, contribute to the project today by going to
matt talkonline dot com slash contribute. We hope you've enjoyed
this look into wrestling history. This has been Legends. I'm
Jason Bryant.
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