Brandon Paulson: Olympic medalist, All-American and renowned club coach - Ep. 31

Shane Sparks talks with Olympic silver medalist, NCAA All-American and respected club coach Brandon Paulson on Episode 31 of the Go Earn It Podcast. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Go Earn It Podcast, where we bring
you stories each week of people who have battled through adversity,
overcame the obstacles, and earned their dream. You were born
for greatness and our mission is to bring you the
stories that will inspire you to dream big and go
earn it.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
And welcome to the Go Earn It Podcast. This is
episode number thirty two. I am Shane Sparks and with
us today this is a guy that has really done
it all in this sport as an athlete, as a coach.
This is Brandon Paulson, of course, nineteen ninety six Olympic
silver medalist, two thousand and one silver medalist. You and I,

(00:47):
Brandon talked before we started recording. You have won a lot,
You've lost some matches as well, but you have a
great perspective and I am especially excited to get in
between your ears for a little bit talk about your journey.
It's great to see you.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, thanks for having me on. You know, it's been
a fun ride. Wrestling can give you a lot of
experiences and I'm you know, blessed to what's happened in
my life, and you know, I'm excited for what's coming up,
and you know, it's Olympics are going on. So I'm
always excited for the Olympics. That's my thing, right, So
that's why I've always been kind of always gearing up
for So now I get to just be a fan

(01:25):
and it's it's been awesome to watch so far and
I can't wait to finish it out.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
What I used to do the interviews at Fargo, one
of my favorite things to do was watch you coach.
I can promise he this Brandon. I've already got the
paperwork in. In my next life, I am wrestling for
Brandon Paulson. You are so authentic. I mean, you are
into it the ups and downs, but I just love

(01:50):
the passion. I want to start with your hats. Love
the fights at love the fight that is your Twitter handle.
Where did that start?

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Well, you know, it's kind of a It really started
Steve Frasier had this enjoy the battle when you're kind
of in a match and you're hand fighting and it's
getting a hard type of deal, you know. So that's
where it kind of started for me. But it's really
morphed into you know, a kind of a life type
lesson for our kids and I could go on for

(02:21):
twenty minutes about love to fight, but but really it's
about the attitude you take towards everything and really that
hard things can be good, right, that just because it's
hard doesn't mean it's bad. But you know, so you know,
love the fight means that, you know, when you're when
you're in a tough match and things aren't going your way,
what's your attitude about that? Are you going to keep going?

(02:43):
Are you going to quit when the referee is is
maybe not making calls your way, or your opponent is cheating?
What are you going to do? Are you just going
to keep going at it? You know? Are you going
to let that affect you in practice? You know, maybe
it's a it's a really hard practice, or maybe your
partner isn't right, or you know, whatever else is going wrong?
What's your attitude towards that? You know? With wrestling with discipline,

(03:08):
weight discipline, as we'll maybe talk about later, you know,
can you have the right attitude about that where you
got okay, you got Pat Smith who had weight discipline
for four months this past year. Can you love the
fight and actually like enjoy that part of it? Like, Okay,
I'm eating healthy I'm doing the right things. Such an attitude,
you know, you know, and one of the biggest things

(03:28):
that attitude going into into a practice or into a
job or whatever you're doing, and it's are you taking
the right attitude towards it? Do you? You know? Is it
going to be hard? Great, It's going to be hard.
I love it, bring it out. I want more, right,
you know, I love when it's hard. You know, you
get through one of those practices where you're exhausted. I
mean that's the best, right when you're just totally exhausted,

(03:49):
you know you did something right. So there's a lot
of facets to it. And you know, I have about
a fifteen to twenty minute talk that we don't need
to do the whole thing now, but man, it's when
things be going rough and coaching for me, coaching six
and seven year olds, Man, I got to love to fight.
I tell you it's it's it's not easy. So so yeah,

(04:12):
there's different things in your job and your life. And
so I tried to go by that motto, and you know,
I think the kids, kids buy in and hopefully it's
helped them with their life and with wrestling.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
You wrestled at Anoka High School three time Minnesota state champion.
Did you place all four years?

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Nope? My no, My freshman year I didn't place. I
was a little small, but really I made a pretty
big jump like my freshman the sophomore year. You know,
I was always okay and that was always never the best,
but I wrestled a lot, you know, especially I didn't
wrestle a lot when I was a youth. But when
I got to high school when I really decided this

(04:53):
is what I wanted to do. And really, for me,
it was the Olympic dream. It was like nineteen eighty four,
you know. I that was like my focus of Okay,
I want to make the Olympic team. And then once
you hit puberty, things kind of change, right, So I decided,
you know, this is I love wrestling, and so I
made a pretty big jump during that time with you know,

(05:15):
more training, more competitions and and whatnot. And I made
a pretty big jump during that year. So but yeah,
high school was great. I always for me, I always
focused on the international styles. I never wrestled a folk
style match out of the season. It was either freestyle
or greco. I know you're a big folk style guy.
So there's no you know, it's okay. I still like

(05:38):
Folks style. I like all three styles, but you know,
it's just my focus was always international styles and specifically
Greco once I got to about tenth grade. But I
loved the off season and during season was fun because
you have a team, so.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
And during that time, Brandon, like you said, you're doing
a lot of wrestling. It again, you can look at
this from so many different perspectives as an athlete, now,
as a coach, as a parents, And I know it's
probably different for everybody, but what's kind of your general
thought process on kids when they compete how often?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, you know, I think you know right now, youth
compete too much, you know. And I run a club.
I run a wrestling club, and it's my job. It's
my full time job. So I see kids develop, and
kids can get good by wrestling a lot, but it's
like they're wrestling or by wrestling a lot of competitions,
but really they're getting good at youth wrestling, which is

(06:36):
different than high school wrestling. It's like I'd rather have
kids develop and learn technique and really learned body, their
own body and their known athleticism, body awareness, first, and
then wrestle more once you get into high school, after
you have puberty, okay, not let's pick up your matches.
But before that, it's like, I still want you to

(06:57):
wrestle because you know what, competing is fun, right going
to a tournament as a kid and you're hanging out
with your buddies, you're running around. That's fun. It's just
you don't need to do it Saturday, Sunday every weekend,
you know, through the winter or whatever. It's like, so
I'm really into development and wrestling more later than wrestling earlier.

(07:18):
And uh, you know, once you get to high school,
it's like competing is fun too, and I think that's
a good time to learn and learn how to compete
and and get better. So and that, and that's kind
of what I did, and that's when I'm we try
to stress for our kids. Now. Parents don't always listen.
You know, we try, but but the thing is, you know,

(07:39):
it's it's hard for him because sometimes you see results
as youth kids. You know, they come up and they're
still pretty good. But it's just I've seen too many
kids that have competed too much when they're young, and
then there's like a plateau point. I'd rather than just
keep going, you know. So you know, training though, to
be honest, i'm kids training. I haven't seen kids burn

(08:01):
out from just coming to practice like and for us
at Pinnacle, that's the club. But you know, Jared Lawrence
and I run. We want them, you know, we want
them to be accountable, but we also want them to
have fun. And the more they come, the more fun
they have, you know, So we do want them to
develop as wrestlers. It's just you know, competition wise, we'd

(08:22):
rather see it a little bit later, and then once
you get in high school, man, let's compete. Let's have
some fun.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
What year did you start Pinnacle?

Speaker 3 (08:30):
So Jared started it before me. He was still training,
so it might have been like two thousand and six
or seven, but I was. There was a time when
I kind of was helping him train, so I was
done with my career, I was helping. I was actually
coaching Jakedichler, but he was still wrestling freestyle and we
would converse, so I'd watch his matches, review his matches

(08:52):
a little bit. Came in with him a few times
and he's like, well, you know, I got this kids thing.
I'm starting I've been doing on Sundays, you know, and
then I think I'm going to start like a preseason
next year, and he'd have it at like Augsburg or
University of Minnesota, and you know, and there was I
still remember it was after Deisler made the Olympic team.

(09:12):
Was fortunate enough to be able to go to Olympics
and coach him, and it was like that winter I
was actually in Mexico. I was looking over the ocean
and I was like, man, coaching is my passion. You know,
that's something I want to do for a living. And
Jared had said, hey, if there's any time you want
to start something, let me know. So I got back
and I gave him a call and we kind of

(09:34):
if we're going to do this, let's really do it.
And that next year we got our own facility in
like two thousands, so it was two thousand and nine,
followed two thousand and nine we got our own facility
and it kind of just exploded from there.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
So well, the sport is better for it, no doubt
about it. I want to ask you going back to
your high school. You won the three state titles. As
I mentioned, what is your favorite high school state championship memory.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Given a high five to my dad. My dad was
always my coach. I always was in my corner, you know.
He uh you know, eventually, even when I was a
senior level, he was in my corner, except when I
had to kick him out because he got too emotionally
involved as dads do you know, I kind of realized,
but you know, after our matches that was kind of

(10:21):
our tradition, and I'd win a state title and I
would give him a high five, or junior national title
and I'd give him a high five, and I would
say that was probably my favorite moment. You know. My
sophomore year we won the team state and individual state.
So as a wrestling thing happening, I would say that
was because winning team is always awesome, and to back
it up with the individual was was awesome as well. So,

(10:45):
but you know, experiences with your family or your coaches
is always going to be something you remember.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Right.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
What is it about Greco Roman wrestling that just stuck
to you?

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Okay, well, you know I love it. It's a legalized
hand fight and you get to throw people around, so
that's that's the best thing about it. But for me,
even growing up I had. I had an underhook position
that was really good at So when I was nine
ten years old, I started throwing a hip toss and

(11:18):
that was kind of what I did in my whole career.
So I had an underhook and it felt comfortable. And
then you know, starting I would say ninth grade, I
started eighth, ninth grade, I started to get better at
greco and really tenth grade, I was like, this is
this is what I really like. And so then I
had to you know, it's not easy to always find

(11:38):
training partners, but I had to find training partners, and
you know, I would do whatever I had to do
to train and go to the Olympic Training Center or
or whatever I need to do. But it was kind
of what I you know, what I liked, and you know,
I don't you know, I think just it felt more
comfortable to me even during that time. You know, for me,

(12:01):
I started wrestling I was six years old. I didn't
wrestle folk style until I was in junior high until
I was seventh grade, so it was all freestyle and
greco nodding. Yeah, So my my season was the beginning
of January until Northern Plains in the middle of June
until like, you know, my cadet level year, like eighth grade,

(12:23):
you know, our seventh grade, seventh grade. I started wrestling
on the folk style Whenever middle school team, and that
was really my folks first folk style that I wrestled,
So freestyle greco I've always been more comfortable for me,
and so that's what I've liked. So it's kind of
how it started.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Do you remember I thought I read that when you
were ten years old was when you realize you want
to be an Olympian. You remember that moment at that time.
Take us back to you know what that would have been,
you said, mid eighties, maybe eighty.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Four, nineteen eighty four Los Angeles Olympic Games. Is what
did it for me? Like? Those are my heroes, I
you know, I guess got goosebumps and my hair is
standing up right now that when they walked in the
opening ceremonies, I was like I want to do that,
you know. I was like, oh my gosh, these guys
are awesome. They're my heroes, you know. And back then

(13:13):
it was, you know, it was all sports. It was
like Evander Holyfield, it was Carl Lewis, Jeff Blatnick and
Steve Frasier, you know, but it was it was all
sports and Mary lou Retten, Greg lugainis so as these
guys Like I was like ten, and my memory is
not great, but I remember that Olympic Games and I

(13:35):
was like, man, that's what I want to do. I
want to walk in the opening ceremonies. I want to
be Olympian. I want to be Olympic champion. So that
was really always my goal throughout wrestling. So something hit
me there and I had the Olympic bug after that,
Like not an Olympic bug. It was like the PanAm
game bug. I was always watching. I was trying to
find it on TV. You know. Back then you had

(13:57):
to pay for like Olympic gold, and I think too
many people paid for it, but we did because you know,
I'd tape like all the volleyball games and watch it later.
And you know, so it was I had Olympic bugs
since I was ten, So I love it.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Were you at those games in LA or just watch
them on TV?

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Nope, just watching on TV. And you know, and again
there was there's one channel back then. Eventually they had
a couple channels and then a couple more but it
was one channel. But I would sit at home during
the day and you know, it was summer and watch
the Olympics and it was just it just struck.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Me that picture over your right shoulder, is that nineteen eighty.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
That's nineteen eighty so, and I don't remember when it happened,
but it was a miracle of nice if you guys
can see back there. But every time I've seen it since, right,
I get goosebumps all the time. And I actually been
on it at some some kind of auction for a
charity and I was like, oh my god, that is
that's an awesome picture. You know, all the Olympic it's

(15:00):
kind of the whole USA versus Russia or USSR at
that time. And you know, I was like, that's that's
totally me right there. So you know Winter Olympics too.
Like I'm from Minnesota, so I don't do a lot
of outdoor sports in the winter. I'm inside, I'm in
the wrestling room. But I know about a lot of
outdoor sports. I've watched a lot of outdoor sports, so

(15:22):
I'm into the Winter Olympics too. I love it.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Tell me Brandon about making the national team in Greco
in high school.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, you know again, I think that was in tenth grade.
And I remember I just got done with I traveled
like I traveled for it was like eight weeks straight
of wrestling, and I'm like and it was tournaments, you know, training,
And after I was done, I'm like, man, I need
a break. And then I got a call from I

(15:55):
got a call from the national team director at the time,
he'll come to me his name, but he's like, hey,
I was small. He's like, we need a training couple
of training partners here. I know you're young, but would
you like to come out to New York and train
with the world team, the senior world team. And I
was a sophomore. I'm like, I'm not turning down that opportunity, right,
So then I went there for like two weeks and

(16:15):
trained with the senior national team. I really Dennis Hall
was the closest in age to me. He was like
three years older than me. So I was like seventeen sixteen.
I think he was nineteen, you know. So I didn't
really have anybody to hang out with, but they all
treated me pretty good. And then after that, that's kind
of it started a little bit more where it's like, Okay,

(16:37):
Greco's my deal, and you know, I'm going to do
what I can to you know, I wasn't scared, like
I said, I've lost. I've won a lot, but I've
lost a lot. So you know, that year actually in
the open division, I wrestled both dials. When I was
a junior in high school, I wrestled freestyle and greco
in the senior level division that year, and they ended
up going to the world team trials and made the

(16:58):
national team, which was pretty cool. Just you get you
get more opportunities, right, the more I wrestled, the more
opportunities I got for others to see me, to go
out to Colorado, to train other places, and so so yeah,
that that was fun. That was fun.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
I mean, doing some research for this this podcast branded
I mean the stuff that you want, I mean, you
won everything. I mean it was like, I mean I'm
scrolling down, It's like you want this, this, this. I mean,
most people would be really proud and rightfully so to
have one of those things on their resume and you
got a page of stuff. It's like, I mean, I
remember you and I were talking before him a couple

(17:35):
of years younger, than you. But I remember in the
early nineties this kid from Minnesota, Brandon Paulson, and you
are a dude, no doubt about it. Up during that time. Brandon,
when you look at that time in high school, what
what were you most proud of as far as what
you want up to that point, any events stand out?

Speaker 3 (17:57):
You know, Junior Nationals is always a big deal to
me and cadet nationals. I mean, so winning junior Nationals
was a huge deal. You know. Making a world team
was always what I wanted. You know, I wanted to
be the best in the world, right that was always
my goal, be the best in the world, being Olympian,
being Olympic champion, and you know, eventually it was just

(18:19):
being great, being my best, but I wanted to be
the best in the world. So, you know, making the
world team was awesome. I made the twenty and Underworld team.
I think maybe when I was a junior in high school,
they only had it every two years, so you know,
that was cool. I got to experience going overseas. I
didn't like traveling that much. I went to like it
was the old Czechoslovakia, so that was interesting. But you know,

(18:41):
it was cool making that team, but I didn't you know,
I didn't medal or anything. But you know, I would
say Junior Nationals for me was my always my goal.
It was never really to be honest, I State title
is what I wanted when I was wrestling during the season,
but I was like, I want to win Junior Nationals.
That was my goal every year. So so and now

(19:03):
it's Fargo, so it's still like, uh that term is
still important to me. You know we talked about before.
You've seen me at Fargo, and I'm passionate because I
was passionate about it when I was in high school.
You know, this was it's a long time ago. Now
that's over thirty years ago, and that was my goal.
So I'm seeing these kids like training for Fargo and

(19:23):
trained to be a junior national champ, a cadet national champ,
like I feel it, you know, I feel it. I
feel it my soul, like God, I want these guys
to do well or I want them to do their best,
and I want them to, you know, to be happy.
And uh So I get a little emotional out there
with the you know, with the kids, and I you know,
I care about uh so, so i'd say in high school.

(19:44):
That was probably my my biggest goal and what I
you know, most was proud of.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
I'm going to put you in the spot here, tough question.
Coaching inside the Fargo Dome. What's one moment you would
never trade?

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Oh? Wow, coaching inside the Fargo Dome. Coaching my son
to his first Fargo All American honor. Uh, you know, family, right,
and my dad was in the corner with me. So
there's nothing like that, right. Yeah, that was cool man.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
That's why I love about these podcasts, Brandon. I get
all you. I get all you guys, and I'm emotional too.
I mean, we love this sport. It changes you, you said,
but you just said it when you get to experience
things like that with your family. I don't care who
you are. If you don't get somewhat choked up, you
just don't have a soul, right, I mean, this is
this is cool. So that's why I love about these
podcasts is hearing these kind of stories. I love this stuff.

(20:52):
I mean that that is fantastic. I want to ask you,
Brandon again, because you have just You've worn all these
different hats and that's why I think you're fascinating. I
could talk to you for three days straight on this stuff.
But you look at the success that you had growing
up and now here you are as a coach thirty

(21:12):
years later. When you look back at yourself as you
came up through the ranks, what did you do that
you appreciate more now understanding what it takes to be excellent.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
You know, I changed a lot right when I was,
you know, young I was. I was a pretty good athlete.
I didn't always love the fight. I wasn't always coachable.
And I think through my career, I wrestled till I
was thirty, and even though I won an Olympic silber

(21:52):
when I was twenty two, I think I was still
at my best at twenty six to twenty nine or thirty.
I became more coachable. I learned, I learned to love
to fight. I learned to be great. You know, in
my mind, I achieved of what I call being great,
where it's like I achieved my best, Like I did
everything possible to achieve my goal. And that's really what

(22:16):
I want my you know, my students to do, and
my kids, like whatever they're doing, it's like you got
to do whatever is possible to be your best and
I think I did that, and I appreciate it now
more than maybe I did then that you know, that's
that's not easy. But you know, I think my last
four or five years, I learned to love the sport more.

(22:38):
I learned how to coach. During that time, I learned
a lot of things, and so I appreciate that now,
those those four to five years, and it was a
great time in my life. And even though during those
five years I lost in the final Olympic trials twice
and one of them was a seventeen minute marathon. You know,
when I thought I was the best in the world,
I thought I was gonna win Olympic goal. But it's

(23:00):
still a great time in my life and I felt
like I achieved maybe not in metals my ultimate, but
I achieved what I believe was greatness.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
So I watched that match today. I think it was
what sixteen minutes fifty four seconds, I.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Believe, yeah, And I think it took like twenty six minutes.
You know, I'm going out of bounds and the ref
talking like what are we going to do now? You know,
and it was it was insane. It was insane.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
When you look back at that twenty years later, What
are the first couple of things that are top of mind.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
I got hitting the head a lot that match. Dennis
had a club that you I mean, and I go
back and watch it, and I think I got more
like boxer knocked out than tired. Like I was tired,
but I was still functioning until I think the last
minute or so. I got clubbed once and I went

(23:59):
down to my knee and I got back up, and
I was never the same. But no, I mean the effort,
and you know, Dennis and I were training partners, we
were friends again. I thought I was at my best.
I thought I was the best in the world. I
had won maybe the toughest termament I'd ever won in
February of that year. It was Olympic qualifier, you know.

(24:19):
So I mean it was a battle of two guys
that both believed they were the best and two guys
that were confident. And you know, hats off to him,
to be honest, he's in my mind still the greatest
Greco Roman wrestler to live. And uh, you know, it's
fun doing battle with him, and I wish I had
came out on top, but you know, that's that's what

(24:41):
happens in wrestling. I won a lot, I've lost a lot.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
I watched an old Flow wrestling video I think from
my two thousand and seven with Dennis talking about this match,
and he made the comment that after, you know, after
a good amount of time, the referees basically said, we're
not stopping this, like we're not getting involved in this.
You two are going to decide this. And Dennis said
in this interview, he goes, in my mind, I told

(25:08):
myself to prepare for another hour, and then he said,
I'm not sure what Brent was thinking. So I want
to ask you at that time, was what were you thinking?
What was your mindset at that time?

Speaker 3 (25:21):
I had a few like so, I had been in
actually a match that was similar Olympic qualifier to two
same passivities, and I knew at that time the criteria
was who they thought was most aggressive did the most attacks.
So from six to nine minutes, I was like, Okay,

(25:43):
I'm just going to try some little attacks, you know,
and if I can score, great, But I wanted to
show as many attacks as I could because I thought
they might decide at that time, and because that's what
they had done before, which I'm glad they didn't. I'm
glad that, you know, they let us wrestle. And at
nine I was like, okay, I got to figure out
a way to score. Really, I thought my advantage was
in parterre. I had turned him twice, you know, in

(26:05):
the two matches. But as I got to figure out
a way to score on the feed, I got to
get to his hips or I got to get him
going out of bounds, you know. But I was thinking
about trying to figure out a way to score more
than I'm going an hour or however long I'm going,
you know. So I need to get to my underhook,
I need to do, you know, get to my positions.
I needed to stop his club, you know. And so

(26:28):
those are things more the process of what I was
going to do out there, more than okay, this is
what I you know, length right, So just a little different.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
How often do you think about it?

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Uh, you know, not that often. I guess, you know,
I see him every so often, but it really I
don't think about that match necessarily with Dennis. You know,
I had a lot of great times with Dennis. He
actually was a mentor of mine, and we were like
when we were in high school, I was a senior
in high school. I left the high school season for
ten days to go to Sweden with It was just
me and him to Wressell Greco. You know. I used

(27:07):
to go and train with him. The year he won
the Worlds in ninety five, I was his training partner,
so I basically spent most of summer at his house training.
And so in ninety six Olympics, you know, he's a
weight above me. We both won silver's. We trained together
all you know, we were training partners, you know, so
we had a lot of great experiences together. So I
don't think about it every time I see him. But

(27:28):
I haven't watched it in a long time. I think
the first three months I probably watched it quite a
few times. But you know, I see it pop up
every so often. I got the YouTube page, I think
save just in case I need to humble myself.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Well, you look at that that matchup with with you
and Dennis. I mean, you look at wrestling the last
at least for me my opinion, last thirty years. I'm
not so sure there are two guys that are linked
more than you and Dennis are. And I didn't know.
I knew there was a great mutual respect. I didn't realize,
but I knew ninety sixty both won silver. And I've
done a little you know, research and read that you

(28:02):
guys had quite the relationship. But I mean, that is
that is pretty that is pretty wild. I mean to
experienced such great highs and then all of a sudden
you got to you got to go against him.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, yeah, that was hard, you know, going against him
and knowing he's coming down and wait, and I really
felt as my weight and he was, man, he was
he was so strong, so and a great wrestler. So, uh,
the hats off to him. And we've had we've had
a great time and a great relationship still and we're
still friends and and talk every so often, so so

(28:38):
it's still good.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
What was it like to walk in the opening ceremonies
in the Olympic Games in Atlanta here in the United States?
Put that into words?

Speaker 3 (28:47):
Well, you know, you know, I just I talked to
you about la and again that was in the United States, right,
so again, now I'm going to Atlanta and I get
to do it in the United States, which some people
are like, oh, you didn't get go anywhere. Cool, I'm like,
hell no, man, it's in your home home country, like
there's nothing better. Like, so I actually remember, you know,

(29:11):
And I had to weigh in like two days later,
and I had to cut a lot of weight, but
it was like, I'm not missing this, and I felt
great the whole time. We had to wait in line
for like five hours, you know. But then you get
to the stadium and you walk up, like there's this
ramp and so it's kind of opening in the stadium

(29:31):
and there's this ramp and you walk up. I don't
know how high it was, maybe fifty sixty feet, and
I'm standing with Dave Zuniga, who was a Minnesota guy
on the Olympic team with me, and you get to
the top and you see the whole stadium and it's
like a holy crap. And you know, you got everybody
waving their flags and chant in USA because the USA

(29:53):
team is coming out. You know, you have seven hundred
of the best United States athletes walking with you. I
mean that walker on the track. It's like nothing can
duplicate it, right, It's it's just it's different experience than
you'll ever experience. And I you know, I don't have
a great memory, but I vividly remember a lot of

(30:14):
the Olympics and I remember that moment and they'll live
with me forever.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
You get to meet any of the uh you know,
the quote unquote big hitters of the ninety six Olympics.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Muhammed Ali is he big? So he was a flag
bearer actually yes that year. You know, growing up in
the eighties and you know, minus whatever political I don't care.
Growing up in the eighties, he is Muhammad Ali. You know,
there ain't nothing bigger, right, You got Muhammad Ali, and
you got Michael Jordan. But Muhammad Ali was a was

(30:49):
so he had lit the flame. But he also came
into the the dining hall and just like shook hands
with everybody. So I mean it was it was amazing.
He's like right by my table, shake hands with him,
and he's you know, I'm like that was that was
pretty amazing. You know. I wish I would have got to,

(31:10):
you know, some of the tennis players. So I played
tennis growing up. That was my second sport up until
as a sophomore. So I went to the tennis after
I was done, I went to the tennis venue quite
a bit and I used to sit with like all
the tennis, like the stars and during that time was
like Andre Legacy and Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez. So
to me, these guys were people that I looked up.

(31:32):
I mean, I just saw him on TV all the
time because that was, you know, the thing I used
to watch because I love tennis too, So that was
really cool for me. But some of the track stars
I didn't get to meet. You know, track is like
something you might not go to because it's a little
bit harder to watch live, you know. So I did
go quite a few events. I went to all events
I could, volleyball and UH and tennis and gymnastics, you know,

(31:57):
met the gymnastics team at the soccer team. You know.
Gymnastic was always pretty cool for me too, Like Mary
Louretten watching her when I was young was inspiring to me,
so like I wanted to go watch and I knew
a college teammate of mine, John Roethlisberger, was on the team,
so I got to go watch one of those sessions
and I hung out with him actually closing ceremonies. We'd
never really met, so that was that was really cool.

(32:21):
So yeah, I mean I had I stayed there the
full two weeks after. I did all the extracurricular you know, afterwards,
going to the White House, you know, going to like busk.
I did everything I could and I enjoyed. I mean
every experience I could, I did and and I'm glad
I did it.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Is that poster over your left shoulders that you at
the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, that's so they might have been pretty low on that.
Can you see it?

Speaker 2 (32:48):
I can't see it.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
I can't see it. Oh there always been hims, isn't it. No,
there we go, But that's nice high dive from the Olympic.
Like my quarter final match, I think.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
So, yeah, I had that guy actually was from Belarus
and he had tech followed me earlier in February that year,
but I got him that time.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
What clicked for you in Atlanta?

Speaker 3 (33:17):
You know, part of it was just my excitement over
the Olympics, and you know I talked about love the
fight and I don't even know if I love the fight,
but my attitude the whole time, no matter what, was
just positive. Right. I was in the Olympic Games, so
I was going to go out and I was going
to give everything I had, And you know, there was
that extra you know, you're in your home crowd and

(33:37):
I don't even know how many people, but like the
stands were rumbling, you know, and it was in like
the Convention Center and they put it up, but to me,
it looked like this great, big stadium and it was
like shaking when I was going out there, you know,
and they were so loud. So it was just it
was an extra energy for me where I just you know,

(33:58):
got on my opponents and I wrestled extremely hard, and
even in the finals, like that first a minute and
a half and I had a chance almost a score,
and that guy had actually tech followed me a couple
of years before the Junior World finals, so you know,
I still had confidence to myself and I still went
after it. And you know, you didn't come out on top,
but you know, I just I had that extra Olympic

(34:21):
energy and it felt awesome, and I wrestled. I wrestled
my best.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
So standing on the podium, silver medal around your neck,
stars as Schrice being raised inside the venue. You're an
Olympic silver medalist. You've been dreaming about that a long time,
over a decade. How would you even try to put
that into words?

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Yeah, it's hard, you know. And I was still happy,
Like you know, some people think silver medal you lost
in the finals. I was still really happy, and you know,
I wanted to hear a star spangled banner, of course,
but man, to see that flag go up, you know,
and for me, flag is a big deal. You know.
It's our country has been through a lot to have

(35:05):
that flag go up, and just to have our fifty
states and be independent, and so yeah, it's hard to explain,
you know. And and to get something that you've wanted
your whole life or since you were ten, had a
goal to even to even compete in the games, you know.
So it was it was a very special moment and uh,

(35:29):
you know, I'll never forget it.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
This last March at the NCAA's I did something with
coach Zadek and coach Russell, and I want to ask
you about this because your name came up, and you
can you can set the story straight or refresh my memory.
But I loved it and it was something that I
put back in my mind where I'm like, I'm gonna
ask Brandon about this, and it's something I'm gonna almost

(35:53):
incorporate my own, you know, crazy Shane sparks language. But
you didn't lose the gold won the silver medal. The
story ring a bell like like the perspective on it
was not so Louie. You won the silver medal like
a lot of times silver medal. It's like, oh, I
lost the gold medal match and the perspective changing that

(36:16):
and saying, no, I won the silver or I won
the bronze.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah. You know, Joe was one of the guys that
got me into Greco. So I don't know if you
knew this, but I did when when I was so
you know, I it might have been twelve ish somewhere
around there. He moved to Minnesota. He was from Oregon
and he used to he came to my club and

(36:42):
it was right after his accident, and a lot most
people know about his accident, but it was it might
have been two years after, and he started doing an
hour of Greco before every freestyle practice, So of course
I was going to go to it. And uh so
he kinda was part of one of the people responsible
for for getting me in there into Greco. So I've

(37:03):
always had a special relationship with him, and he's uh,
he's such a great human being. He's one of my
favorite human beings on earth, like a special guy, and
he's always had the right attitude right about about that
type of thing. And you know, and and for me,
like what I said, like, you know, some people are
saying about the silver, but really I remember winning that

(37:27):
semi final match, and I probably celebrated a little bit
too much, but I knew I was a medalist, right
I won my semi finals. I didn't have to make
weight the next day, but that's you know, I won
my semi finals, so I know that I want a medal.
And uh so I did celebrate a little bit when
I won that. Uh won that semis and you know,

(37:49):
and going through I I really, you know, I'm proud
of what I did and I'm proud of winning a
silver medal. And I didn't, you know, necessarily lose a gold,
so yead, it's yeah, he's a special guy in my life.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Looking at your career again, a lot of winning, a
lot of winning. You've won a ton of big matches
on the biggest stages, not only in the country but
in the world, and then you have some matches that
that didn't go your way, some big matches that I'm sure,
we're painful, Like how did you how did you learn
to navigate the disappointment and pain during your career?

Speaker 3 (38:27):
You know, it's losses are necessary sometimes, right, they're humbling,
and you know, I was always a competitive person. But
as much as as a competitive person, I love to compete,
you know, So it's kind of like, of course you
want to win, but I want to go out and
try to do the best I can to win, right,
that's my goal. I want to go out there and

(38:48):
actually go against somebody, and you know, if they're really good,
then that that's even more fun for me. So it
was always like, Okay, I lost, so now what do
I got to do? I want to beat this guy
next time, you know, you know, and there's some losses
that are harder than others, and you know, losing Olympic
Trial finals twice is not easy. I had some college
losses you know that weren't weren't my favorite, you know,

(39:13):
I think, you know, in my career though, I you know,
maybe one or two matches really that I have any regret,
And that's not really to do with losing. That was
just maybe you know, when I did out in the
match or something like that, you know. So I'm a
competitor and I love to go out and compete, and
that's in wrestling or whatever I'm doing. And I try
to still have a saying mind about it, like if

(39:34):
you lose, you lose. That person was better, and oh, hey,
well now I got to figure out what am I
going to do next time? Or hey, you know what,
that was a lot of fun. You know. So you know,
you get older and you get a wife and you
play basketball with her, and the first time you play
with her, you're a little too competitive, and you realize,
maybe I don't need to always be that competitive, you know.

(39:57):
I learned that one pretty quick with her. I'm like, huh,
I do it the same as me, I guess. But
so anyways, I love to compete. It's it's just it's
just fun, right, It's it's games, but it's you know,
some of them are serious, but you know, you you
take your little time to get over it, and and
then you get over it because there's other things in
life that are that are more important.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
So what are a couple of those matches that you'd
like to get back?

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Well, I had one I was coming back from injury
my junior year of college. At the Big Tens, I
lost in the semis and I was in the conci Semis.
I was actually wrestling. The guy that I got injured
against is Jeremy Hunter, and I'd beat him earlier and

(40:46):
I went out there and I didn't give my best effort.
I like, I felt sorry for myself, you know, And
I can still remember. Like, like I said, I lost
a lot, Like I wrestled a lot, I lost a lot,
but that one, you know, it sticks with me because
I you know, not even why. I mean he might
have beat me either way, whether whatever, but I lost

(41:09):
because I I felt sorry for myself. I mean, I
didn't give my best effort, and that to me is
not acceptable, right, That's not being a competitor. That's not
the spirit of the games to me, you know, that
type of thing. So that's something that stuck with me.
And you know, that's something that you don't want to remember.
And I don't have many regrets. So you know, my
match is at Olympic Trials, It's like I gave everything

(41:31):
I had. That's do they hurt, sure, but it doesn't
doesn't like doesn't you know, bug me as much as
something where you know, I had a match where I
I could have gave more effort and I didn't. But
and I think, you know, if people look back on
my career, and I talked to other people that watched

(41:51):
me wrestle, and that was kind of I was never
the strongest, fastest, most technical, but I competed and I fought,
you know, so if I didn't like in that match,
you know, then I wasn't being who I am, So
that makes sense absolutely.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Jay Robinson, what was it like wrestling for him?

Speaker 3 (42:14):
Jay? He was old timer man. He uh, he worked
us pretty hard, right, and he was a philosopher as well,
you know, and I think, you know, to be honest,
like when he came to Minnesota, he changed the whole
culture of Minnesota wrestling and for the better. It was like, uh,
he started promoting. You know, he's a great promoter of

(42:36):
the sport, like he was gonna and he'd stood up
for his guys, right. He wanted to promote a sport,
get people into the arena, and do whatever he can
with the administration to have them help you get into
the arena. But he was a great promoter, a great marketer,
and really changed the trajection of Minnesota wrestling, and you know,

(43:00):
he was a great coach and I think he hired
great people, and you know, we won a couple of
national titles under him, and you know, him and I
like we got along, but like he might maybe wasn't
my ideal coach, whereas like Dan Chandler, I thought was
maybe because I have some control issues sometimes. You know,

(43:23):
for me, I don't want somebody yelling at me. I
want I want to I want to push myself as
hard as I possibly can. And that's what I kind
of figured out early in my career. It was like
I'm going to do I can push myself harder than
anybody else can push myself. So so we we had
an off and on relationship. But man, do I respect
that guy. Man did he do so much for people

(43:47):
and people that you don't even know about, right, not
the top people. I'm talking people that you don't hear
about that you know, he helped get through the program,
or help get through school or whatever he could to help.
And Joe Russell was one of him. You asked Joe
about him, and it's like help saved his life really,
you know, just because he kept believing in him. So yeah,

(44:11):
he was he was a program changer and you know,
one of a kind.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
When you look at the coaches that you wrestled under,
and again this is these are I'm sure you'd had
a lot of these, so to put you in the
corner and ask for one, but I'm just curious if
you if one would stand out. Most impactful conversation you
ever had with a coach.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
The most impactful conversation I've ever had with a coach. Uh,
you know, I don't know. I've had a lot of
great coaches, and you know, Mark Schwab was a motivator,
you know, Martin Morgan always had the right thing to say.

(44:57):
Dan Chandler was really a guy that you know, knew
how to not push my buttons, but knew how to
train me. Steve Frasier with enjoy the battle, and you know,
so I don't know if I have one that's like
an impactful conversation with the coach. I've had a ton

(45:18):
of coaches that have had a big influence on me.
You know, my high school coach, coach Malcolm he was
a legend in Minnesota's time, and you know, my dad
really brought me up. So I don't know if there's
one conversation though that I remember that you know, would
stand out among the others.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Is there maybe a conversation on the flip side as
far as you coaching, that stands out with one of
your athletes. Obviously you mentioned before with Diischler n ol White,
he made that epic run in Vegas to make that
Olympic team as a what was he eighteen?

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I with all my athletes, you know,
like you you try to talk to him and try
to tell him similar things, you know, with like Jake,
it was it was really about confidence and making him
believe in himself. And I think he did, like he
believed he was actually going to make the team. And
it was something that we started when I started coaching

(46:17):
when he's a sophomore, that you know, you're the best
in the world. And and it wasn't one conversation. It's
every time he went out there, I said, you're the
best in the world, you know, and or you're the best,
you're the best on the map, or you know, confidence,
you know brings aggression or whatever. But it's all about

(46:37):
his belief in himself. So it's not one conversation, it
was a it was two hundred and fifty conversations that
led up to that point, right, So you know with him,
he was the ultimate athlete, ultimate. You know, he's coachable,
he's athletic. He worked harder than anybody I've ever seen.
Ben was able to push him harder than anybody else.

(46:59):
And I could see it. And he was just you know,
if he went to a concussion issues, man, he was
a special kid. And uh so, and he had belief
in himself eventually, and you know, going into wrestler two
time world medalist, Harry Lester. You know how many two
time world medalists we have in Greco Roman wrestling. You
you don't see it, right, And he beats him when

(47:19):
he's eighteen, you know. So uh and he because he
believed believed he could, so you know, and it's still now.
You want to hear a funny one? Good? Yeah, absolutely,
real quick, a quick funny one. So in the corner,

(47:40):
I'm very very positive, Like I don't know what reason
to be really negative in the corner, like what is
it going to help you? You know, you hear a
day's get negative? What are you doing? Don't do that?
You know, I'm you know, in the practice room sometimes
you know, I make more corrections, but I'm very positive
in the corner. So I have this kid, it was

(48:03):
Northern Plains fourteen U. He comes to the corner and
he's down twenty three to fourteen. Comes the corner and
I'm like, what the hell are you doing? That's exactly
what I said. He looks at me all right, turns around,
he scores twenty one straight points and tech fall as

(48:25):
a kid, no joke, thirty four to twenty three. That
kid is now engaged to my daughter. It's Patrick McKee.
So so yeah, that's how things turn around, right. I
truly believe in the corner. That's the most negative I've
ever been with somebody. And you know that's I think.
That's all I said to him, What the hell are

(48:46):
you doing? You know? So that was a good, good
little tidbit for you.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
So that is a fantastic story, Brandon, because I didn't.
I I had it written down, but I just kind
of got lost this conversation. One of my questions is actually,
give me a good corner story. So that that is
exactly I mean. That is a I've always thought like
I'd love to do like one hundred different little podcasters
those short stories per se, and one of those would be,

(49:13):
you know, stories from the corner, like I'll bet there's
everybody's got a couple that like that. That's a great story,
like what the hell you doing? Goes out and scores
a bunch of points and you know, it's a football score,
you know, puts a few touchdowns up in the second
half to get it done. That that is fantastic. You Brandon,
You're a distinguished member in the Hall of Fame. What
does that mean to you?

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Yeah, that was very cool and really surprising, you know,
because you never really don't think about yourself like that, right,
So when I got the call, I was kind of
amazed that that happened, and you know, I was, you know, honored,
and you know what was awesome about it. So you
get the call and you it was awesome and felt special,
and then you go to this ceremony and at the

(49:57):
ceremony they also have the outstand American and the Outstanding American.
When I was there was this guy who ran across
an open field and Vietnam a wrestler and saved like
ten people, dragged them to the other side to a hilo,
you know, a helicopter to get out getting shot. I mean,

(50:20):
you talk about honored and blast, It's like, I'm I
don't I feel nothing. This guy is a hero, right,
so you're honored and blessed just to be in his presence.
And to me, that was really one of the coolest
things about the ceremony. It was just like you have
all these other people and you're you'res honored to be
a part of them and with them, and then see

(50:41):
the people before you that have that were there and
it's like, my gosh, these guys are these guys are
my heroes. And so that was that was an amazing,
amazing weekend and it was great for my family. And
I had a lot of Pinnacle people there, so uh
that was really cool. They came down as well, and
uh so yeah, it's something something I'll always remember.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
You can finish this any way you want to. I'm gonna.
I saw this once. It was like an ESPN article
twenty some years ago, and it's always stuck in my mind.
I liked I liked the article. It was a guy
talking about what he believes, and he said, you know,
I believe, and he'd fill in the blank, I believe.
He had a he had a list of about one
hundred of them. You got one or one or two things,

(51:25):
how would you finish that? As Brandon Paulson, I believe
what do you believe?

Speaker 3 (51:32):
What do I believe? I believe in having unrealistic goals
and doing everything and poss everything possible to reach for
those goals. I believe in trying to achieve greatness in
anything you do, which means doing everything possible to be

(51:53):
the best you can at whatever you're doing, in whatever sport.
I believe in love and the fight. Baby. Is the
attitude you take towards life. That's uh, that will change
your life. You know, if you you take a positive
attitude towards life, you'll have a positive life. And uh,

(52:14):
you know. Of course I believe in my God, the
Father Almighty, and and I love my family and that's
what I want to be known as as a God fearing,
family loving person.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
And it has a passion for for competition, wrestling, gymnastics
and of course the Olympics and and the us of
a baby.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
That is great. A couple more for you, two more day.
We're getting late. But it's this I could I could
do this for if somebody said right now, you know,
can you and Brandy go another three days? I'd second easily.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
It's kind of like with you and Dennis. I got
my mind program like, oh yeah, I can. I can
tire him on, I can write it out when with
the ups and downs in your career and your your
career is just it's fascinating to me because it gave
you a little bit of everything. But what would you
say call this the go arn It podcast? In your career?

(53:07):
What was your go arn it moment? I mean, when
did you have to find and learn something about yourself
that you maybe didn't know you had at any age?

Speaker 3 (53:19):
Still earn it moment, you know, to be honest, like
like at Olympic trials. And I would say, this is
just like a one specific moment, like going into the
Olympic trials in nineteen ninety six, I had a guy
that was a former world medalist, silver medalist in the world.
He took fourth in the prior Olympics. He had beaten me.

(53:42):
I had never scored a point on him. And who
was there five times? Sean Sheldon? Okay, and going into
that match like five weeks before I tore Carlage in
my ribs, so basically separated my ribs not really good
for wrestling, and I had to stay off the mat
for like three out of those four to five weeks.

(54:04):
And but I went into the match one hundred percent
confidence that was going to win because in my mind,
I I was going to make this Olympic team. I
was going to achieve my goal. I believe that was
the best and I had to, you know. So the
Olympic trials were actually in a high school at that
time for Greco, and it was about one hundred and
ten degrees in there because it's in California. And I

(54:28):
just remember digging deep and doing whatever I had to
do to win against a guy that nobody expected me
to so uh and win and win two out of three.
But it was more of a change in my belief
of you know, I really believed in myself and had
to go show.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
If you had to take a trip, final question for you.
I always liked this question. If you had to take
a car ride from Minnesota to southern Florida. You're in
a car with three other people dead are alive that
you've never met. Three people dead are alive that you've

(55:10):
never met? Who is BRANDI picky?

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Well, first, I mean I'll answer your question after, but first,
if I'm going to car ride, I want to be
in there with somebody that doesn't talk then, and I
don't want to talk. I want to listen to my
music and go in my car ride.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
So that's Brandon. What are your favorite what are your
favorite musical artists?

Speaker 3 (55:34):
Oh? Well, you know, I got a playlist that's called
USA USA USA. It's like it's country, basic, mostly country,
where I have like, you know, all the two thousands
country of patriotic country and that type of thing. You know,
you get some Toby Keith in there, but then you
got to throw some rocky in there, of course. And

(55:55):
you know the song, you know, a song from a
you know, a Miracle and Ice is in there. You know,
the song from the opening Star Spangled banner and the
song that played the ninety six Olympics that was like
the theme song. That's in there too. So people don't
already get that. But so anyways, so first, if the
people that know me and are listening to this, they're like,

(56:16):
Brandon doesn't talk in a car, right, everybody else will
do it. But so somebody I've never met three people
that I've never talked to. You know, it probably have
to be some historic people. You know. Jesus Christ, of course,
I mean, he's the obvious choice. And after that, maybe

(56:44):
a relative that came over here, what it was like
coming to America when they came, and I don't don't
even know their name, to be honest. That would be
a great great grandpa or grandma and how they got
to America and how that all happened. I'd say that
is maybe number two. Number three, Let's see who I

(57:10):
don't know. That would be tough. Oh uh, I would
say probably a probably a sports guy from back in
the day, somebody like you know, I met Muhammad Ali

(57:30):
but never talked to him, or you know, guys I
looked up to I looked up to Michael Jordan, or
you know, I don't I don't know if I have one,
I'd say, maybe I'm Muhammad Ali, you know. And really
he has, you know, a different perspective on life, which
is always good, even if they don't have the same
perspective on life as you. I think that's that's important

(57:51):
for us in this world to learn from somebody new.
So he's just thrum spitballing, throwing somebody out there. But
you know, he was kind of one of the guys
that I looked at when I was young.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
So Matt sidewayans, yes or no.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
Oh, that's a tough one.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
I just I went for a lateral drop in the
final seconds with nothing to lose your brain.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Matt side wigans, there's some very positives to it. There's
some very negatives like what just happened today, that would
happen more often. You know, you get an Olympics. And also, no,
you don't have a match, right, that's the negative. But
I would love to get cut and weight away from it.
You know, I think college it would be great, if

(58:39):
possible that they could do it because they're weighing every week. Right.
If we can get cutting weight out of wrestling, I would.
I'm one hundred percent for it. So so do I
have to give you a yes or no? Let's go
with yes. Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
I got line, I got one more. I got to
ask you this. I promised the last question. You and
your prime in college, Patrick McKee, your future son in law,
he's at his prime in college. Are you getting away?
Is he turning you? How does that match.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
Go oh, we're wrestling folk style, wrestling folks, folks style.
I ain't letting it go to the second period. I'm
hip tossing and pinning him. Man, I'm not letting him
on top. He had a pretty nasty half and like
I didn't like bottom. Like again, I didn't wrestle folks
down in seventh grade. Like I'm you know, I'm just

(59:35):
gonna get my underhook, hip toss him and he's over.
He's gonna push into me, for sure. When I get
my under hook, he's gonna push in just because that's
how he does. And we're meeting first round, right, Okay,
just make.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Here you go right off the scale, right right off
the scale and not in wrestle backs.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
You know I didn't want to meet him there.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Yeah, exactly, man, Brandon, this has been an absolute blast.
I mean, this has been a lot of fun. I've
always admired you and what you do, what you stand
for in this sport is better because of guys like
you and the way that you lead. And this has
been awesome. So thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Thank you, Shane, and love your energy and keep it
going and keep growing wrestling, Baby go Usa.