September 4, 2024 • 54 mins
Daton Fix, a five-time Big 12 champion, five-time NCAA Division I All-American and Junior World Champion, discussed his wrestling journey. He highlighted his experiences at Gallagher-Iba Arena, including his final match against Iowa, and his high school career, where he won four state titles. Fix recounted his recruitment process, choosing Oklahoma State over other top colleges.
He reflected on his dedication, mentions of his favorite Cowboy growing up, Steve Mocco, and his first meeting with John Smith. Fix also discussed his faith, the impact of setbacks, and his future goals, including becoming an Olympic gold medalist.
Check out Shane Sparks’ interview with Daton Fix on Episode 33 of the Go Earn It Podcast.
SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
He reflected on his dedication, mentions of his favorite Cowboy growing up, Steve Mocco, and his first meeting with John Smith. Fix also discussed his faith, the impact of setbacks, and his future goals, including becoming an Olympic gold medalist.
Check out Shane Sparks’ interview with Daton Fix on Episode 33 of the Go Earn It Podcast.
SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 Garnet Podcast. I'm your host, Shane Sparks,
and we have another hammer today. One of the all
time greats, one of my favorite wrestlers, Dayton fix Oklahoma
states accolades go for Miles and Miles. Five time Big
Twelve Champion, five time All American Junior World Champion, multiple
(00:50):
time champion in Fargo, Dayton, It is awesome to talk
to some wrestling with you. How you doing tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You got that cowboy hat on. My first question, I
had the privilege this past February to call your final
match inside Gallagher, Ioba against Iowa. What was it like
wrestling in that orange single It's in that historic venue
in front of those passionate Oklahoma State wrestling fans. What
(01:19):
was it like wrestling at Gallagher IBA?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I mean it was a dream come true? Uh? I
got to experience the sold out Gallagher as my first
year as a starter, and it was, you know, unreal,
and I'm just really grateful that I got to experience
again as a as a senior, especially being my last
last home home duel. It was just a special moment
(01:43):
for me, just to you know, being from Oklahoma, growing
up Oklahoma state wrestling fan, it was, you know, everything
I could have good trimped of.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
You're from Sand Springs, Oklahoma. How far is that away
from still Water?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It's about an hour. I could. I could leave my
house whenever I lived in Sand Springs and be the
Gallagher in just about an hour.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So do you remember your first time at Gallagher? Did
you go there when you were a kid?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Uh? Yeah, I would go so my dad. Uh he
was an official. He wrestled with Oakloma State and then
he became a NCAA and official for a couple of years.
He ended up doing the one uh one NCAA tournament.
Then he kind of stopped whenever I started to wrestle
because he wanted to be around me, help help me
more coach me. But whenever he was getting started with that,
(02:35):
he would go and officiate a lot of the a
lot of the duels, so I would go with him.
And I can remember being pretty young being in Gallagher
watching watching the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So did you have a favorite cowboy growing up?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah? So I remember when I was really young, the
first couple of years, I really loved Steve Marco. I just,
I don't know, it was kind of weird, you know,
being I was really small, so it wasn't like I
was ever going to be a big heavyweight, but I just,
you know, liked watching Steve Walco wrestle.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You ever meet Steve?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, oh yeah, I've met him a couple of times
since then. I actually met him when I was young too,
and I was kind of, you know, starstruck when I
met him when I was young. But you know, it
uh to kind of just like a full circle moment
for me, you know, being being a being that guy
that you know, little kids go up to and they
just want to talk to you for a moment. You know,
that's really special, you know, and I just think think
(03:32):
back to whenever I was that little kid, and you know,
just try to make those moments, you know, really special
for those kids.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
What are a couple of your all time favorite memories
inside Gallagher, either for yourself, the team. You know, a
couple of memories you'll never forget from wrestling at Olkie State.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I mean the biggest one, uh would be that first
that first uh you we wrestled Iowa at home my
freshman year. Uh. You know Nick Pitchini. He went out
and penns eventually the first first match of the duel,
and that was definitely the the loudest that that I've
ever heard Gallagher probably any I could, any any wrestling
event that I've ever been in. That was the loudest
(04:14):
loudest there was there ever was that I've been a
part of. And just that uh, that whole duel it was.
It was a great duel, was kind of back and
forth and we ended up, you know, coming out on top.
So it was a great, great memory that I can
look back on for you know, the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
How about individually, what's the match that stands out for you?
Speaker 3 (04:36):
You know, that duel was a that's a pretty big moment.
You know, there's a picture of me, uh, you know
when I'm riding out Austin DeSanto. Uh had the double
legs in and you know, reached up and kind of
you know, grabbing him around the throat for a second.
H Well, you know that that's a pretty pretty big moment.
I would say, you know, and then I would say,
(04:58):
you know, my last duel for sure. Uh go after
the match, I got a standing ovation. Uh So it
was just that's really special for me, just you know,
because Oklahoma State. You know, it's it means everything to me.
You know, I love being a cowboy and just to
have you know, the fans show their appreciation, you know,
one last time, it was pretty special for me.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You won what for high school state titles? Undefeated in
high school?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, one hundred and sixty eight now for four high
school titles.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
When you look back on your high school career date
now being a little bit removed, what are a couple
of things that you have a new appreciation for looking
back and reflecting as to this is why you were successful?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know, I just really was was dedicated, really focused
on what I wanted, and that was to be the
you know, the best possible wrestler that I could be.
You know, I didn't have much of a much of
a social life outside of wrestling. Uh I didn't even
I didn't even get my job's license till I was eighteen,
because I, you know, the only place that I needed
(06:08):
to be was practice and in school, and I could
get rides to and from there. So it was you know,
all my all my energy. You know, it was really
put into being the best best resturant I could be,
and uh, you know, being you know, having that kind
of mentality at you know, such a young age. It was.
(06:29):
I can look back on that and be like, you know,
I there's a reason that you know, I've had, you know,
quite a bit of success.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
When you look at your high school career. Obviously had
a lot of success in Fargo as well. Highly recruited, obviously,
I would assume. But I mean, did you go on
any other visits or was it Oklahoma State all the way?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Uh? Yeah, I went on went on all my visits.
I took it.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Did So where did you all go?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
I took five visits. I went to Oklahoma State, Penn State,
Ohio State, Nebraska, in North Carolina. So I took uh
took all my visits. Uh. Coach Smith, he was definitely
trying to get me to not take the visits, but
I you know, I just kind of told myself that
you know, if I don't take these visits, then I
(07:20):
could you know, look back on if I don't have
the career that I would have hoped, then you know,
I could be like, well, what if I would have
you know, taken a visit somewhere and fell in love
with a different school, and you know that didn't happen,
so I ended up at Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
One of my favorites parts of doing these podcasts is
asking guys like you or whoever it might be, like
the what IFFs, like what if it wasn't Oklahoma State?
And it's it's one of my favorite questions because it's
just fun because we'll never know if he didn't go
to Oklahoma State, where do you think he ended up?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I don't really know, you know, it just you know,
playing the what if game? You know, you know, what
if I go to Penn State and then you know, uh,
Rowan bro Rby, he probably doesn't go to Penn State,
you know, because we were probably going to be the
same weight, so you know, it could have, you know,
really changed the trajectory of of both our careers. You know,
we don't know, we probably would have both ended up
(08:15):
in different places and you know who knows, we might
have been a different way. It's you know, all different
kinds of scenarios could have played out from that.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So you're saying, if you didn't go to Oklahoma State yet,
would would Penn State had been choice number two?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I don't know, I mean probably, you know, it's hard
to say, you know, just because I was so so
you know, focused on where really where I wanted to be,
and that was Oklahoma State. I definitely I I could
have seen myself, you know in all those different colleges
I could have you know, I really tried to, you know,
every time went on a visit was really you know,
(08:48):
picture myself being being in that in that you know,
college environment wherever, you know, whether it be State College
or Lincoln, Nebraska, or Columbus Columbus, Ohio. I was really
you know, trying to buy into, you know, every place
that I went. And just at the end of the day,
it was I loved love still Water and I wanted
(09:10):
to be a cowboy.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
What's your first recollection of John Smith?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
You know, obviously I've I've I've known him for for
a long time. My dad, he wrestled at wrestled at
Okhal State around the same time John did I think
John was a It was his last year my as
my dad was getting here. So his last year was
my dad's first year. So they were on the same
team for a year. My first probably like real regulation
regulation of Coach Smith was I would come up. I
(09:41):
was probably in sixth grade, so only like my second
third year, probably second year of wrestling. Uh. And he
would have you know, the regional trains enter precticst and
he'd have a bunch of younger kids there just because
because of Joe Smith. His son was a couple years
old me. So he was trying to get you know,
(10:02):
the best kids in you know, the state to come
to these practices to uh, you know, to help his son,
but also help you know, the state of wrestling. Uh.
And during those practices, uh, I had two other two
cousins that would have come with me to the practices,
and they've been wrestling for a while and they're kind
of one of them was around Joe's uh Joe's side,
(10:25):
so he knew knew my my cousin's name when his
last name was Carstetter, and so he just kind of
assumed that that was my last name too. So for
the first probably mm hmm months two months he would
always call me Carstetter instead of instead of Fix, and uh,
it was just funny because I had to, you know,
(10:46):
keep keep telling them that that's not my name, and
then obviously eventually figured it out, and you know, no,
six six years later I was wrestling for him. So
it was a it's a pretty funny story, you know, just.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
A great story. What's what's your favorite high school state
championship memory? When in the of the four, you.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Know, the first one is always always fun because you're young. Uh,
you're a freshman. You know, some people probably or they don't,
they don't think that you're gonna win. Uh. I like,
you know, I liked liked that. UH like that version
of it. But you know, as a senior, I, uh
(11:34):
it was just really special moment two just because I
really wanted to win for four state titles and I yeah,
set out to do that and I did it, and
it was just a really special moment also because, uh,
I sorry, my dogs, of my dogs out there barking.
(11:55):
But it made a little bit more special as a
senior because we actually won the one the state uh
state team title as well, and uh we ended up
only winning by I think like six points. And I
got a fall in my two matches in the first
two rounds and then got a fall in the finals two,
and those six points were kind of the decide in
(12:19):
factor in the uh in the winning this team take
the state title as a team. So it was a
I always wanted to, you know, win as a team,
and you know, I got to experience that as a senior.
And you know, every year I was always you know,
the last guy wrestling just for my team. You know,
I was there wanted you know, we were always a
(12:40):
pretty good team, but we always just kind of came
up short. And then eventually that a senior year, we
we got you know, got over the home.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
What kind of dogs do you have?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I got a Golden Retriever? He uh, yeah, he's uh,
his name's Champ. He's he's he's he's still he's three,
I think three now. He's still pretty pretty excited. He's
got a lot of energy. I think my fiance just
got home, so I think that he was getting all
excited she was home.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
How did you meet your fiances?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
We met here at Oklahoma State. She was on the
Palm team, which is like the dance team. We met
the second semester of my first year here. So we
met and we've pretty much been together ever since.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
When now when you're getting married?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Uh, not in this upcoming October, but the October after that,
So October twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Did she know anything about wrestling?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
No, No, she didn't. She didn't know anything about wrestling
whenever before she met me. So it was a it
was a you know, kind of a culture shock for her,
you know, throwing her into the wrestling environment. But yeah,
she she she knows a lot more about it now,
that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
When did you realize that you wanted to be great?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
You know, from a pretty young age, you know, I
I just kind of talked about how uh you know
when out throughout my high school high school career, I
you know, didn't have much for social life just because
I was so focused on, uh wanted to be the best,
and I didn't. Uh. My dad never really forced forced
me to wrestle. He you know, waited wait until I
(14:26):
came to him to you know, ask him, if I will,
ask him to basically beg him to say I wanted
to wrestle. And as soon as he you know, as
soon as I did that, he you know bought into
me and one of the first questions that he asked
me was, you know, what, what's your goal in wrestling?
And I said, well, what's the What's the best thing
(14:47):
you can do? And he said winning a Liver Cold
medal and I said, well, that's, uh, that's what I
want to do. Then. I want to you know, becoming
a liver Cool medals. So you know, from the very
you know, start of my career, it's always been uh,
you know about you know, trying to do and whatever
I can do to become an Olympic gold medalist. And uh,
you know that's still what I'm working for. You know,
(15:08):
it's a you know, all this is just everything that
I've been through, uh, all the practices, all the tournaments,
it's all this, you know, getting me ready for for
that moment.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Twitter handle that's the greatest ever. What's the story behind that?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
You know? I I I you know, I will obviously
want to be, you know, be the greatest ever. That's
I think that's a great goal to have. Uh, but
it's kind of you know, I was pretty young whenever
I I started that. Uh, but you know the reason
that I've kept it is because you know it. It's
just it's like a daily reminder for me that, you know,
(15:47):
if I really want to be the greatest version of myself,
the greatest dating fixed that I can be, then then
you know, I have to do do the little things right.
I have to live the right kind of lifestyle, UH
be the best you know, role model that I can be.
So it's kind of evolved from you know, just being
the best wrestler that of all time to just being
(16:08):
the greatest you version of myself. And I think that,
you know, at the end of the day, that's that's
all we can ask of ourselves is just try to
you know, reach our reach our potential and be the
best version of ourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
When you want to have the success that you desire
at this level, everything matters. Everything matters. You talked about
doing those little things consistently. What are those dayton for
dayton fix? What are the little things that you have
got to execute day in day out.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You know, it's you know, showing up to practice with
UH with a plan, showing up to practice with you know,
just something that something you can work on to get
a little bit better. You know, sometimes you're not going
to feel like getting up and going to practice, but
you still got to do it, you know. And I
think that having a plan and having something that that
(17:03):
you're trying to do to get yourself better is a
great way to you know, keep yourself motivated. If you're
you know, constantly trying to you know, improve on on
your craft, then you know, it's pretty easy to to
stay motivated.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
How do you continue to love the sport? It's not easy?
I mean, it's not easy. How do you Why do
you love it? Why do you keep wrestling?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
You know, it's I just love the sport, you know.
I think I don't think there's any other sport like it.
I think it's the hardest sport. I think that there's
not a lot of a lot of you know, like glory,
like uh, it's not you know, a show real showman
type of sport. And so I think that, you know,
(17:51):
it takes a really special person to you know, be it,
be a wrestler, and and to be a good wrestler
at that. You know, it takes a really really special person.
It's just not easy. And I think that, you know,
I like that aspect of it. It's it's you the
reward for you know, putting all that hard work in
(18:13):
and it's there's nothing like it, you know, wherever you
get to stand on top of that podium or you know,
run around the mat with you know, the American flag
draped across your shoulders. You know, there's there's no other
feeling than that.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Twenty seventeen, I believe it was twenty seventeen, you win
the junior world title, yet a type of tournaments you
got to make that jog around the mat holding the
American flag. Go back to that day, like what what was?
How would you describe that day? Winning that title and
getting getting to run around the mat?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah, I mean it was something that that I've I've
I've dreamed of and then I've been itching and clawon
to get back to a moment where I can do
it again. Uh it's you know, I can just remember,
you know, going to that match, I was really confident.
I wrestled really good, and all the matches leading up
(19:08):
to the finals and I was just you know going
out there trying to trying to dominate, and and that's
what I did ended up getting the getting the take
of the finals. And I can just remember, uh, you know,
just just being really really happy because I've been to
during that time, I got to two bronze medals two
(19:30):
previous times that I was at the at the World Championships,
so uh, you know, to kind of get over the
humping and finally win. Uh, it was a big deal
for me.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
You're on the podium, they raised the flag, played the
national anthem.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
What was that like? It was awesome. You know anytime
that whenever I'm warming up, It doesn't matter if it
was whenever I was a young kid, uh, high school, college,
you know, anytime that national anthem place, you know, that's
that's you know what I picture. I picture myself standing
on top of the of the Olympic you know, put
him with the Olympic Games, with you know, the American
(20:08):
flag at the top, and you know, just to kind
of you know, have that you know a little sliver
of it. You know, it's you know, the Junior World Championships.
It's still you know it's a world it's a world title,
but you know, obviously it's not the Olympic Games. So
to you know, experience it, you know to a degree,
it was a you know, really special and just made
(20:28):
me want to get to the make the Olympic Olympic
team and go to the Olympic Games and have the
have it happened? You know, it really happened this time?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Obviously, Dayton, your career speaks for itself. I mean watching
Dayton fix him and I remember, I mean I remember
doing a broadcast you were, I believe it's still a
senior in high school. It was in Saint Louis, and
I mean you just you put it on a kid
hardcore and the pace. I just remembered the pace at
(20:59):
that time. For me, I've never really seen anything like it,
sou I can I have an understanding on your wrestling.
What I'm fascinated by, with all the great ones, yourself included,
is what goes on in here, like that's that's the
part that I'd love to just live in there for
twenty minutes. Even I picked some stuff up you talked
about before about you know, sometimes maybe you don't feel
(21:20):
like going to practice, Like what do you tell yourself?
I mean on those days, do you tell yourself something?
Do you read something? Do you got some slogans? Like
how do you get yourself ready when you don't feel
like it?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
You know? For me, you know, those days aren't. They
don't happen very often. But I think, you know, the
biggest the biggest thing is just showing up. You know,
if I put myself in that environment, I'm a competitor.
So you know, whatever we're doing that day in practice,
you know, it's it's gonna kick in that you know,
I might not feel like it, but we're we're gonna
(21:59):
be wrestling. So it's a it's pretty easy for me
to I'm a competitive person. So once practice starts and
and we start, you know, either if it's drilling spar
and you know, going live, you know, my my instincts
trying to kick in, and I'm gonna get motivated pretty
fast to have a good practice.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
During your time at Oklahoma State, who was your best teammate?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
My best teammate? Uh. I had a lot of a
lot of great teammates. One of my best friends. You know,
we we came to school together, me and Kat and Caffeller.
Uh So he was, you know, there for you know,
my whole career. Uh. Who Llewellyn. He was another guy
that I We weren't as close before I got to college,
(22:47):
but once I got to college, Uh, we were really close.
I lived with him for for a couple of years,
so it was, uh, you know, he was a great
teammate to have. Uh you know, whenever I think of,
you know, the good, great teammates or the teammates that
that I kind of looked up to, it was during
my younger years. So like Nick Piccinini, he was someone
(23:10):
that that I, you know, really looked up to, someone
that I, you know, got to wrestle with every day.
And then just you know, the last couple of years,
I've been able to be on a team with guys
like Dustin Plott, Bloke Server, you know, a lot of
those Oklahoma kids just that you know that I knew,
you know, growing up, but you know, just having a
(23:32):
chance to be on the same team as them. It's
pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
When you think about the conversations you've had in this sport,
and I'm sure there have been many, whether it's your dad,
John Smith, coaches, I mean, you've dealt with a lot
of people. Is there a conversation that stands out like
when you look at your career, is there an impactful
conversation you'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I'm sure there is. I have to think about it
for a minute. I mean me and Coach Smith, We've
we've had some great conversations. Uh.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
You got that stands out.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Just you know a lot of the times, uh for me,
you know, just kind of after the matches that that
I've lost, especially in those big moments. You know, he
you know, he's he was always there for me, and
I think that, you know, that's all that I could
have asked for, you know, in those moments. Was you know,
he was one of those guys that know, helped help
me through those moments, you know, because those moments aren't
(24:41):
aren't aren't easy to get through. Him you know, also
know my dad, uh, my family, and I think that
you know a lot of you know helping me, you know,
get through those moments. For I have to you know,
contribute to them. You know, they it wasn't just me.
You know, if it was just me, then I don't
know if you I could have I definitely could have
done it on my own. So you know, just they've
(25:05):
just you know constantly were you know, telling me that
you know that I am you know, I am good enough.
You know I'm definitely you know, wrestling doesn't define it
doesn't define who I am, you know, as a person,
and I just think that they just having their support
and it helped me not even just you know, pick
(25:27):
myself back up, but you know, train, train my butt
off to get back to those moments. You know, it's
definitely not easy to to lose those moments, but it's
even harder to get back up and then trained to
get back to that moment to have another chance. So
it was a lot of that's on them.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
N c A Finals. You were there four times, all
close matches. You could have won four. You could have
won too, You could have won three, you could have
won one. I mean it's they were all close, close matches.
Of these four, is there one that if you had
to get if you could get one back, but just
(26:06):
one back, which which one would you want back?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Uh? Definitely the first one, first one? Uh, the way
it ended, Yeah, not, I mean it wasn't obviously the
controversial one. That What what eats me the most about
that match though, is is it the the thirty second
ride out prior to you know, us going back on
our feet. Uh. I had had my leg in get
(26:33):
stalemated with uh, probably nine seconds left, and you know
I was nine seconds away from from winning all I
had to do was you know, find a way to
hold them down, and I didn't. Uh, So you know
it's definitely on me. You know, I was in a
great position to win the match. Uh, but you know
those nine seconds were definitely the If I could go back,
(26:55):
those were, it'd be the to that moment and you'll
find a way to rde them out for nine more seconds.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
How were you able to get through some of those setbacks?
I mean, because those I mean that's I mean, let's
be honest. So are as you said, big matches, you're
so close knocking on the door, you know, you know,
how did you keep coming back? Because I mean, I
think that's one thing Dayton that's very underappreciated. You kept
coming back like that says a lot about you.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah. Yeah, you know it wasn't It was never easy. Uh,
it didn't get easier. It definitely go you know, each
each one hurt, each one hurt more than the last. It. Uh,
you know, it just sucked. You know, it sucked to
get that close that many times and and not not
(27:45):
get my hand raised, you know, on that stage, especially
just because it was something that that I've I've pictured
myself doing. You know, millions of times, and uh, to
not to not get it done. It was you know,
just heartbreaking. You know, it's just the easiest way to
put it. You know, it was heartbreaking. But you know,
I think that you know, in those moments, is are
(28:07):
when that you know, I leaned on on my faith
more than anything. You know, I know that, you know,
I wouldn't be the person that I am without those matches. Uh.
I think that at the end of the day that
it's going to help me, you know, become a better,
better coach, will help me become a better, better father,
(28:27):
better husband. Someday, you know, I'll be able to relate,
to relate to a lot you know, whenever you know,
either my athletes, my my sons, my daughters, they're coming
up to me and they're they're going through these hard times,
and I'll be able to be there for him and
and uh, you know, help them, help them back on
their feet and tell them that you know, it won't
be the end of the world, even though they might
(28:49):
feel like it. But but it's not.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Tell me about your faith and how it plays in
your wrestling.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Uh, yeah, it's you know something that I've always I
grew up grew up going to church, uh, which I'm
you know, very thankful that that my you know, my parents,
they they did that for me, and it's uh, you know,
it just gives me, gives me peace that you know
going into each match. You know, I know that no
(29:19):
matter what, no matter what happens in this match, you know,
God's gonna love me, and that just gives me, you know,
as a piece that I can go out there and wrestle,
you know, to the best no ability. You know, I
know that you know He's going to be there for me.
Uh you know, I've pretty much already had you know,
the worst, the worst outcomes that that I can you know,
(29:40):
go through, so I know that He's going to pick
it back up every time, and you know it's going
to be there for me. And I just think that
I'm very thankful for all the opportunities that that God's
given me. And the least that I can do is
h just helped spread his word. You know, usually do
the sport of wrestling and using the people that follow me,
(30:02):
and that's what I try to do.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
When you look at your career and you've got so
many matches, so I know these questions are like, you know,
there's that's such a resume. Is there a match Dayton
and we can maybe talk mainly about college or international,
but that you learn the most, you know, maybe not
even a you know, a win loss, I mean could
be either or but a match that you're really you
(30:28):
just learned something critical.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, there's probably a couple of different matches. I can
think of twenty nineteen, uh at Final Acts, wrestled Thomas
Gilman and it was a you know, a great three
match series and I just you know, kind of just
found a way to win. And that was just a
(30:53):
moment that you know, kind of solidified that you know,
I can, I can make the senior world team. I
can I'm good have to go to the World Championships
at the senior level, and and I know that I'm
good enough to win, you know, win world medals and
win world titles. Especially you know, because he's coming off
I think, yeah, I mean I know that he I
(31:14):
think you want a silver medal two.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Years seventeen silver seventeen.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I believe. So you know, I know that I knew
that that guy was definitely good enough to win the
world championship. So if I can beat him, then then
I can you know I can win it, win it all.
So I think that was just one moment where you know,
I'm just really, you know, help me believe, you know
that that I can I can achieve the things that
(31:39):
I want to achieve.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I want to ask if this date and you and
I were talking about this a little bit earlier. I
think the first if I remember, the first time I
met you was in the Unidome. I think you were
in like eighth grade. Your dad brought you up. I
still remember. I'm it's going to be this is a
while ago. So I've watched your wrestle, I've talked to
a bunch of times. I want you to explain to me.
This is where that's guys that come to mind the most.
(32:02):
You insane Rutherford. Explain to me how you go from
being pretty laid back. I would say, in my experience,
it's been pretty soft spoken. But when you got to
find a switch so I really destroy somebody, you can
do it?
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Like, how do you do that? I don't know, really.
I think that whenever I was first getting uh first
started wrestling, my uh my mom would always tell me
that I needed to be a little more like a
little more physical because I was I was a nice kid.
I I didn't really know. I didn't want to hurt
(32:44):
hurt anybody. Uh So, you know, she's constantly telling me,
you know, before these tournaments, I need to be a
little more physical. Uh So eventually, you know, I go
out there and I'm wrestling. I don't know where I was.
It was just some little kid local tournament. Uh And
I accidentally poked the kid in the eye give a
penalty point and ended up end up losing the match
(33:05):
because because of the penalty point. So I told my mom,
you know, I was trying to get more physical and
I ended up poking the guy in the eye. So
there goes. There goes that. I kind of totally I
was gonna go back to being nice, but eventually I
figured out that I do. I did need to be
a little more, a little more physical. But I don't
(33:26):
know what what it is. I think it's the competitor,
uh competitor in me. You know, I know that wrestling's
a it's just a physical sports. So you know, the
nice guy, you know, he's I can be as nice
as as nice as I want off the map, but
whenever it's time to strap him up and then I gotta,
you know, do what I have to do to win.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You mentioned the battles with Gilman. You talked about the
Santo who are the who are the toughest guys like
that you wrestle like, maybe not the most talented. Who's
a guy or too dating when you wrestled and it
was like, Okay, I I know I can win this,
but this is gonna be not fun for the next
seven to ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah. I mean Thomas Thomas Gowan, He's probably the the
you know, the one that comes to mind first. It
was kind of funny the other day we were, Uh,
Thomas and and David were talking. They're talking about how
they used to pugs. They I don't know if a
lot or not, but they put gloves on and boxed
a couple of times, and I was just, you know,
(34:29):
kind of made a joke. Well, I was like, well,
me and me and Thomas we box pretty much every
time we every time we wrestle. And he thought it
was funny, but it really is. It really does feel
like that, you know, we know, every time we've ever wrestled,
it's been real, real physical, Uh, And you know, I'm
grateful for all those all those battles. You know, I
(34:50):
think that they've they've helped me, you know, like I said,
you know earlier, it helped me, you know, believe that
that I can, you know, be right there with the
best guys in the world.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
What's it like these days in still Water? I mean,
David Taylor comes in, Thomas Gillman, Jimmy Kennedy. I mean,
obviously some new cowboys are on the ranch. What's what's
this been like for you? I mean, this has got
to be it's got to be different, obviously.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely different. But you know, I
think that's been good for me just having a different
kind of outlook on wrestling, a little bit of a
you know, just it's like it's like I've got to
go through change without really having to leave. I mean
I think that that's that's good. You know, it was
(35:36):
good for me. I think in the long run, obviously
it was it was you know, tough, tough situation, you know,
with the just the previous guys that were here them leaving.
But you know, at the end of the day, I
think that it's been good for me to put me
in in situations where where I'm not as comfortable, and
I think that, you know, that's that's where you find
(35:57):
a lot of growth sometimes. Yeah, I think that it's
been good, you know, the last couple of months. Uh,
just getting to know them and learning from him, it's
been been good.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
What's something that has surprised you with Thomas Gilmot that
you didn't know?
Speaker 3 (36:14):
He's a he's pretty funny. He's got a different kind
of sense of humor. But but once you once you're
around him, you understand understand him a lot more. Uh,
And it's a it's been good. I've I think that
I think that he's a really good coach. He's Uh,
(36:34):
it's been great for me, you know, having someone that
I can you go with and that can push me. Ah,
it's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
And in a few months that David Taylor has been there,
what's you know, what's something that stood out as far
as you know, how has he helped your wrestling in
the short time that he's been there? Different perspective.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I mean, I obviously I knew knew David know
better than than Thomas, just because I've I've been on
two world teams with David and I just probably just
talked to David a little more than I was talking
to Thomas because we were I was on one one
world team with with Thomas, but we weren't really the
best of friends just because we we we went back
(37:16):
and forth, you know on the mat, So it wasn't
like we were chatting up every day. But I knew
David a little bit better coming in and he, uh,
I think that just his outlook on wrestling, his mentality
going into his matches. I think that that's uh something
that that he's helped me with. Really. You know, he
(37:37):
he believes, you know, the same kind of philosophy that
I do, but I just haven't haven't really been been
putting it together on the mat, going out there scoring
a lot of points. It's always growing up. That's the
way that I wrestled. That's the way that that I
want to wrestle. But you know, sometimes you get in
(37:58):
tight matches and you know, there's sometimes there's just not
not very much scoring going on, and I think that
you know, his is kind of out of look on everything.
It's gonna help me, uh, you know, find ways to
score more and and just kind of stay, you know,
put on the gas the whole match.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
If you could go back day and have a conversation
with yourself when you were eighteen heading to steal water,
what advice would you give yourself, knowing what you know now.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
I would, uh, I tell myself, you know it, you know,
don't don't don't worry about you know, what other people
think of you. You know, there's gonna be people that
love you, there's gonna be people that that hate you,
and at the end of the day, you know, neither
of them really matter. You know. If I if I let,
(38:48):
you know, the people that that love me, you know,
hype me up too much, then then I could get
hold pretty quick. If I let the people that that
hate on me, you don't give me so far down
that I know I'm gonna want to go out there
and wrestle, and you know that's not good either, So
I think that, you know, just not, I would tell myself,
you know, don't worry about what other people think. Just
go out there and be you, because you know you're
(39:12):
you're good enough to to achieve everything you wanted to achieve.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
All this to go earn It podcast In your career,
what was your go earn It moment?
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
When was your back against the wall. When did you
date and fix have to learn something about yourself?
Speaker 3 (39:31):
I think that, you know, I think though to go
earn a go earn it moment for me would definitely be.
Uh so those moments whenever I had to pick myself
back up and then just you know, find a way
to You don't really fall back in love with the
grind of wrestling, because it's a hard enough to get
(39:54):
to those moments, but to get yourself back up and
then get yourself ready to go in for a whole
other year of hard practices, weight cuts, uh you know,
matches every week that are not easy. They're gonna be
hard matches every every week. Uh, you know, just to
(40:15):
get myself back to that moment. I think that that
would be the go eer inner moment for me. It
was I'm not easy, But no I didn't.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Talked about John Smith a little bit here and there.
You got a favorite John Smith story. Like I mean,
when you're when you're ninety years old, you know, on
your porch, you'll probably be in Oklahoma yet because you're
an Oklahoma guy, you know, rocking on the you know,
maybe a couple of grand kids running around what and
you think about John Smith. What what will you remember
(40:45):
decades down the road. You got a story that's that
like early stands out with him.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
I mean obviously the story of him, uh him call
me their own name. That's a that's a pretty good one.
He uh uh. I was at a my freshman year.
I went to a there's a country So there's this
little country venue, country of music venue at a install
(41:14):
water called the Tumbleweed, and there's a they play like
there's country singers come and show up. And when I
went to a concert one time, and I don't know
it was we were with some of the guys on
the team and uh he uh they just kind of
lift me up. They lift me up because I was,
you know, the small guy. They lift me up as
(41:34):
a freshman. And then all of a sudden, before I
know it, they I'm just getting past, you know, from
person to person, like basically crowdsurfing at this country concert.
And I was just, you know the whole time, just thinking,
I gotta, I gotta get down. You know, I don't
need to be up here crowdsurfing at this at this
country concert. But the next day, you know, I go
to practice and uh, Coach Smith's like, you ask me
(41:59):
how I'm doing and h and he's Eventually he says,
so heard you were crowdsurfing at Double Weed last night,
and I was you know, I couldn't really say much.
I was like, yeah, they threw me up there. I
was trying to get down, but you know, they had
me in the air and I couldn't do much about
it at that point. But you know, it's just a
(42:21):
funny story, and it was a good lesson for me.
You know that no matter where I'm at, you know
people were people are gonna be watching, and you know
they're gonna you know, no, uh know who I am.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
What's the most upset you've ever seen Coach Smith?
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Oh gosh, he uh I've seen him upset, you know,
plenty of times. He was really upset, upset in locker
room after we lost. We were in when we went
to Iowa, had a dual against Iowa, not not this
past year with the year before. He was pretty upset
the end. Uh Yeah, we're he was upset. We had
(43:00):
a duel against Columbia in Columbia. He's pretty upset after
that one. Yeah, I didn't think we wrestled the wrestled.
Its good the Koda, but he definitely wasn't wasn't scared
to let us know that he wasn't happy.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
You got a story from the corner that stands out
with him, like in a match, and you know, one
of your matches with him in the corner.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
He h, it's kind of funny. He So this last
finals match that I was in, uh with with Veto,
I don't I don't know if they're taping my eye
up or it was a review or something, but he
uh just kept telling me, you know, quit letting there,
You're letting the crowd affect you. I was like, eventually,
(43:50):
I was just like, no, I'm not I'm not letting
the crowd affect me. And He's like, oh, okay, okay,
and uh just kind of slapped me on the butt
sent me back out there. But he uh, he didn't
really ever. I was one of the one of the
few people that he didn't ever really give rhim met
at he usually. I mean, I didn't really give him
too many reasons to be met at me. Uh, maybe
(44:13):
he should have been a little bit more mad at
me a couple a couple more times, you know, maybe
that would have got me over the hump, but he uh,
he was. He was a good coach for me. He obviously,
you know, one of the greatest wrestlers of all time,
but he's one of the greatest coaches you know out
there too.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
What's something Dayton within the sport like that you're you know,
pretty passionate about, Like, is there is there any like
something that if people are just talking wrestling, debating something,
whether it's three point takedown, riding time, and it could
be a bunch of stuff. Is there something like within
the sport that you'll like, you know, strikes a little
bit of a chord with you.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
I mean I would have to say like that, you know,
Oklahoma State where the where the greatest wrestling program of
all time. I mean, I don't think it's it's not
hard to argue it. You know, we've we've won thirty
four national titles, more more Litmic Golds than than anybody,
more Olympic medals, we have more more o Limbic medals
(45:20):
than a lot of countries. So it's a I don't
think it's much of a debate, but that's probably where
my where mine goes there.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Just reminding everybody that you can't look at the last
fifteen to twenty years. Right, yeah, yeah, look tell the
whole story for sure. Want to ask you this question.
If you were taking a car ride from still Water, Oklahoma,
out to Seattle, up to Seattle, it's you. You get
to pick three people that you've never met, they're dead
(45:53):
or alive. You get three people. Who are you picking?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Who? Three people? I'll throw Jesus Christ, He's gonna be
in there. I'll put Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, just
(46:20):
two other guys that you know, they've won a lot.
I could, you know, pick their brain on, you know,
kind of how they how they went about their careers.
And then obviously Jesus Christ. You know that's a you
gotta have him there.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
If were you a sports fan growing up, like you,
you a sports fan outside of wrestling.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I love I mean I love all sports.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
Uh really favorite? What are your favorite teams?
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Uh? So my dad, he grew up in a grew
up in Colorado, So I'm a big Denver Broncos fan.
We have haven't had the best since Peyton Manny retired.
We haven't really had the best best years, but hopefully
here in a couple of years we're back on top.
I'd say them for football. I used to like the Nuggets,
(47:07):
but uh, once Oklahoma City got a basketball team, I
started cheering for the for the Lokalhoma City Thunder. Those
are the two main sports that that I watch. Uh,
I mean I like I like watching I kind of
follow baseball. My dad was a Mets fan growing up,
so so I kind of like the Mets. Uh. It's
just hard for me to sit down and watch a
(47:29):
baseball game. It's Baseball is one of those sports that
it's you know, it's way more fun if you're actually
in person watching, you know, it's kind of the opposite
of I'd say the opposite of football. I think football
is actually better, better, you know, on the TV, because
you can actually see the see what's going on a
lot better. But I think baseball's opposite. I think baseball
is better when you're there, harder to watch on TV.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
You have any posters in your room growing up of athletes?
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Uh? Yeah, I had a poster of Kennel Cross. Kennel
Cross was in my room growing up. He signed a
poster for My dad was a high school wrestling coach,
so he signed a poster for them. Whenever after he
won the Olympics. It was the picture of him, you know,
where after he won the Olympics. That's what I had
(48:18):
that hanging up in my in my room.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I just thought about this Dayton. How can we talk
and not talk about your inside trip? Where did your
inside trip come from?
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Uh? Well, Kendle is the one that actually she showed me,
uh had hit an inside trip. And it's just something
that I don't know. It's it's a move that not
a lot of people are. It's not really one of
their one of their main moves, but it's you know,
definitely one of my probably top top three moves that
that I hit. And it's just something that I just
(48:53):
got the hang up when I was pretty young, and
it's kind of stuck with me. It's definitely come in
handy a couple of couple of times start my career,
and so, you know, and in it it's kind of
fun whenever you know, you hit it and kind of
gets the crowd, you know, they get it a little
bit more excited. You know, it's a little bit more
fun seeing someone hit an inside trip than a than
(49:13):
a sweep single leg.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
What separates a great inside trip from a good inside trip.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
You know, a great inside trip, I'm gonna I'm gonna
put you on your back. You know you're gonna be
on your back.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Technically, technically, what do you have to have to get
to that point?
Speaker 3 (49:33):
So I think that you know a lot of people
they hit their inside trip and they they want to
sag more than uh we go through the guy. So
kind of when a round hit my inside trip, I'm
going through the guy more than I am. Just throw
my leg in and like sagging really hard. Sometimes you know,
you sag grow hard. The guy can step his leg out.
Sometimes your foot can get stuck in the mat and
(49:53):
they can kind of drive over the top of you.
So I really focus on trying to keep my pressure
to the guy rather than hitting it and kind of
sagging back.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
Where do you keep all your awards at.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
I don't I don't really know. I've had a lot
of them are probably at my parents' house. I'm sure
I have some land around my house somewhere, but I
really don't know where a lot of them are. Uh.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
What's what means the most to you?
Speaker 3 (50:27):
I don't know, you know, it's uh, I think just
the work, the work going into all those metals mean
more than the metal themselves, you know. It's you know
that that just kind of you know, me not knowing
where half of them more or any of them are.
I think that says more than anything. You know. It's
it's not about you know, the piece of metal that
(50:50):
I get. It's more, you know, just the work that
goes into it. And like I said, you know, just
you know, trying to become the best, best version of myself.
I think that if I can do that, you know,
along the way with trying to achieve these big goals,
and you know, I think that's what matters most.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
A couple more quick ones for you talking about the
Kennel Cross poster and you had that great inside trip
talking about posterizing somebody. What's what's a move they hit
on somebody that was you know, Dayton fix as a
poster in some thirteen year old's room. Tell me the match,
tell me the move.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
I mean, it's probably an inside trip somewhere inside trip
I'm trying to think of, you know, probably the most
memorable inside trip probably the twenty eighteen World Team Trials.
I was wrestling twenty right most in the finals of
(51:51):
the of the World Team World Team Trials and hit
him an inside trip at the end of the match
to you know, kind of seal the seal it. So
I think that that's probably one of the one of
the better inside trips that that I hit in my career.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
What are you most proud of.
Speaker 3 (52:13):
I'm like in my wrestling career, you know what, you
can take it any.
Speaker 2 (52:17):
Way you want to in your wrestling career in general.
You can answer both ways if you want.
Speaker 3 (52:21):
Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm proud of the person that
I am, you know, growing up. Obviously, I want to
be a great wrestler, but I want just to be,
you know, an even better, better person. I think that
when someone says, you know my name, and I want
(52:43):
the first thing to come comes to mind for them
if they've met me, to be Yeah, I mean, he's
he's a great wrestler, but he's an even greater person.
And I think that I think I do a pretty
good job of that. It's you know, something that you know,
It doesn't it doesn't come easy, you know, obviously you do.
You know there's times where where you want to, you know,
(53:06):
same more than you probably should. You want to, you know,
do do things that that other people are doing. But
you know, just living you know, the right kind of
lifestyle and just being a good person, you know, treating
people right way. I think that you know, that's that's
you know, really important and probably more important than you know,
(53:27):
any wrestling mats that I can win.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
From a wrestling standpoint, what do you take a lot
of pride in? How do you want to be remembered.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
I want to be remembered. It's just you know, someone
that you know could always come back, you know, doesn't
matter what what I go through. You know, I'm going
to be there at the end of the day. You
know it's I'm gonna go out on my terms. You
know it's I'm not gonna just lay down for anybody.
I'm not I'm just gonna quit. I'm gonna, you know,
(53:56):
come back and you know, come back stronger. Uh, And
you know, you know I'm gonna be Uh, I'm gonna
be there at the end of the day. I'm gonna
be there, and I'm gonna give it my all every
time I step out there.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
Well, dating, this has been a lot of fun. I
really appreciate, uh appreciate the conversation. More chapters to be
written in your book, but it's just always been fun
to watch you and uh, you're one of the great
guys in the sport.
Speaker 3 (54:21):
So thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.
M
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 Garnet Podcast. I'm your host, Shane Sparks,
and we have another hammer today. One of the all
time greats, one of my favorite wrestlers, Dayton fix Oklahoma
states accolades go for Miles and Miles. Five time Big
Twelve Champion, five time All American Junior World Champion, multiple
(00:50):
time champion in Fargo, Dayton, It is awesome to talk
to some wrestling with you. How you doing tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You got that cowboy hat on. My first question, I
had the privilege this past February to call your final
match inside Gallagher, Ioba against Iowa. What was it like
wrestling in that orange single It's in that historic venue
in front of those passionate Oklahoma State wrestling fans. What
(01:19):
was it like wrestling at Gallagher IBA?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I mean it was a dream come true? Uh? I
got to experience the sold out Gallagher as my first
year as a starter, and it was, you know, unreal,
and I'm just really grateful that I got to experience
again as a as a senior, especially being my last
last home home duel. It was just a special moment
(01:43):
for me, just to you know, being from Oklahoma, growing
up Oklahoma state wrestling fan, it was, you know, everything
I could have good trimped of.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
You're from Sand Springs, Oklahoma. How far is that away
from still Water?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
It's about an hour. I could. I could leave my
house whenever I lived in Sand Springs and be the
Gallagher in just about an hour.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So do you remember your first time at Gallagher? Did
you go there when you were a kid?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Uh? Yeah, I would go so my dad. Uh he
was an official. He wrestled with Oakloma State and then
he became a NCAA and official for a couple of years.
He ended up doing the one uh one NCAA tournament.
Then he kind of stopped whenever I started to wrestle
because he wanted to be around me, help help me
more coach me. But whenever he was getting started with that,
(02:35):
he would go and officiate a lot of the a
lot of the duels, so I would go with him.
And I can remember being pretty young being in Gallagher
watching watching the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So did you have a favorite cowboy growing up?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah? So I remember when I was really young, the
first couple of years, I really loved Steve Marco. I just,
I don't know, it was kind of weird, you know,
being I was really small, so it wasn't like I
was ever going to be a big heavyweight, but I just,
you know, liked watching Steve Walco wrestle.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
You ever meet Steve?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, oh yeah, I've met him a couple of times
since then. I actually met him when I was young too,
and I was kind of, you know, starstruck when I
met him when I was young. But you know, it
uh to kind of just like a full circle moment
for me, you know, being being a being that guy
that you know, little kids go up to and they
just want to talk to you for a moment. You know,
that's really special, you know, and I just think think
(03:32):
back to whenever I was that little kid, and you know,
just try to make those moments, you know, really special
for those kids.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
What are a couple of your all time favorite memories
inside Gallagher, either for yourself, the team. You know, a
couple of memories you'll never forget from wrestling at Olkie State.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I mean the biggest one, uh would be that first
that first uh you we wrestled Iowa at home my
freshman year. Uh. You know Nick Pitchini. He went out
and penns eventually the first first match of the duel,
and that was definitely the the loudest that that I've
ever heard Gallagher probably any I could, any any wrestling
event that I've ever been in. That was the loudest
(04:14):
loudest there was there ever was that I've been a
part of. And just that uh, that whole duel it was.
It was a great duel, was kind of back and
forth and we ended up, you know, coming out on top.
So it was a great, great memory that I can
look back on for you know, the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
How about individually, what's the match that stands out for you?
Speaker 3 (04:36):
You know, that duel was a that's a pretty big moment.
You know, there's a picture of me, uh, you know
when I'm riding out Austin DeSanto. Uh had the double
legs in and you know, reached up and kind of
you know, grabbing him around the throat for a second.
H Well, you know that that's a pretty pretty big moment.
I would say, you know, and then I would say,
(04:58):
you know, my last duel for sure. Uh go after
the match, I got a standing ovation. Uh So it
was just that's really special for me, just you know,
because Oklahoma State. You know, it's it means everything to me.
You know, I love being a cowboy and just to
have you know, the fans show their appreciation, you know,
one last time, it was pretty special for me.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You won what for high school state titles? Undefeated in
high school?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, one hundred and sixty eight now for four high
school titles.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
When you look back on your high school career date
now being a little bit removed, what are a couple
of things that you have a new appreciation for looking
back and reflecting as to this is why you were successful?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know, I just really was was dedicated, really focused
on what I wanted, and that was to be the
you know, the best possible wrestler that I could be.
You know, I didn't have much of a much of
a social life outside of wrestling. Uh I didn't even
I didn't even get my job's license till I was eighteen,
because I, you know, the only place that I needed
(06:08):
to be was practice and in school, and I could
get rides to and from there. So it was you know,
all my all my energy. You know, it was really
put into being the best best resturant I could be,
and uh, you know, being you know, having that kind
of mentality at you know, such a young age. It was.
(06:29):
I can look back on that and be like, you know,
I there's a reason that you know, I've had, you know,
quite a bit of success.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
When you look at your high school career. Obviously had
a lot of success in Fargo as well. Highly recruited, obviously,
I would assume. But I mean, did you go on
any other visits or was it Oklahoma State all the way?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Uh? Yeah, I went on went on all my visits.
I took it.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Did So where did you all go?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
I took five visits. I went to Oklahoma State, Penn State,
Ohio State, Nebraska, in North Carolina. So I took uh
took all my visits. Uh. Coach Smith, he was definitely
trying to get me to not take the visits, but
I you know, I just kind of told myself that
you know, if I don't take these visits, then I
(07:20):
could you know, look back on if I don't have
the career that I would have hoped, then you know,
I could be like, well, what if I would have
you know, taken a visit somewhere and fell in love
with a different school, and you know that didn't happen,
so I ended up at Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
One of my favorites parts of doing these podcasts is
asking guys like you or whoever it might be, like
the what IFFs, like what if it wasn't Oklahoma State?
And it's it's one of my favorite questions because it's
just fun because we'll never know if he didn't go
to Oklahoma State, where do you think he ended up?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I don't really know, you know, it just you know,
playing the what if game? You know, you know, what
if I go to Penn State and then you know, uh,
Rowan bro Rby, he probably doesn't go to Penn State,
you know, because we were probably going to be the
same weight, so you know, it could have, you know,
really changed the trajectory of of both our careers. You know,
we don't know, we probably would have both ended up
(08:15):
in different places and you know who knows, we might
have been a different way. It's you know, all different
kinds of scenarios could have played out from that.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So you're saying, if you didn't go to Oklahoma State yet,
would would Penn State had been choice number two?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I don't know, I mean probably, you know, it's hard
to say, you know, just because I was so so
you know, focused on where really where I wanted to be,
and that was Oklahoma State. I definitely I I could
have seen myself, you know in all those different colleges
I could have you know, I really tried to, you know,
every time went on a visit was really you know,
(08:48):
picture myself being being in that in that you know,
college environment wherever, you know, whether it be State College
or Lincoln, Nebraska, or Columbus Columbus, Ohio. I was really
you know, trying to buy into, you know, every place
that I went. And just at the end of the day,
it was I loved love still Water and I wanted
(09:10):
to be a cowboy.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
What's your first recollection of John Smith?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
You know, obviously I've I've I've known him for for
a long time. My dad, he wrestled at wrestled at
Okhal State around the same time John did I think
John was a It was his last year my as
my dad was getting here. So his last year was
my dad's first year. So they were on the same
team for a year. My first probably like real regulation
regulation of Coach Smith was I would come up. I
(09:41):
was probably in sixth grade, so only like my second
third year, probably second year of wrestling. Uh. And he
would have you know, the regional trains enter precticst and
he'd have a bunch of younger kids there just because
because of Joe Smith. His son was a couple years
old me. So he was trying to get you know,
(10:02):
the best kids in you know, the state to come
to these practices to uh, you know, to help his son,
but also help you know, the state of wrestling. Uh.
And during those practices, uh, I had two other two
cousins that would have come with me to the practices,
and they've been wrestling for a while and they're kind
of one of them was around Joe's uh Joe's side,
(10:25):
so he knew knew my my cousin's name when his
last name was Carstetter, and so he just kind of
assumed that that was my last name too. So for
the first probably mm hmm months two months he would
always call me Carstetter instead of instead of Fix, and uh,
it was just funny because I had to, you know,
(10:46):
keep keep telling them that that's not my name, and
then obviously eventually figured it out, and you know, no,
six six years later I was wrestling for him. So
it was a it's a pretty funny story, you know, just.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
A great story. What's what's your favorite high school state
championship memory? When in the of the four, you.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Know, the first one is always always fun because you're young. Uh,
you're a freshman. You know, some people probably or they don't,
they don't think that you're gonna win. Uh. I like,
you know, I liked liked that. UH like that version
of it. But you know, as a senior, I, uh
(11:34):
it was just really special moment two just because I
really wanted to win for four state titles and I yeah,
set out to do that and I did it, and
it was just a really special moment also because, uh,
I sorry, my dogs, of my dogs out there barking.
(11:55):
But it made a little bit more special as a
senior because we actually won the one the state uh
state team title as well, and uh we ended up
only winning by I think like six points. And I
got a fall in my two matches in the first
two rounds and then got a fall in the finals two,
and those six points were kind of the decide in
(12:19):
factor in the uh in the winning this team take
the state title as a team. So it was a
I always wanted to, you know, win as a team,
and you know, I got to experience that as a senior.
And you know, every year I was always you know,
the last guy wrestling just for my team. You know,
I was there wanted you know, we were always a
(12:40):
pretty good team, but we always just kind of came
up short. And then eventually that a senior year, we
we got you know, got over the home.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
What kind of dogs do you have?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I got a Golden Retriever? He uh, yeah, he's uh,
his name's Champ. He's he's he's he's still he's three,
I think three now. He's still pretty pretty excited. He's
got a lot of energy. I think my fiance just
got home, so I think that he was getting all
excited she was home.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
How did you meet your fiances?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
We met here at Oklahoma State. She was on the
Palm team, which is like the dance team. We met
the second semester of my first year here. So we
met and we've pretty much been together ever since.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
When now when you're getting married?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Uh, not in this upcoming October, but the October after that,
So October twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Did she know anything about wrestling?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
No, No, she didn't. She didn't know anything about wrestling
whenever before she met me. So it was a it
was a you know, kind of a culture shock for her,
you know, throwing her into the wrestling environment. But yeah,
she she she knows a lot more about it now,
that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
When did you realize that you wanted to be great?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
You know, from a pretty young age, you know, I
I just kind of talked about how uh you know
when out throughout my high school high school career, I
you know, didn't have much for social life just because
I was so focused on, uh wanted to be the best,
and I didn't. Uh. My dad never really forced forced
me to wrestle. He you know, waited wait until I
(14:26):
came to him to you know, ask him, if I will,
ask him to basically beg him to say I wanted
to wrestle. And as soon as he you know, as
soon as I did that, he you know bought into
me and one of the first questions that he asked
me was, you know, what, what's your goal in wrestling?
And I said, well, what's the What's the best thing
(14:47):
you can do? And he said winning a Liver Cold
medal and I said, well, that's, uh, that's what I
want to do. Then. I want to you know, becoming
a liver Cool medals. So you know, from the very
you know, start of my career, it's always been uh,
you know about you know, trying to do and whatever
I can do to become an Olympic gold medalist. And uh,
you know that's still what I'm working for. You know,
(15:08):
it's a you know, all this is just everything that
I've been through, uh, all the practices, all the tournaments,
it's all this, you know, getting me ready for for
that moment.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Twitter handle that's the greatest ever. What's the story behind that?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
You know? I I I you know, I will obviously
want to be, you know, be the greatest ever. That's
I think that's a great goal to have. Uh, but
it's kind of you know, I was pretty young whenever
I I started that. Uh, but you know the reason
that I've kept it is because you know it. It's
just it's like a daily reminder for me that, you know,
(15:47):
if I really want to be the greatest version of myself,
the greatest dating fixed that I can be, then then
you know, I have to do do the little things right.
I have to live the right kind of lifestyle, UH
be the best you know, role model that I can be.
So it's kind of evolved from you know, just being
the best wrestler that of all time to just being
(16:08):
the greatest you version of myself. And I think that,
you know, at the end of the day, that's that's
all we can ask of ourselves is just try to
you know, reach our reach our potential and be the
best version of ourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
When you want to have the success that you desire
at this level, everything matters. Everything matters. You talked about
doing those little things consistently. What are those dayton for
dayton fix? What are the little things that you have
got to execute day in day out.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You know, it's you know, showing up to practice with
UH with a plan, showing up to practice with you know,
just something that something you can work on to get
a little bit better. You know, sometimes you're not going
to feel like getting up and going to practice, but
you still got to do it, you know. And I
think that having a plan and having something that that
(17:03):
you're trying to do to get yourself better is a
great way to you know, keep yourself motivated. If you're
you know, constantly trying to you know, improve on on
your craft, then you know, it's pretty easy to to
stay motivated.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
How do you continue to love the sport? It's not easy?
I mean, it's not easy. How do you Why do
you love it? Why do you keep wrestling?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
You know, it's I just love the sport, you know.
I think I don't think there's any other sport like it.
I think it's the hardest sport. I think that there's
not a lot of a lot of you know, like glory,
like uh, it's not you know, a show real showman
type of sport. And so I think that, you know,
(17:51):
it takes a really special person to you know, be it,
be a wrestler, and and to be a good wrestler
at that. You know, it takes a really really special person.
It's just not easy. And I think that, you know,
I like that aspect of it. It's it's you the
reward for you know, putting all that hard work in
(18:13):
and it's there's nothing like it, you know, wherever you
get to stand on top of that podium or you know,
run around the mat with you know, the American flag
draped across your shoulders. You know, there's there's no other
feeling than that.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Twenty seventeen, I believe it was twenty seventeen, you win
the junior world title, yet a type of tournaments you
got to make that jog around the mat holding the
American flag. Go back to that day, like what what was?
How would you describe that day? Winning that title and
getting getting to run around the mat?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah, I mean it was something that that I've I've
I've dreamed of and then I've been itching and clawon
to get back to a moment where I can do
it again. Uh it's you know, I can just remember,
you know, going to that match, I was really confident.
I wrestled really good, and all the matches leading up
(19:08):
to the finals and I was just you know going
out there trying to trying to dominate, and and that's
what I did ended up getting the getting the take
of the finals. And I can just remember, uh, you know,
just just being really really happy because I've been to
during that time, I got to two bronze medals two
(19:30):
previous times that I was at the at the World Championships,
so uh, you know, to kind of get over the
humping and finally win. Uh, it was a big deal
for me.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
You're on the podium, they raised the flag, played the
national anthem.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
What was that like? It was awesome. You know anytime
that whenever I'm warming up, It doesn't matter if it
was whenever I was a young kid, uh, high school, college,
you know, anytime that national anthem place, you know, that's
that's you know what I picture. I picture myself standing
on top of the of the Olympic you know, put
him with the Olympic Games, with you know, the American
(20:08):
flag at the top, and you know, just to kind
of you know, have that you know a little sliver
of it. You know, it's you know, the Junior World Championships.
It's still you know it's a world it's a world title,
but you know, obviously it's not the Olympic Games. So
to you know, experience it, you know to a degree,
it was a you know, really special and just made
(20:28):
me want to get to the make the Olympic Olympic
team and go to the Olympic Games and have the
have it happened? You know, it really happened this time?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Obviously, Dayton, your career speaks for itself. I mean watching
Dayton fix him and I remember, I mean I remember
doing a broadcast you were, I believe it's still a
senior in high school. It was in Saint Louis, and
I mean you just you put it on a kid
hardcore and the pace. I just remembered the pace at
(20:59):
that time. For me, I've never really seen anything like it,
sou I can I have an understanding on your wrestling.
What I'm fascinated by, with all the great ones, yourself included,
is what goes on in here, like that's that's the
part that I'd love to just live in there for
twenty minutes. Even I picked some stuff up you talked
about before about you know, sometimes maybe you don't feel
(21:20):
like going to practice, Like what do you tell yourself?
I mean on those days, do you tell yourself something?
Do you read something? Do you got some slogans? Like
how do you get yourself ready when you don't feel
like it?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
You know? For me, you know, those days aren't. They
don't happen very often. But I think, you know, the
biggest the biggest thing is just showing up. You know,
if I put myself in that environment, I'm a competitor.
So you know, whatever we're doing that day in practice,
you know, it's it's gonna kick in that you know,
I might not feel like it, but we're we're gonna
(21:59):
be wrestling. So it's a it's pretty easy for me
to I'm a competitive person. So once practice starts and
and we start, you know, either if it's drilling spar
and you know, going live, you know, my my instincts
trying to kick in, and I'm gonna get motivated pretty
fast to have a good practice.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
During your time at Oklahoma State, who was your best teammate?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
My best teammate? Uh. I had a lot of a
lot of great teammates. One of my best friends. You know,
we we came to school together, me and Kat and Caffeller.
Uh So he was, you know, there for you know,
my whole career. Uh. Who Llewellyn. He was another guy
that I We weren't as close before I got to college,
(22:47):
but once I got to college, Uh, we were really close.
I lived with him for for a couple of years,
so it was, uh, you know, he was a great
teammate to have. Uh you know, whenever I think of,
you know, the good, great teammates or the teammates that
that I kind of looked up to, it was during
my younger years. So like Nick Piccinini, he was someone
(23:10):
that that I, you know, really looked up to, someone
that I, you know, got to wrestle with every day.
And then just you know, the last couple of years,
I've been able to be on a team with guys
like Dustin Plott, Bloke Server, you know, a lot of
those Oklahoma kids just that you know that I knew,
you know, growing up, but you know, just having a
(23:32):
chance to be on the same team as them. It's
pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
When you think about the conversations you've had in this sport,
and I'm sure there have been many, whether it's your dad,
John Smith, coaches, I mean, you've dealt with a lot
of people. Is there a conversation that stands out like
when you look at your career, is there an impactful
conversation you'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I'm sure there is. I have to think about it
for a minute. I mean me and Coach Smith, We've
we've had some great conversations. Uh.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
You got that stands out.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Just you know a lot of the times, uh for me,
you know, just kind of after the matches that that
I've lost, especially in those big moments. You know, he
you know, he's he was always there for me, and
I think that, you know, that's all that I could
have asked for, you know, in those moments. Was you know,
he was one of those guys that know, helped help
me through those moments, you know, because those moments aren't
(24:41):
aren't aren't easy to get through. Him you know, also
know my dad, uh, my family, and I think that
you know a lot of you know helping me, you know,
get through those moments. For I have to you know,
contribute to them. You know, they it wasn't just me.
You know, if it was just me, then I don't
know if you I could have I definitely could have
done it on my own. So you know, just they've
(25:05):
just you know constantly were you know, telling me that
you know that I am you know, I am good enough.
You know I'm definitely you know, wrestling doesn't define it
doesn't define who I am, you know, as a person,
and I just think that they just having their support
and it helped me not even just you know, pick
(25:27):
myself back up, but you know, train, train my butt
off to get back to those moments. You know, it's
definitely not easy to to lose those moments, but it's
even harder to get back up and then trained to
get back to that moment to have another chance. So
it was a lot of that's on them.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
N c A Finals. You were there four times, all
close matches. You could have won four. You could have
won too, You could have won three, you could have
won one. I mean it's they were all close, close matches.
Of these four, is there one that if you had
to get if you could get one back, but just
(26:06):
one back, which which one would you want back?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Uh? Definitely the first one, first one? Uh, the way
it ended, Yeah, not, I mean it wasn't obviously the
controversial one. That What what eats me the most about
that match though, is is it the the thirty second
ride out prior to you know, us going back on
our feet. Uh. I had had my leg in get
(26:33):
stalemated with uh, probably nine seconds left, and you know
I was nine seconds away from from winning all I
had to do was you know, find a way to
hold them down, and I didn't. Uh, So you know
it's definitely on me. You know, I was in a
great position to win the match. Uh, but you know
those nine seconds were definitely the If I could go back,
(26:55):
those were, it'd be the to that moment and you'll
find a way to rde them out for nine more seconds.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
How were you able to get through some of those setbacks?
I mean, because those I mean that's I mean, let's
be honest. So are as you said, big matches, you're
so close knocking on the door, you know, you know,
how did you keep coming back? Because I mean, I
think that's one thing Dayton that's very underappreciated. You kept
coming back like that says a lot about you.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah. Yeah, you know it wasn't It was never easy. Uh,
it didn't get easier. It definitely go you know, each
each one hurt, each one hurt more than the last. It. Uh,
you know, it just sucked. You know, it sucked to
get that close that many times and and not not
(27:45):
get my hand raised, you know, on that stage, especially
just because it was something that that I've I've pictured
myself doing. You know, millions of times, and uh, to
not to not get it done. It was you know,
just heartbreaking. You know, it's just the easiest way to
put it. You know, it was heartbreaking. But you know,
I think that you know, in those moments, is are
(28:07):
when that you know, I leaned on on my faith
more than anything. You know, I know that, you know,
I wouldn't be the person that I am without those matches. Uh.
I think that at the end of the day that
it's going to help me, you know, become a better,
better coach, will help me become a better, better father,
(28:27):
better husband. Someday, you know, I'll be able to relate,
to relate to a lot you know, whenever you know,
either my athletes, my my sons, my daughters, they're coming
up to me and they're they're going through these hard times,
and I'll be able to be there for him and
and uh, you know, help them, help them back on
their feet and tell them that you know, it won't
be the end of the world, even though they might
(28:49):
feel like it. But but it's not.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Tell me about your faith and how it plays in
your wrestling.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Uh, yeah, it's you know something that I've always I
grew up grew up going to church, uh, which I'm
you know, very thankful that that my you know, my parents,
they they did that for me, and it's uh, you know,
it just gives me, gives me peace that you know
going into each match. You know, I know that no
(29:19):
matter what, no matter what happens in this match, you know,
God's gonna love me, and that just gives me, you know,
as a piece that I can go out there and wrestle,
you know, to the best no ability. You know, I
know that you know He's going to be there for me.
Uh you know, I've pretty much already had you know,
the worst, the worst outcomes that that I can you know,
(29:40):
go through, so I know that He's going to pick
it back up every time, and you know it's going
to be there for me. And I just think that
I'm very thankful for all the opportunities that that God's
given me. And the least that I can do is
h just helped spread his word. You know, usually do
the sport of wrestling and using the people that follow me,
(30:02):
and that's what I try to do.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
When you look at your career and you've got so
many matches, so I know these questions are like, you know,
there's that's such a resume. Is there a match Dayton
and we can maybe talk mainly about college or international,
but that you learn the most, you know, maybe not
even a you know, a win loss, I mean could
be either or but a match that you're really you
(30:28):
just learned something critical.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, there's probably a couple of different matches. I can
think of twenty nineteen, uh at Final Acts, wrestled Thomas
Gilman and it was a you know, a great three
match series and I just you know, kind of just
found a way to win. And that was just a
(30:53):
moment that you know, kind of solidified that you know,
I can, I can make the senior world team. I
can I'm good have to go to the World Championships
at the senior level, and and I know that I'm
good enough to win, you know, win world medals and
win world titles. Especially you know, because he's coming off
I think, yeah, I mean I know that he I
(31:14):
think you want a silver medal two.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Years seventeen silver seventeen.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I believe. So you know, I know that I knew
that that guy was definitely good enough to win the
world championship. So if I can beat him, then then
I can you know I can win it, win it all.
So I think that was just one moment where you know,
I'm just really, you know, help me believe, you know
that that I can I can achieve the things that
(31:39):
I want to achieve.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I want to ask if this date and you and
I were talking about this a little bit earlier. I
think the first if I remember, the first time I
met you was in the Unidome. I think you were
in like eighth grade. Your dad brought you up. I
still remember. I'm it's going to be this is a
while ago. So I've watched your wrestle, I've talked to
a bunch of times. I want you to explain to me.
This is where that's guys that come to mind the most.
(32:02):
You insane Rutherford. Explain to me how you go from
being pretty laid back. I would say, in my experience,
it's been pretty soft spoken. But when you got to
find a switch so I really destroy somebody, you can
do it?
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Like, how do you do that? I don't know, really.
I think that whenever I was first getting uh first
started wrestling, my uh my mom would always tell me
that I needed to be a little more like a
little more physical because I was I was a nice kid.
I I didn't really know. I didn't want to hurt
(32:44):
hurt anybody. Uh So, you know, she's constantly telling me,
you know, before these tournaments, I need to be a
little more physical. Uh So eventually, you know, I go
out there and I'm wrestling. I don't know where I was.
It was just some little kid local tournament. Uh And
I accidentally poked the kid in the eye give a
penalty point and ended up end up losing the match
(33:05):
because because of the penalty point. So I told my mom,
you know, I was trying to get more physical and
I ended up poking the guy in the eye. So
there goes. There goes that. I kind of totally I
was gonna go back to being nice, but eventually I
figured out that I do. I did need to be
a little more, a little more physical. But I don't
(33:26):
know what what it is. I think it's the competitor,
uh competitor in me. You know, I know that wrestling's
a it's just a physical sports. So you know, the
nice guy, you know, he's I can be as nice
as as nice as I want off the map, but
whenever it's time to strap him up and then I gotta,
you know, do what I have to do to win.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You mentioned the battles with Gilman. You talked about the
Santo who are the who are the toughest guys like
that you wrestle like, maybe not the most talented. Who's
a guy or too dating when you wrestled and it
was like, Okay, I I know I can win this,
but this is gonna be not fun for the next
seven to ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah. I mean Thomas Thomas Gowan, He's probably the the
you know, the one that comes to mind first. It
was kind of funny the other day we were, Uh,
Thomas and and David were talking. They're talking about how
they used to pugs. They I don't know if a
lot or not, but they put gloves on and boxed
a couple of times, and I was just, you know,
(34:29):
kind of made a joke. Well, I was like, well,
me and me and Thomas we box pretty much every
time we every time we wrestle. And he thought it
was funny, but it really is. It really does feel
like that, you know, we know, every time we've ever wrestled,
it's been real, real physical, Uh, And you know, I'm
grateful for all those all those battles. You know, I
(34:50):
think that they've they've helped me, you know, like I said,
you know earlier, it helped me, you know, believe that
that I can, you know, be right there with the
best guys in the world.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
What's it like these days in still Water? I mean,
David Taylor comes in, Thomas Gillman, Jimmy Kennedy. I mean,
obviously some new cowboys are on the ranch. What's what's
this been like for you? I mean, this has got
to be it's got to be different, obviously.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely different. But you know, I
think that's been good for me just having a different
kind of outlook on wrestling, a little bit of a
you know, just it's like it's like I've got to
go through change without really having to leave. I mean
I think that that's that's good. You know, it was
(35:36):
good for me. I think in the long run, obviously
it was it was you know, tough, tough situation, you know,
with the just the previous guys that were here them leaving.
But you know, at the end of the day, I
think that it's been good for me to put me
in in situations where where I'm not as comfortable, and
I think that, you know, that's that's where you find
(35:57):
a lot of growth sometimes. Yeah, I think that it's
been good, you know, the last couple of months. Uh,
just getting to know them and learning from him, it's
been been good.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
What's something that has surprised you with Thomas Gilmot that
you didn't know?
Speaker 3 (36:14):
He's a he's pretty funny. He's got a different kind
of sense of humor. But but once you once you're
around him, you understand understand him a lot more. Uh,
And it's a it's been good. I've I think that
I think that he's a really good coach. He's Uh,
(36:34):
it's been great for me, you know, having someone that
I can you go with and that can push me. Ah,
it's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
And in a few months that David Taylor has been there,
what's you know, what's something that stood out as far
as you know, how has he helped your wrestling in
the short time that he's been there? Different perspective.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I mean, I obviously I knew knew David know
better than than Thomas, just because I've I've been on
two world teams with David and I just probably just
talked to David a little more than I was talking
to Thomas because we were I was on one one
world team with with Thomas, but we weren't really the
best of friends just because we we we went back
(37:16):
and forth, you know on the mat, So it wasn't
like we were chatting up every day. But I knew
David a little bit better coming in and he, uh,
I think that just his outlook on wrestling, his mentality
going into his matches. I think that that's uh something
that that he's helped me with. Really. You know, he
(37:37):
he believes, you know, the same kind of philosophy that
I do, but I just haven't haven't really been been
putting it together on the mat, going out there scoring
a lot of points. It's always growing up. That's the
way that I wrestled. That's the way that that I
want to wrestle. But you know, sometimes you get in
(37:58):
tight matches and you know, there's sometimes there's just not
not very much scoring going on, and I think that
you know, his is kind of out of look on everything.
It's gonna help me, uh, you know, find ways to
score more and and just kind of stay, you know,
put on the gas the whole match.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
If you could go back day and have a conversation
with yourself when you were eighteen heading to steal water,
what advice would you give yourself, knowing what you know now.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
I would, uh, I tell myself, you know it, you know,
don't don't don't worry about you know, what other people
think of you. You know, there's gonna be people that
love you, there's gonna be people that that hate you,
and at the end of the day, you know, neither
of them really matter. You know. If I if I let,
(38:48):
you know, the people that that love me, you know,
hype me up too much, then then I could get
hold pretty quick. If I let the people that that
hate on me, you don't give me so far down
that I know I'm gonna want to go out there
and wrestle, and you know that's not good either, So
I think that, you know, just not, I would tell myself,
you know, don't worry about what other people think. Just
go out there and be you, because you know you're
(39:12):
you're good enough to to achieve everything you wanted to achieve.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
All this to go earn It podcast In your career,
what was your go earn It moment?
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
When was your back against the wall. When did you
date and fix have to learn something about yourself?
Speaker 3 (39:31):
I think that, you know, I think though to go
earn a go earn it moment for me would definitely be.
Uh so those moments whenever I had to pick myself
back up and then just you know, find a way
to You don't really fall back in love with the
grind of wrestling, because it's a hard enough to get
(39:54):
to those moments, but to get yourself back up and
then get yourself ready to go in for a whole
other year of hard practices, weight cuts, uh you know,
matches every week that are not easy. They're gonna be
hard matches every every week. Uh, you know, just to
(40:15):
get myself back to that moment. I think that that
would be the go eer inner moment for me. It
was I'm not easy, But no I didn't.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Talked about John Smith a little bit here and there.
You got a favorite John Smith story. Like I mean,
when you're when you're ninety years old, you know, on
your porch, you'll probably be in Oklahoma yet because you're
an Oklahoma guy, you know, rocking on the you know,
maybe a couple of grand kids running around what and
you think about John Smith. What what will you remember
(40:45):
decades down the road. You got a story that's that
like early stands out with him.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
I mean obviously the story of him, uh him call
me their own name. That's a that's a pretty good one.
He uh uh. I was at a my freshman year.
I went to a there's a country So there's this
little country venue, country of music venue at a install
(41:14):
water called the Tumbleweed, and there's a they play like
there's country singers come and show up. And when I
went to a concert one time, and I don't know
it was we were with some of the guys on
the team and uh he uh they just kind of
lift me up. They lift me up because I was,
you know, the small guy. They lift me up as
(41:34):
a freshman. And then all of a sudden, before I
know it, they I'm just getting past, you know, from
person to person, like basically crowdsurfing at this country concert.
And I was just, you know the whole time, just thinking,
I gotta, I gotta get down. You know, I don't
need to be up here crowdsurfing at this at this
country concert. But the next day, you know, I go
to practice and uh, Coach Smith's like, you ask me
(41:59):
how I'm doing and h and he's Eventually he says,
so heard you were crowdsurfing at Double Weed last night,
and I was you know, I couldn't really say much.
I was like, yeah, they threw me up there. I
was trying to get down, but you know, they had
me in the air and I couldn't do much about
it at that point. But you know, it's just a
(42:21):
funny story, and it was a good lesson for me.
You know that no matter where I'm at, you know
people were people are gonna be watching, and you know
they're gonna you know, no, uh know who I am.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
What's the most upset you've ever seen Coach Smith?
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Oh gosh, he uh I've seen him upset, you know,
plenty of times. He was really upset, upset in locker
room after we lost. We were in when we went
to Iowa, had a dual against Iowa, not not this
past year with the year before. He was pretty upset
the end. Uh Yeah, we're he was upset. We had
(43:00):
a duel against Columbia in Columbia. He's pretty upset after
that one. Yeah, I didn't think we wrestled the wrestled.
Its good the Koda, but he definitely wasn't wasn't scared
to let us know that he wasn't happy.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
You got a story from the corner that stands out
with him, like in a match, and you know, one
of your matches with him in the corner.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
He h, it's kind of funny. He So this last
finals match that I was in, uh with with Veto,
I don't I don't know if they're taping my eye
up or it was a review or something, but he
uh just kept telling me, you know, quit letting there,
You're letting the crowd affect you. I was like, eventually,
(43:50):
I was just like, no, I'm not I'm not letting
the crowd affect me. And He's like, oh, okay, okay,
and uh just kind of slapped me on the butt
sent me back out there. But he uh, he didn't
really ever. I was one of the one of the
few people that he didn't ever really give rhim met
at he usually. I mean, I didn't really give him
too many reasons to be met at me. Uh, maybe
(44:13):
he should have been a little bit more mad at
me a couple a couple more times, you know, maybe
that would have got me over the hump, but he uh,
he was. He was a good coach for me. He obviously,
you know, one of the greatest wrestlers of all time,
but he's one of the greatest coaches you know out
there too.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
What's something Dayton within the sport like that you're you know,
pretty passionate about, Like, is there is there any like
something that if people are just talking wrestling, debating something,
whether it's three point takedown, riding time, and it could
be a bunch of stuff. Is there something like within
the sport that you'll like, you know, strikes a little
bit of a chord with you.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
I mean I would have to say like that, you know,
Oklahoma State where the where the greatest wrestling program of
all time. I mean, I don't think it's it's not
hard to argue it. You know, we've we've won thirty
four national titles, more more Litmic Golds than than anybody,
more Olympic medals, we have more more o Limbic medals
(45:20):
than a lot of countries. So it's a I don't
think it's much of a debate, but that's probably where
my where mine goes there.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Just reminding everybody that you can't look at the last
fifteen to twenty years. Right, yeah, yeah, look tell the
whole story for sure. Want to ask you this question.
If you were taking a car ride from still Water, Oklahoma,
out to Seattle, up to Seattle, it's you. You get
to pick three people that you've never met, they're dead
(45:53):
or alive. You get three people. Who are you picking?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Who? Three people? I'll throw Jesus Christ, He's gonna be
in there. I'll put Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, just
(46:20):
two other guys that you know, they've won a lot.
I could, you know, pick their brain on, you know,
kind of how they how they went about their careers.
And then obviously Jesus Christ. You know that's a you
gotta have him there.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
If were you a sports fan growing up, like you,
you a sports fan outside of wrestling.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, I love I mean I love all sports.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
Uh really favorite? What are your favorite teams?
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Uh? So my dad, he grew up in a grew
up in Colorado, So I'm a big Denver Broncos fan.
We have haven't had the best since Peyton Manny retired.
We haven't really had the best best years, but hopefully
here in a couple of years we're back on top.
I'd say them for football. I used to like the Nuggets,
(47:07):
but uh, once Oklahoma City got a basketball team, I
started cheering for the for the Lokalhoma City Thunder. Those
are the two main sports that that I watch. Uh,
I mean I like I like watching I kind of
follow baseball. My dad was a Mets fan growing up,
so so I kind of like the Mets. Uh. It's
just hard for me to sit down and watch a
(47:29):
baseball game. It's Baseball is one of those sports that
it's you know, it's way more fun if you're actually
in person watching, you know, it's kind of the opposite
of I'd say the opposite of football. I think football
is actually better, better, you know, on the TV, because
you can actually see the see what's going on a
lot better. But I think baseball's opposite. I think baseball
is better when you're there, harder to watch on TV.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
You have any posters in your room growing up of athletes?
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Uh? Yeah, I had a poster of Kennel Cross. Kennel
Cross was in my room growing up. He signed a
poster for My dad was a high school wrestling coach,
so he signed a poster for them. Whenever after he
won the Olympics. It was the picture of him, you know,
where after he won the Olympics. That's what I had
(48:18):
that hanging up in my in my room.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I just thought about this Dayton. How can we talk
and not talk about your inside trip? Where did your
inside trip come from?
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Uh? Well, Kendle is the one that actually she showed me,
uh had hit an inside trip. And it's just something
that I don't know. It's it's a move that not
a lot of people are. It's not really one of
their one of their main moves, but it's you know,
definitely one of my probably top top three moves that
that I hit. And it's just something that I just
(48:53):
got the hang up when I was pretty young, and
it's kind of stuck with me. It's definitely come in
handy a couple of couple of times start my career,
and so, you know, and in it it's kind of
fun whenever you know, you hit it and kind of
gets the crowd, you know, they get it a little
bit more excited. You know, it's a little bit more
fun seeing someone hit an inside trip than a than
(49:13):
a sweep single leg.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
What separates a great inside trip from a good inside trip.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
You know, a great inside trip, I'm gonna I'm gonna
put you on your back. You know you're gonna be
on your back.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Technically, technically, what do you have to have to get
to that point?
Speaker 3 (49:33):
So I think that you know a lot of people
they hit their inside trip and they they want to
sag more than uh we go through the guy. So
kind of when a round hit my inside trip, I'm
going through the guy more than I am. Just throw
my leg in and like sagging really hard. Sometimes you know,
you sag grow hard. The guy can step his leg out.
Sometimes your foot can get stuck in the mat and
(49:53):
they can kind of drive over the top of you.
So I really focus on trying to keep my pressure
to the guy rather than hitting it and kind of
sagging back.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
Where do you keep all your awards at.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
I don't I don't really know. I've had a lot
of them are probably at my parents' house. I'm sure
I have some land around my house somewhere, but I
really don't know where a lot of them are. Uh.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
What's what means the most to you?
Speaker 3 (50:27):
I don't know, you know, it's uh, I think just
the work, the work going into all those metals mean
more than the metal themselves, you know. It's you know
that that just kind of you know, me not knowing
where half of them more or any of them are.
I think that says more than anything. You know. It's
it's not about you know, the piece of metal that
(50:50):
I get. It's more, you know, just the work that
goes into it. And like I said, you know, just
you know, trying to become the best, best version of myself.
I think that if I can do that, you know,
along the way with trying to achieve these big goals,
and you know, I think that's what matters most.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
A couple more quick ones for you talking about the
Kennel Cross poster and you had that great inside trip
talking about posterizing somebody. What's what's a move they hit
on somebody that was you know, Dayton fix as a
poster in some thirteen year old's room. Tell me the match,
tell me the move.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
I mean, it's probably an inside trip somewhere inside trip
I'm trying to think of, you know, probably the most
memorable inside trip probably the twenty eighteen World Team Trials.
I was wrestling twenty right most in the finals of
(51:51):
the of the World Team World Team Trials and hit
him an inside trip at the end of the match
to you know, kind of seal the seal it. So
I think that that's probably one of the one of
the better inside trips that that I hit in my career.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
What are you most proud of.
Speaker 3 (52:13):
I'm like in my wrestling career, you know what, you
can take it any.
Speaker 2 (52:17):
Way you want to in your wrestling career in general.
You can answer both ways if you want.
Speaker 3 (52:21):
Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm proud of the person that
I am, you know, growing up. Obviously, I want to
be a great wrestler, but I want just to be,
you know, an even better, better person. I think that
when someone says, you know my name, and I want
(52:43):
the first thing to come comes to mind for them
if they've met me, to be Yeah, I mean, he's
he's a great wrestler, but he's an even greater person.
And I think that I think I do a pretty
good job of that. It's you know, something that you know,
It doesn't it doesn't come easy, you know, obviously you do.
You know there's times where where you want to, you know,
(53:06):
same more than you probably should. You want to, you know,
do do things that that other people are doing. But
you know, just living you know, the right kind of
lifestyle and just being a good person, you know, treating
people right way. I think that you know, that's that's
you know, really important and probably more important than you know,
(53:27):
any wrestling mats that I can win.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
From a wrestling standpoint, what do you take a lot
of pride in? How do you want to be remembered.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
I want to be remembered. It's just you know, someone
that you know could always come back, you know, doesn't
matter what what I go through. You know, I'm going
to be there at the end of the day. You
know it's I'm gonna go out on my terms. You
know it's I'm not gonna just lay down for anybody.
I'm not I'm just gonna quit. I'm gonna, you know,
(53:56):
come back and you know, come back stronger. Uh, And
you know, you know I'm gonna be Uh, I'm gonna
be there at the end of the day. I'm gonna
be there, and I'm gonna give it my all every
time I step out there.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
Well, dating, this has been a lot of fun. I
really appreciate, uh appreciate the conversation. More chapters to be
written in your book, but it's just always been fun
to watch you and uh, you're one of the great
guys in the sport.
Speaker 3 (54:21):
So thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.
M
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