Things I remember about my youth wrestling days (1973-1980):
1) We wrestled two times in Hiawatha. Why do I remember that? It snowed both times and I loved the snow (still do).
2) My wrestling career was much like my first and only ski trip to Colorado: ugly in the beginning but not too bad in the later stages.
3) Being a member of the first Kid's Wrestling club Belleville Kansas ever sent to the mat (I think - 5 of us in 1973).
4) The first tournament I beat a kid in a match early in the day and lost to him that afternoon (cost me the 3rd/4th place match).
5) Getting a ride home from a tournament by our coach in his (I think light green) Opal. He had a lot of curly hair back then(kind of like the teacher on Welcome Back Kotter). Some of you down around Wellington might have known him as Coach Decker.
6) After going undefeated in Jr High my 8th grade year, my parents didn't have the $10 to enter me in Kids Federation that year. My oldest brother who was at CCCC in Condordia sent me a check for the entry fee so I wouldn't miss the season. Not sure where the money came from for four or five tournaments I wrestled that year, including Subs and Districts.
7) Losing three straight years to a young man from Beloit named Matt Treaster. The last match we wrestled was at Districts in the '79-'80 season in Junction City. Final score: 2-7. How could I remember that? My Mom found the note pad I kept all my wrestling results from that year and sent it to me here while I have been on active duty.
8) Eating orange slices and melba toast with honey on them during the tournaments. Guess that is all my parents could afford to send with me.
9) Hanging out with my other brother and his girlfriend when I was 10 or 11 before the finals of the Belleville tournament (probably not his choice) and finishing second that day. My first experience that having a beautiful young lady around was not in my best interest during the wrestling season.
10) Riding with another family to a couple of wrestling tournaments and in one of those new Panel Vans listening to an
8-track tape of a comedy routine by George Carlin (something to do with a flatuation contest to the best of my memory).
I have many other memories from those years in regards to wrestling, yet these are some of the most special to me. I hope that my sons look back when they are in their 40s and have as fond of memories about this sport as I do. I too, as a father of a wrestler and a coach, have met a lot of wonderful people the last seven years. I also met a lot of great people when I was a volunteer coach for the Lawrence Jr Wrestling club 3 years back in the late '80s while in college. The wrestling families are much like the military in that you meet a lot of really good people, a few quirky ones, but most of all, you share a special bond that is hard to experience doing other things.
