3 Key Facts and a Question - Offseason

By Ben Peterson Consider three facts and a question that can make a difference in your life and wrestling career. The off season is a great time to get started on reaching our next goals and being prepared for the next season. Make a definite evaluation of the past season and then determine solid goals for the next one. The sooner goals and plans are made to continue training the longer the time you will have to work toward making a difference for your team next season. Think of the following key thoughts as you peruse your goals and progress through the off season even while participating in other sports and activities. 1. Steady, consistent, traditional tactics win matches and win in life. Things like strength, condition, and solid techniques are invaluable to a wrestler of every level. With all the weight rooms available surely you can set up a consistent lifting routine. And when you can't get to the weight room push-ups, pull-up, sit-ups, and bungee cords are always available and can help significantly. Schedule to work on strength three times per week. There is always space to run. The biggest hurdle is to get started. My recommendation to every person over 12 years old is to run one mile and five sprints three times per week. That steady pattern has helped many a young person grow into a confident, conditioned adult. Use wrestling camps and clinics to build solid techniques and positioning. Be sure not to just look for and be impressed with the "clinic moves." A basic task for many Americans from the beginning of our nation is consistent reading of the Scriptures. This will sharpen our minds, will, honesty and character. You will never go wrong spending regular time reading the Bible. And if you want a Wrestlers New Testament just let me know. I would love to give you one. 2. Life and wrestling need the ability to adjust, recover, and attack with variety and explosion. When you build the ability to stay in position and keep fighting to score, you also need to develop the ability to adjust, slowly at first, and then quicker. Steady condition to escape an opponent’s grip is a must. Then learn to move faster and faster for longer periods of time. You will begin to work series of moves and wrestling will become a lot of fun. Adding explosiveness (this is why you finish runs with sprints) gives you an ability to “punch” a technique instead of just moving through it. Be careful - be sure you know the position well before you add explosiveness or you may be going hard in the wrong direction. Steady, strong positioning with a punch can take weeks and months, and yes years, to develop fully. 3. Do not think you can get away with doing wrong. Remember, you started wrestling as an ordinary person and winning a few matches did not change that. We are not exempt from the consequences of bad decisions. We are not better than others because we are wrestlers or because we or our team has won. Work to avoid a big ego, arrogance, and exclusiveness. Wrestling, and a wrestling team, is a unique experience, but we all still live on the same earth. All of us are ordinary people working to do exceptional things. So remember, we are still ordinary people when we advance toward or reach our goals. Winning does not make us anything more than ordinary people who must continue to work hard, do right, and use the opportunities given to us. Question: In what areas of life must I succeed at all cost? Be careful of putting sports success at the top of your list of answers. My personal MUST list is as follows: My marriage to my wife, Jan. 36 years with her is more valuable to me than any Olympic awards.  Trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation for He gave His life to give me His righteousness. Honesty! It is hard to live without it. Be a loving example to my children and grandchildren. Wrestling is an important and worthwhile pursuit to invest in. But there are more important things in life. We learn and practice discipline, concentration, and determination in our wrestling and must learn to do the same in the really important matters. QUESTION OF THE DAY: In what areas of life are you determined to succeed at all costs? Today Ben & John run Camp of Champs Wrestling Camps where they run camps and weekend retreats, and are frequent guest speakers for numerous special events. Find out more, including how to order the book Road to Gold, the incredible journey of Ben and John Peterson to Olympic Gold at www.campofchamps.org

Training to Scramble and Explode

Ben Peterson, Ethan Bosch

This article was written several years ago, but still holds the same relevance today! Read to the end for links to more outstanding matches.

The 84-kilogram finals match at the 2002 Freestyle World Championships was an incredibly exciting match between Yoel Romero of Cuba and Adam Saitiev of Russia.  Both were world champions in 1999, and Saitiev had pinned Romero in the Olympic finals in 2000.  The table was set for a real barn-burner, and the wrestlers did not disappoint.  

Deadlocked at 3 after regulation, they headed for overtime.  First one to score wins the world championship.  

The overtime lasted only 14 seconds.  But what a 14 seconds it was!  The two got entangled in a wild scramble.  It seemed certain one would score.  Then it seemed certain the other would score.  Finally the whistle blew with Romero on top, and it looked as though he had won it.  But the officials went back and looked at the tape.  They decided that Saitiev had actually scored a point earlier in the scramble, and he was awarded the gold medal.

Watch it Here

What made this match so exciting?  It was partly the match-up of two great competitors going head-to-head.  It was partly the fact that it went to overtime.  The controversial finish might have been a factor, too.  But I think it was mostly because explosive, scrambling wrestling is the most exciting thing to watch in any sport.

Every wrestler develops his own style.  Some are slow and controlled.  They may think about each new position they want and avoid all others.  Other wrestlers prefer to scramble.  The faster the pace and the more positions they can get into, the better they like it.  As a competitors, we often like the second approach – the scrambling and exploding way (and as a spectator, we almost always prefer it).  We find specific training methods that will increase our ability to win with this style

Drilling

Scrambling can be learned through drilling of wrestling moves. The normal way to drill is to do five doubles, five singles, five firemen’s carries, etc.  Instead, fake one and finish with a second or third move.  We do a “give and take” drill in which one man sets up and penetrates to his move – then retreats.  On his way out, the other man attacks with a move of his own.  There is constant motion and adjusting by both men.  Cooperation between partners is needed for this sparing to work

Wrestling 

Scrambling should also be considered while wrestling hard.  It is vital to learn to pick up the pace.  

• A bigger man who trains with someone smaller and quicker will find he needs to keep moving and adjusting in order to face his opponent and protect his legs.  Personally, I liked wrestling with the lighter weight wrestler, and they helped me greatly.  They were hard to get a hold of.  They kept me moving.  While I was in college at Iowa State, Dan Gable was often my workout partner.  I weighed 40-50 pounds more than he did, yet his constant motion kept me moving and never permitted me to stand still.  It was scramble or get beat.
• A man your size or larger who is a real competitor is also good.  If he is always willing to go “one more” takedown and fights like a tiger, you have a good training partner.  Push him and ask him to push you.  My brother John was this for me.  I had to be sharp and fight back or he would eat me alive.  John really taught me to scramble.
• Don’t ever permit a stalemate in your practice.  Adjust and try something, even if it fails.  You will get used to more positions that way, which will improve your scrambling skills.  Also, a warm room will encourage the athletes by keeping their muscles and joints loose and warm, making them more eager to explode and scramble.  Dan Gable’s motto is: “Get in as many positions as possible as many times as possible.”

Weightlifting

You need strength to execute your best moves.  Therefore, wrestlers need work in the weight room. Is it possible to learn scrambling and exploding while lifting?  YES!

• Explode with the weight.  Snap it up as much as possible. Slow power is fine when going for maximum, but when lifting lighter weights for more reps, you should almost be throwing the weight.
• Do several quick reps with light weight.  After you lift heavy on an exercise, finish with a set of 10-20 reps in which you explode repeatedly until you are so exhausted you can’t do another rep.  This will give you the endurance and discipline to explode in the last period of a match

Running

Running is probably the easiest way to train for scrambling and exploding.  I suggest doing sprints after a hard wrestling practice in the longest indoor space you can find.  Do a hand full of 20 to 50 yard sprints.  Then walk fast between each (don’t jog).  Train your body to go from a walking to a full sprint in a couple steps.

Another way to use running to get in scrambling/exploding shape is to run a mile as a second workout (start easy and finish hard).  Then do your sprints, cool down, shower, and be back to class in less than an hour.  The workout itself takes 15 minutes or less, this simulates a match.  Do this 2-4 times in a day, and you have prepared yourself for a tournament.  While in college, on a free Saturday before major tournaments, I would do this run before all three of my meals and again before going to bed.  The next week’s tournament seemed like a vacation!

Most fans like an explosive, active style of wrestling, and the rules continue to change to encourage that style. Athletes need to be well prepared to compete that way.  Each aspect of our training should be planned to develop that style. Drill in series, scramble in wrestling, lift with explosive reps, and run short and explosive. These training methods can help you and your team become exciting and aggressive wrestlers… and that’s a wrestling style that will always put people in the bleachers.

Enjoy these more recent matches that came down to who could scramble and explode at the end of the match. 

Brandon Slay defeats one of the most successful wrestlers in international history when he defeated Bouvaisar Saitiev in the Olympics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvxuQW8NNbU

Jordan Burroughs overcomes a significant point deficit to hold off David Taylor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDyDUS0Euk4

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What exercises or ideas have helped you most with scrambling and exploding?

Today Ben & John run Camp of Champs Wrestling Camps where they run camps and weekend retreats, and are frequent guest speakers for numerous special events.

Find out more, including how to order the upcoming book Road to Gold, the incredible journey of Ben and John Peterson to Olympic Gold at www.campofchamps.org

Compete with Confidence

Ben Peterson, Ethan Bosch

It’s getting to be “that time of the year” again – time for the all-important postseason tournaments.  Win or lose, advance or be eliminated, every single match can make you or break you.  

The uncertainty of how it will all turn out can be very stressful.  

There’s a danger of becoming too tense, which can keep you from performing to your potential.  How does an athlete face the pressure of these tournaments with confidence and excitement?

Many athletes place their hope in their emotions and how they feel at any given time.  If they feel good about themselves at competition time they “feel” confident.  But those “feelings” can change so quickly.  The foundation for a strong tower of confidence can hardly be built on the shifting sands of our fleeting emotions.  There must be a better way.  

When wrestlers, coaches and parents ask me about confidence I very often find myself referring to a little flier my brother John wrote called, “Totally Prepared”.  In it, he gives his thoughts just before going out to wrestle for the Olympic gold medal.  John tells the story of how emotions almost took his focus off the match at hand, but he also tells how he placed his thoughts on the facts and went on to win the victory.  Every competitor faces this issue, even Olympic Champions.  

“Totally Prepared” has been translated into several languages.  John hands them out in his travels as he coaches teams all over the world, and has received good feedback from young wrestlers and experienced champions.  Read on and see what you can learn.

Before my final Olympic match in Montreal, I went to a room in the back of the wrestling arena with Ben.  We did some warm-up and stretching exercises in preparation for our final competition.  As we walked from that exercise area toward the wrestling area, I noticed an overhead television monitor.  As I glanced up at it, the announcer said, “In one minute, we will take you to Maurice Richard Arena to watch John Peterson attempt to win an Olympic Gold Medal!”  

As I listened, I realized that people in many parts of America and even the world would be watching my match.  Suddenly, the emotional pressure of that thought hit me.  “What if I make all kinds of mistakes?  What if I get caught and PINNED!”  (I had been pinned in the first period of a match just four months before the Olympics.)  

Well, right there, I actually began to cry!

“Wait a minute,” I thought, “I need to get myself emotionally ready.”  And so I began to prepare for the match as I had prepared for matches in the past.  I thought about the facts.  The facts were clear.  I was in condition. I had trained, lifted weights and run.  I knew the wrestling moves that would work against my opponent.  With my thoughts on those facts, I could go out on the mat, confident that I was prepared to give my best.

As I walked onto the wrestling mat and shook hands with my opponent’s hand, I forgot about the television and all the people.  I was on familiar ground.  I had spent many hours on a wrestling mat.  Soon the nervousness left, and I was able to wrestle confidently to the best of my ability.

That could have been false confidence; it could have been cockiness or false pride.  If I really had not spent time conditioning my body and learning wrestling moves, no amount of self-confidence would have allowed me to compete in the Olympics.  My confidence was important.  But even more important were the facts in which I had put my confidence.

As a Christian, I have also learned the importance of trusting the facts.  In I John 5:11-13, the Bible says, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” …   I put my faith in what Jesus did on the Cross.  He died for my sins.  Therefore my security is not based on my performance but rather on what Jesus has done for me.

Athletes are often insecure.  There are so many unknowns in an athlete’s life.  Will I make the team?  How long will I stay on the team?  Will I get injured?  Am I prepared for competition?  What will my opponent do?  Will I win?  Will I lose?  How will people react if I lose?  These are just a few of an athlete’s questions.

If an athlete’s security comes from himself or from others, he will have a difficult time with the pressure that comes as the questions mentioned above fill his mind.  If his security is in God, however, the pressure is much easier to handle.

As you deal with confidence and help others with their emotions, remember to focus on the facts.  Do all you can to prepare and learn to rely on God in all things.  Then you, too, can have true confidence as you face each competition, knowing that you are totally prepared.

If you desire a complete copy of John’s pamphlet called “Totally Prepared”, send us your mailing address and we will send out as many copies as you request, free of charge.  

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What pre-match mental process have you found most helpful? Please share in the comments!

Today Ben & John run Camp of Champs Wrestling Camps where they run camps and weekend retreats, and are frequent guest speakers for numerous special events.

Find out more, including how to order the upcoming book Road to Gold, the incredible journey of Ben and John Peterson to Olympic Gold at www.campofchamps.org

Road to Gold Book is Here - Free Sample Chapter!

Several hundred copies have already been sold and more orders are pouring in every day! 

Road to Gold tracks John and I all the way from our childhood on a Wisconsin farm to the 1972 Olympics.

In it, you will read

- what factors brought us from average farm kids to Olympic Gold and Silver
- what happened after mom said "NO son of mine will ever wrestle!!"
- how John went from no-name college wrestler who barely made the national
team to Olympic silver medalist
- what it was like to be Dan Gable's personal training partners
- experiences in the record setting Iowa State wrestling room
- plenty of pictures and personal stories of John, me and many of our
teammates
- how we overcame a broken leg, no state championships, and not wrestling
until high school
- biggest lessons I learned about mindset and training from the best in
wrestling

I have gotten feedback from all kinds of readers. Wrestlers looking for inspiration and fresh knowledge, coaches reading for insight into how John and I developed under our coaches, and plenty of moms looking for something to read during those long Saturdays in the stands!

​I am more than happy to do signed copies for no extra cost, so be sure to state who the book is for when you order!

You can order the book directly at CampofChamps.org

This sample chapter covers my sophomore year at Iowa State, which was a roller coaster year to say the least. Struggling to make the team, watching Dan Gable and other teammates blast the competition while I stumbled along, managing to beat the #1 ranked wrestler before stumbling again. Great chapter for any wrestler looking to attack the end of a season no matter what the challenges. 

Short warning: the blog might make the formatting a little off kilter for some of you, but I hope you enjoy the reading anyway. Our printers did an outstanding job with the hard copy!

—18—

A Young Wrestler’s Inconsistency:

My Sophomore Year at Iowa State

For me to reach my wrestling goals, I knew that I needed a lot of patience and needed to do a lot of hard work with a steady focus on my goal to be a contributing member of a national championship team.

       

Preparing to Wrestle

During the spring of my freshman year, Freestyle practice in the Iowa State practice room was on our own. No coach was permitted to guide or motivate us. Tom Peckham and our team captain, Dan Gable, led the way. I soon realized that it was only the hungry few who kept alive the 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. practices in the spring.

        The U.S. National Freestyle Tournament that spring was held in Waterloo, Iowa about 100 miles from Ames. This was close enough for me to get a ride from an upperclassman. I did not place in the tournament, but I competed well enough to receive some compliments and get encouragement from upperclassmen who knew something about Olympic Freestyle wrestling.

        That summer, Dad found a roofing job for John and me back home in Wisconsin. John and I had plenty of time to talk as we worked together in the hot summer sun. Often we talked about wrestling. In the evening, we would lift weights and run for conditioning. Again, as we trained, our conversation was often about wrestling. Of course, we wrestled some too. We used an old horsehair mat borrowed from our high school for our wrestling sessions, with a birch tree nearby for shade.

        That summer was not just vacation time for John or me. I was working hard to earn a spot in the Iowa State wrestling lineup, and John was preparing for his junior year of wrestling at UW Stout. Our brother Dan was still a Cumberland High School wrestler and football player. So we trained hard together, pushing each other on every weight that we lifted, every step that we ran, and every wrestling move or drill that we practiced. Each of us wanted to get better as we prepared to meet our expectations for the next season.

       

Summer Motto

Early that summer, Phil talked with me about making the Iowa State team and actually wrestling for the Cyclones. Checking my self-confidence, he asked me about making the team at 177 pounds. I told him that it was most unlikely because Chuck Jean was at that weight for Iowa State, and he would be the returning national champion whom I was not prepared to beat.

        “Well, Ben, what about going down to 167 pounds?” Phil asked me. I reminded him that Jason Smith was at that weight and would be a returning national champion too, and I could not beat him either!

        Then Phil asked me, “What about going down to 158 pounds?” I replied that no way could I do that unless I cut off one of my legs, and even if I did that, Iowa State already had Dave Martin, a returning second place finisher in the nationals. I couldn’t beat him either.

        Finally, Phil asked me, “Well, then, Ben, what about 190 pounds? Who are the possibilities for Iowa State at that weight class?”

        I told him that All-American Jim Duschen, who had wrestled at 191 pounds, had now graduated. Between my freshman and sophomore years in college, the NCAA changed the weight classes for college wrestling. So beginning with the 1969-1970 wrestling season, the 190-pound weight class replaced the 191-pound weight class.

I told Phil that it seemed Don Gillespie was likely the top returning prospect for us at 190 pounds, and that I would need to beat him in tryout matches if I were to wrestle that weight the next season.

        The next day, I found a new message written in big bold letters at the top of the blackboard in our basement weight room. It read, “Beat the Great Gadsby.” Phil had written it there.

        John kidded me about working to beat the Great Gadsby. But when I tried to get Phil to change the name to “Gillespie” to be accurate, he just blankly looked at me, ignoring my request. So the slogan “Beat the Great Gadsby” stayed on our blackboard all that summer. I knew exactly who it referred to every time I lifted. I was training to beat Don Gillespie in our Iowa State tryouts in the fall.

        Some time later, Dan Gable overheard John and me talking about the “Beat the Great Gadsby” slogan. Dan asked me if I knew what Don Gillespie had done all that summer. I said, “I have no idea.” Dan then told me that Don was so confident of making the team at 190 pounds in the fall that when school was out for the summer, he flew to Hawaii and drove a taxicab and had a “good time” all summer.

        Meanwhile, all summer long, I was at home in Comstock training hard each evening to “Beat the Great Gadsby.”

        Some wonder why Phil chose the name the “Great Gadsby” for our weight-room blackboard. Of course, a similarly (but not identically) spelled name, the “Great Gatsby,” appears in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book entitled The Great Gatsby. But to me that summer, “Beat the Great Gadsby” meant much more than just a character’s name in a classic work of fiction!

        When Phil wrote “Beat the Great Gadsby,” it was probably just a play on words, which Phil always seemed to enjoy doing. But it also may have been done to focus my attention, not only on my likely opponent Don Gillespie, but also on anyone else I might have to wrestle to make the team.

        Regardless of the real explanation, I know that this off-season motivation worked for me. I had a summer motto that gave me a focus for my summer training. It got me ready to work hard and ready to compete at my best as a wrestler in the fall.

       

Winning a Spot on the Iowa State Team

Returning to Iowa State in September, I resumed daily workouts with my university teammates. I was bigger, stronger, and better conditioned than I had been the year before. Now, I was really ready to compete for a spot on our varsity team. I was still not picturing myself winning a national championship like some of my teammates had. I was mostly focused on earning a spot on the team and contributing. The higher focus would come later.

        The Iowa State wrestling tryouts at 190 pounds came down to either Gillespie or me. We had four or five tryout matches between us — one every two or three weeks from the beginning of the season. I won each of them, some by a close score.

        In late January or early February, Coach Nichols announced that we would have another tryout match between us. But before we were to wrestle, Don came to me in the locker room and told me that he was not challenging me anymore — the starting spot at 190 pounds was mine. And so I began my sophomore season wrestling on the top-ranked college team in America.

        But two questions still remained to be answered: (1) Could I keep the 190-pound spot in any future tryouts? and (2) Could I contribute something to Iowa State winning as a team?

       

Wrestling for Iowa State

At the first annual Iowa State University Invitational Wrestling Tournament, which opened up our competitive season, I won all three of my matches. As a young wrestler, this was a huge boost to my self-confidence. Then, on an early season trip to New Mexico and Arizona, I got several dual-meet wins.

        But then it was back to reality for me. In my next competition, I lost badly in the annual Midlands Tournament in suburban Chicago. I found out that no one would “roll over” just because I wore the Iowa State wrestling uniform. In the Midlands, I wrestled Russ Hellickson, who was a senior at the University of Wisconsin. Russ beat me soundly 6 to 2 in the second round. But more than just beating me, he really out-muscled, out-conditioned, and just plain out-wrestled me. He left me exhausted.

        Assistant Coach Anderson later recalled my words as I walked off the mat after losing so badly to Russ, and he also described his thoughts about me. Coach Anderson said, “When Ben came off the mat, he said, ‘I'm sorry that I embarrassed you. That will never happen again.’ That's when I knew he had the heart of a champion, because champions don't like to be embarrassed.”

       

Wrestling Low Point in College

A week later, Bob Underwood of Southern Illinois University pinned me at home, in front of an Iowa State crowd in Ames. While I was on top riding Underwood with a leg ride, I got too high, and I did not arch my back. So he pulled me over, and pinned me.

        Beyond any doubt, this was the lowest point in my college wrestling career. It was a sellout crowd that night, many there to watch Dan Gable in his final college season. Most of my teammates won big that night. My loss by a pin hit me like a ton of bricks. Thoughts of being the weakest link on our team went through my mind. After all, I knew that all five wrestlers in the Iowa State lineup who were immediately below me in weight could all beat me in practice. So this was the low point in college wrestling for me. If I could have, I would have crawled under the mat to hide.

        A teammate saw me struggling to even finish my shower after the meet. So he went to Coach Anderson and asked him to come back into the locker room and help me deal with my disappointing loss. I will never forget what Coach Anderson said to me that night. In his gentle but deep voice, he did not talk to me at all about my mistakes that night. Rather he talked to me about my strengths as a wrestler. He assured me that I could take people down and that I had proven I could score points against good competition. He urged me to wrestle more aggressively. I learned an important lesson that night from Coach Anderson — measure yourself by how high you have climbed, not by how low you have fallen.

        Knowing college wrestling as I do now, I am sure Coach Nichols and Coach Anderson must have discussed my future on the team. But both still encouraged me!

And while for most dual meets, I still wrestled for our team at 190 pounds, I was kept out of the lineup when our lower weight wrestlers were moved up a weight class either to match up better with an opposing team or to give some of our lighter wrestlers a break from having to make weight for every meet.

       

Two Big Dual Meets Against Oklahoma State

For our dual meet against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma our coaches decided to move much of our team up one weight class, so I was out of the lineup and did not make the trip. The advantage to our team was that the Iowa State wrestlers who were moved up a weight class would not need to make their normal weight, and our coaches thought that we would match up better against Oklahoma State that way.

        To be honest, I was a bit relieved not to make that trip to Oklahoma. I needed to put the intensity of our wrestling schedule and the demands of my academic studies into better balance. A two-day trip to Oklahoma would have added more stress for me that I would really have struggled to handle at the time.

        Our team members packed their bags and left for Oklahoma State. Flying into Tulsa, they arrived in the midst of an ice storm that left the roads covered with solid ice. Traveling in several rental cars, Coach Nichols, Coach Anderson, and our team began creeping along the 65 miles from Tulsa to Stillwater. What is normally an hour’s drive turned into several hours of stress and into a late arrival for the team to weigh in. Nothing at all was normal for our team on this trip to Oklahoma.

        The next day I heard nothing about our team’s goal to win the national championship. Instead, I heard that our team had lost to Oklahoma State 13 to 22. I heard rumors of bad officiating. I heard about weigh-ins that went unsupervised. And I learned that we had been greatly embarrassed in Oklahoma.

        By practice time the next day, our team had returned to Ames. No one said a word at practice about our meet with Oklahoma State. No coach commented about it. No wrestler tried to explain it. And there were no questions about it from those of us who had stayed at home.

        There was a stern, determined look in everyone’s eyes that day at practice. It was a look that seemed to say to everyone: “We’ve made some mistakes. We weren’t ready. We’ve been embarrassed. Now let’s get to work, and never let it happen again.” And so we all went back to work at practice that day, more determined than ever before. As a young wrestler learning how to compete at the highest level of college wrestling, all this was a huge lesson for me. The resolve of our team upon its return completely overwhelmed the natural tendency to back off and recuperate after such a stressful experience.

        Hard work cannot change the past after a disappointing performance, but it sure does seem to do a good job of changing the future!

        Perhaps our most important dual meet that year came in mid February at home in Ames. It too was against Oklahoma State. For that meet, everyone on our team was at his normal weight. At 190 pounds, I was matched up against Geoff Baum, who was undefeated and ranked number one in the nation. Geoff beat me that night 3 to 2, and our team lost 17 to 16.

       I was part of college wrestling at its best, but I still failed to score any points for our team in a tight dual meet. On the one hand, I was disappointed with my loss. However, I also knew that I was getting better after going toe to toe with the top-ranked wrestler in my weight class. I had even more reason than ever to keep working hard day after day.

       

Big Eight Conference Tournament

The Big Eight Conference Wrestling Tournament that year is a day for me to remember. I won my first two matches, moving on to meet Geoff Baum again. Geoff and I were wrestling in the finals for the conference championship. Geoff was still undefeated and ranked number one at 190 pounds in the national college rankings.

        My match with Geoff began with no scoring in the first period. That was a mistake by Geoff. In the second period, I started on top, riding hard, controlling him, and looking for nearfall points. To control him, I used a cross-body leg ride, a near-wrist ride, and an arm-bar ride. Those three rides had become my preferred way to control, wear down, and occasionally turn an opponent. But would they work now against the best wrestler in the nation in my weight class?

        For three minutes (the entire second period), I rode Geoff without scoring. I would be in the down position to start the third period, and was still fresh while Geoff was worn out from me riding him so long and aggressively. With quick wrist control and an extension roll, I put him on his back for a two-point reversal and a two-point near fall. Then I worked for still more riding time which, with some pinning attempts, gave me 5½ minutes of total riding time in the match and, thus, two more points. So I beat Geoff that day by a final score of 6 to 0!

I had not lost, and I had not just barely won either. I had dominated in the Big Eight finals against the undefeated and number-one wrestler in my weight class. My teammates went crazy! My confidence grew greatly, but still needed more proving.

       

College Wrestling Nationals

The NCAA championships were held two weeks later at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

        At 190 pounds, the question was who would be seeded number one? At the seeding meeting held before the tournament, the coaches discussed this question for some time. Some argued that since Geoff Baum had just lost in the Big Eight Conference Tournament, he should not be seeded number one. They argued that others should be considered for the number one seed. Harold Nichols just listened to the other coaches at first, but then he argued that I should be seeded number one, because just two weeks earlier I was the one who had beaten Geoff so soundly. After still more discussion, the coaches voted: I was seeded number one, and Geoff was seeded number two at 190 pounds.

Pleased that he had learned these seeding details, an Iowa State teammate of mine informed me about all this later.

But at the time I was stunned by my number one seed!

I did not think of myself yet as a number one seed at the nationals. Rather I thought that if a top seed were ever to come my way, it would come only after I had wrestled some more and won the right to that top seed out on the mat in actual competition. So I remember feeling enormous pressure because I still could not forget my early season losses. How could just one victory so late in the wrestling season erase my early season losses?

        In the first round of the nationals that year, I beat unseeded Scott Christie of Lehigh University 5 to 0. In the second round, I faced 8th seeded Bob Rust of Syracuse University. Rust beat me, just like Russ Hellickson had beaten me earlier in the season at the Midlands Tournament. Rust took me down and rode me hard, wearing me out, and leaving me exhausted. I lost to Rust by a score of 6 to 2. But the question still remained for me — could I, in spite of my second-round loss, still help my team win the team championship?

        To do that, I would have to go through the long wrestle-back challenge. I remember being told to “take a deep breath and then go to work.” Wrestling my way back from a second-round loss took four rounds of wrestle-back wrestling. I won the first three wrestle-back matches (10 to 0, 4 to 0, and by a forfeit). But I lost my final wrestle-back match to third seeded Jack Zindel of Michigan State. The final score in our match was 0 to 0, but I lost in overtime on a referee’s decision.

So as a sophomore, our Cyclone team won the national championship again, and I finished 4th at 190 pounds. I was glad to have played a noteworthy role in our team’s success.

Phil Parker placed 3^rd at 134, and four of our teammates made it to the finals. Dan Gable was 2^nd and Dave Martin won the Championship at 158 pounds, Jason Smith at 167 pounds, and Chuck Jean at 177 pounds. This was a second consecutive national championship for Jason and Chuck.

Through the years, some wrestling fans have said that this 1970 Iowa State team may have been among the best college wrestling teams of all time. There have been some great teams, of course, so for anyone to say that we were among the best is a huge compliment.

        A tough part of the national tournament that year was watching Geoff Baum so easily win the national championship at 190 pounds. In the finals, Geoff beat Bob Rust, who had beaten me in the second round. Geoff beat Rust 9 to 1. But, despite that disappointment, after wrestling in the Nationals that year, I knew more than ever what it would take for me to win the Nationals the next year.

I knew that 12 more months of hard training could put me on top.

Looking back on my sophomore season, my confidence and motivation as a wrestler greatly increased from the beginning to the end of the season. After the season ended, I thought, “I’ve soundly beaten Geoff Baum, who then easily wins it all! Next year, I can win an individual national championship for my team!” I concluded that another year of hard work would make me more consistent and ready to win for our team.

The next chapter in the book covers the completely unexpected loss Dan Gable suffered in his final college match. But more importantly, it covers the way in which Dan refocused and continued on a road that led him - and John, me and others - to Olympic Gold and continued on to see him become possibly the most legendary coach in wrestling history. But for that story, you have to grab the book!
Order it here