Andy Hamilton – Iowa City Press-Citizen

CEDAR FALLS — To hear others speak of his work, it might sound as if Terry Brands was employed as some sort of project manager if you didn’t know better.
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During the first 10 weeks of his second stint as an Iowa assistant wrestling coach, the two-time World champion’s influence on the program has perhaps been felt most by the individuals who have become his personal projects.

“I feel like I’m kind of his project,” said junior Ryan Morningstar, whose renaissance at 165 pounds this season has been one of the reasons the Hawkeyes enter this weekend’s NWCA National Duals as the No. 1 seed. “We do a lot of drilling together in the mornings and break down film together. He’s taken me under his wing and worked with me quite a bit and it’s been real positive for me.”

Brands has his fingerprints on others, too. He has helped Iowa’s freshmen adapt to college wrestling, he was instrumental in getting heavyweight Blake Rasing to rejoin the Hawkeyes and brought the program another specialist in the field of technique.

From USA Wrestling:

Bill Zadick of Colorado Springs, Colo. has been hired by USA Wrestling for the new position of Resident Coordinator and Assistant National Coach. He begins his duties in January.

Zadick, a 2006 World freestyle wrestling champion, will serve as the liaison between USA Wrestling and the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) concerning USA Wrestling’s resident athlete programs. He will also coordinate educational and professional development opportunities for the wrestling resident athletes. He will also assist with coaching at resident and National Team practices.

“I am really looking forward to the opportunity to stay involved on the international level and assisting USA Wrestling in becoming the dominant nation in international wrestling,” said Zadick. “I have had experience at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Hopefully, I can bring some positive things to the sport and to the organization.”

There are USOTC resident programs in Colorado Springs, Colo. in the Olympic styles of men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman.

“We are very excited that Bill Zadick will be joining our national staff,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. “We are pleased that Bill has chosen to begin his professional career as part of our management team. As a World champion athlete and a USOTC resident athlete, he brings tremendous assets to this new position. He will be a key leader in helping USA Wrestling to succeed on the international level.”

Happy New Year to everybody in the wrestling community.

The 2008 year has reached its final day, and in a tradition that we have continued for many years on TheMat.com, I will present my top 10 wrestling stories of the year.

During an Olympic year, many major stories have come from the Olympic Games and the trials process which determines the athletes who competed in the Olympics. However, there were outstanding stories at all levels of our sport, which gave wrestling fans much to enjoy all year long.

The word “unexpected” appeared in many articles this year, especially on the Olympic level of the sport. The longer you are involved in high-level wrestling, the more you understand that it is very difficult to predict the outcome at major events, where there are so many talented and motivated athletes competing under pressure.

Here are my Top 10 wrestling stories in 2008:

The lowering of shoulder straps while on the mat is considered an act of
unsportsmanlike conduct. The only time it would not be penalized is if the
wrestler received permission from the official to do so. Should this
infraction occur before wrestling has started or after the completion of
wrestling, it would be a deduction of one team-point from the offender’s
squad. However, if the offense takes place during the match, the violator’s
opponent would receive a match point.

Note, there is a variation of the rule in West Virginia. The unauthorized
lowering of shoulder straps anywhere in the gym during competition is
considered unsportsmanlike.
———————————————————-

What is everyone’s take on this rule? Is it different from state to state?
Have you seen it enforced?

By Bob Sherwin

Seattle Times staff reporter

It’s never going to leave, that painful image of defeat. Not in Dan Gable’s mind, not in this lifetime. He won’t allow it. He clings to it like a drowning man trying to stay afloat, because he understands what once had defeated him also made him a champion.

It doesn’t matter that it’s been 30 years. Time heals nothing, not the memory, not the legend and not the gap between the two men, Iowa State’s Dan Gable, the greatest wrestler of all time, and a confident University of Washington sophomore named Larry Owings.

“I don’t think he’s out of my head even today,” Gable said recently.

Their epic match 30 years ago altered the lives of both in ways not anticipated and provided the sport with a story to pass down through generations on the scope of a Biblical parable.

“People are still talking about it,” said Ron Good, editor of the Amateur Wrestling News. “It’s the biggest upset ever in the sport, and it’s a fascinating story.”

Before The Midlands, there was The Wilkes (and still is, though it is mostly for JV wrestlers now).

Many of you fellow old-timers on the Forum surely remember ‘The Wilkes’ , the Rose Bowl of Wrestling, from back-in-the-day. Going thru a scrapbook from the 50s yesterday, I came across an article on the December, 1955 Wilkes tournament. I pass along some highlights:

A capacity crowd saw the finals at the Wilkes College gym. A total of 7.500 people attended the two-day (four sessions) event.

Pitt won the tournament, followed by Michigan, Syracuse and Cornell. Penn State might have won it but several of their guys wrestled ‘unattached’.

Billy Sheridan presented the trophies to the individual champions. Keith Morris, Public Relations Director for Sports Illustrated, presented the team title and runner-up trophies to Pitt and Michigan.

Numerous Olympians and former AAU, NCAA and EIWA champions participated in the tournament. Cornell graduate Frank Bettucci won his 6th Wilkes title at 147 pounds. Sid Nodland, a former AAU champion from Mepham & PSU, won at 123 pounds.

125
1st – #2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern) dec. #4 Tyler Clark (Iowa State), 3-2
3rd – #3 James Nicholson (Old Dominion) dec. Scott Sentes (Central Michigan), 3-2
5th – Ben Ashmore (Unat.) dec. #8 Jay Ivanco (Clarion), 2-1
7th – #5 Anthony Robles (Arizona State) fall Ben Kjar (Utah Valley University), 5:11

Notes: Precin scores takedown in the third period for the win.

133
1st – #4 Daniel Dennis (Iowa) dec. #2 Nick Fanthorpe (Iowa State), 4-3
3rd – #1 Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois) dec. #3 Steve Bell (Maryland), 6-1
5th – Montell Marion (Iowa) default Tristen DeShazer (Northern Illinois)
7th – Todd Schavrien (Missouri) dec. C
Conor Beebe (Central Michigan), 7-5

Note: Second period takedown for Dennis is the difference in the match.

141
1st – #8 Zach Tanelli (Wisconsin) dec. #2 Alex Tsirtsis (Iowa), 9-3
3rd – #3 Nick Gallick (Iowa State) med. forfeit Tony Dalie (Central Michigan)
5th – #7 Ryan Williams (Old Dominion) fall Dalton Jensen (ISU-Unat.), 1:32
7th – Marcus Hohen (Missouri) dec. Scott Kelly (Indiana), 5-2

Note: Tanelli down 3-2 in the third period but scores a takedown followed by a two-point nearfall and a three-point nearfall for the win.

By Philip Hersh | Tribune reporter

Jake Herbert continues to take nothing for granted in his prolonged career as a Northwestern student-athlete.

Herbert may not have lost a college wrestling match since 2006 — and just one of 81 matches since his freshman season — but he refuses to consider himself the favorite for what would be his second straight NCAA title at 184 pounds.

And he may need just one more class to graduate in March, but that does not mean Herbert will refuse the opportunity for more.

“I will be fully enrolled,” Herbert said. “I have been lucky enough to get a free Northwestern degree, so why would I miss out on some classes?”

As he prepares for his final appearance as a collegian at the annual Midlands Wrestling Championships on Monday and Tuesday at Northwestern, it is clear Herbert, 23, has availed himself of every opportunity during a six-year stay in Evanston.

After taking a redshirt first year to adapt to college, Herbert’s first major tournament was the Midlands in 2004, when he became the first NU wrestler to win an individual Midlands title in 30 years.

By Roger Moore

STILLWATER, Okla. – On the mat Peter Steele Blair was as tough and intimidating as anybody who’s ever put on a wrestling singlet.

Off the mat he put forth the same effort in regards to his fellow man and service to his country.

Blair, who died June 29, 1994, after a short bout with cancer, will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum next June as part of the Class of 2009’s Distinguished Members.

Joe Gattuso, a two-time All-American, was a teammate of Blair from 1951-55 at the Naval Academy. Midshipmen head coach Ray Swartz tabbed Gattuso, a 167-pounder, and Blair, a 177-pounder, the “Goldust Twins.”

“I don’t really remember why, they just called us that because we were special at the time,” said Gattuso, who was also fullback for Navy’s 1954 Sugar Bowl-winning team. “We worked with each other quite a bit. He was absolutely as tough as anybody I wrestled.”

“The thing about him was that he could go forever, his endurance was pretty incredible.”

While at the Naval Academy, Blair compiled a 57-5 record – he did not lose a match as a junior and senior – and won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956.

By Roger Moore
Even if Edward Eichelberger had never wrestled a match for Lehigh University he’d be remembered as one of the great individuals to ever set foot on the Pennsylvania campus.

“He was a real inspiration to me, a great teammate to have,” said Joe Gratto, a two-time All-American and 1957 NCAA champion. “There was never any question about his integrity and he was a 4.0 (GPA) or close in the toughest major at Lehigh.”

“He was Senior Resident in the dormitories and a very strong member of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). Just a class guy.”

After graduating from Lehigh in 1956 with a B.S. in electrical engineering, Eichelberger joined IBM where he would spend the next 38 years until his retirement in 1994. He received his Masters and Ph.D. from Princeton, and along the way received 25 patents in the fields of chip, circuit and test design.

In 1974 he received the “Outstanding Contributor Award” from IBM for technical publications and patents.