You wouldn't think that a freshman in high school standing 5 feet tall and weighing about 95 pounds would be a recruiting target, but I actually was. No, I was not being recruited by Michigan to play tailback, although I sure would've liked that. After all, football was my favorite sport. And I wasn't being recruited by UCLA to play basketball, although I sure would've liked that also. So who in the world would recruit a freshman who weighed 95 pounds for anything? I was being recruited for the high school wrestling team. You see, 95 pounders were pretty valuable guys to have on the team. Some schools didn't have a 95 pounder on the wrestling team and they would have to forfeit that weight class. Meaning, you got an automatic win in that weight class if you had a guy on your team that weighed 95. One of the most basic ways to have a competitive wrestling team is to make sure that you fill all the weight classes. Well, they had their eye on me for that 95 pound spot.
Now of course, there aren't too many guys walking the halls of high school that weigh95 pounds. So early in the fall when I was on the football team I became the target of the wrestling coach. Mr. Gross was his name and he was the line coach for the varsity football team. He was an older coach, had a big barrel chest, and always looked mad. Every time he saw me out on the practice field, or coming in or out from practice, he would always stop me and say, "NL,” in that nasal voice of his, "are you gonna come out for wrestling?" At first I ignored him because I have to admit I was a little scared of Mr. Gross. Secondly, I had never wrestled in my life. Oh ,I had wrestled in the backyard with my buddies and with my brothers, but not this kind of wrestling with rules. In fact, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a high school wrestling team. I played basketball in grade school and although I wasn't great, I started on the grade school basketball team and had a fair amount of success. We didn’t have a wrestling team. So when Mr. Gross started asking me if I was going to wrestle, my response of course, was no. Now I didn't tell HIM that, because as I said, I was a little bit afraid of Mr. Gross. So my strategy was just to pretend like I didn't hear him or duck him whenever I could. Eventually, I had to answer because he continued to ask me if I was going to wrestle. My response was a very definite, "ummm maybe." Why couldn't this guy just take a hint? There was no way I was getting talked into this.
Toward the end of the football season, one night after practice, one of the captains of the wrestling team who was not playing a fall sport, grabbed me and brought me into the wrestling room. In the room was a handful of guys practicing takedowns. At least that's what they said they were doing. I believed them because I didn't know what a takedown was. Well, Mr. Wrestling Captain paired me up with another little freshman and said, "You guys are going to go takedowns for a little bit. Mr. Gross said you were interested in wrestling." "What do I do?" I asked. “Well”, the captain replied, “You just try to get a hold of him and take him down to the mat.” He looked at my opponent and winked. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, so I just figured I'd try to tackle him just like I did on the football field. The captain blew his whistle, and I charged in low and hard, grabbed both legs and took the guy to the mat. The captain was in disbelief! He had been working with this other little guy for the last two weeks and I walked in to the room and took him down in about 5 seconds. After chastising my opponent, he told us to try again. Again I tackled my opponent to the mat in about five or 10 seconds. Now the captain was really chastising my opponent. His protégé had just gone down twice in 30 seconds. He told me that was enough, and sent me to the locker room.
Mr. Gross must've gotten wind of what happened, because the next day he told me that I was definitely going to wrestle. I finally said, "Mr. Gross I've never wrestled in my life, I don't think I can do it." Well, he had a good answer for me. The old coach said, "Are you tough?" "Yeah, I'm tough." I said. "Are you a good athlete?" “Yeah, I'm a good athlete.” “ Then you can wrestle!” growled the old coach, and that was that. He sure knew how to appeal to my cockiness.
When the football season got over, I figured I'd give wrestling a try. So on the first day of practice I reported to the team. I walked in to see about 30 other guys in the practice room. Most of them were football players so I felt right at home. I didn't know the rules, I didn't know any moves, and I had no clue what was going on. The one thing that I can remember about my first wrestling practice, is that about 20 minutes into it I threw up. I thought I was in good shape. After all, I had been playing sports my entire life. But I wasn't ready for this. It took only a few minutes and I was so tired I could barely get off the mat. After barely making it to the bathroom I threw up in the toilet, wiped my mouth with my t-shirt and headed back into the room. What had I gotten myself into?
Thanks again to http://www.chiefpigskin.com for letting me share.
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