I remember many matches but mostly the losses. 1 have come to the conclusion that I hated to lose more than I loved to win—perhaps because 1 always expected to win. The two matches I remember most vividly were my loss in the 1985 NCAA semi-finals to Eddie Urbano of Arizona State and my match versus Tony Arena, a win, in the 1983 East Stroudsburg Open. I can almost replay the whole match in my head, but worst of all I thought I was going to win the match in OT on criteria because I had more riding time. But it wasn’t til very late in the match (I think about 15–20 seconds left) did I understand that because I had a stall warning, that negated the riding time. Not good. As for the Arena match, it was special because it was my very first ever college wrestling competition after a year-and-a-half layoff (I red-shirted my freshman year after an extensive shoulder surgery, and there was quite a bit of doubt that 1 could come ever come back and compete at a high level).
There are lots of these memories, and here are several:
Practice in the wrestling room, a Mt. Nittany climb, or stadium-step climbing.
The after-practice crawls were always a tough thing to look forward to, especially when Fritzy and Hachiro would make us do extra when some guys dogged it. Many teammates would get upset at the main culprit, Chertow!!!
Scrimmaging with Elinsky.
We had some great battles, and I was always tired after those practices.
Dummy practice.
Working with Hachiro to throw the dummies. I bet by the time I left in my senior year, I had thrown that dummy Bill over 10,000 times total.
My very first stadium climb.
I had been on exercise embargo during my red-shirt freshman year, and I wasn’t even allowed to run until my arm was healed enough. So, upon my official clearance in October of 1982 (seven months after surgery), I was finally allowed to run, and at that point the team had been through a fair amount of pre-season conditioning and had already run the stadium several times so 1 jumped in and tried to do a stadium workout. Proudly (or perhaps stupidly) I made it all the way through, but then I had to endure a week of virtual bed rest because I had so much lactic acid in my legs I literally couldn’t walk!
Best wrestling room story.
I had daily drilling sessions with Fritzy during the season, usually late morning. One morning we were about halfway through out session when Elaine Malin came pounding on the window of the wrestling room trying to get our attention because the door was locked. After a couple of minutes, Fritzy saw Elaine, but waited because I was in the middle of my set. Finally he went over to the door, and I saw Elaine with a serious look on her face talking to Fritzy. (I was peering up from the 50 push-ups he made do while he went over to speak to Elaine). When he came back I asked him what had happened, and he said don’t worry about it, we will have 15 minutes til we’re done. But I pressed him, and he said, “Don’t worry, Mary Beth called and she said there’s some kind of a small fire at our house but I’m sure it’ll be okay. Let’s just finish up here first!!! True story, I promise.
Parent/fan support in Rec Hall.
We sure had lots of great fans and support. There are many I can think of but never all. A few that stand out: Sam Lestz, Howie Schneider, Zeno, Mr. Fritz [John’s father], and, of course you, Connie [Christiansen]! Of course, I couldn’t hear any of them because my father’s yelling would drown everyone out!
Team members who pushed you to your highest level.
The one who pushed me to my highest level was surely Greg Elinsky. Since we were a weight class apart we were always competing/scrimmaging in the room, and anytime you’re getting pushed in practice by a great teammate that’s always going to translate into better results in competition.
Coaches who challenged you to that “big” win.
I could go on a long time here, but the overriding theme would be that I was very lucky to have a great coaching staff, especially because they were most interested in “life coaching” versus just on-the-mats. I believe my coaches were teachers and educators as much as they were wrestling coaches, and I consider myself privileged to have been a part of a program with such great people.
Bus trips and hotel stays.
Nobody ever wanted to get me as a roommate on the road because I had a bad teeth-grinding habit. Poor scrawny Flynny got the short end of that stick for a few years!
What wrestling has meant to me.
There are many life lessons that I take away from my experience as a student-athlete at Penn State, all of which I’d like to think live with me every day. I showed up as a boy in State College in August of 1981 and left in May of 1986 as a young man. It’s hard to describe in words what the whole experience meant to me, but I feel like I learned that if you think big, act small, and grind it out, lots of good things are going to happen in life. Now, with 20 years of hindsight, I think that’s about exactly how it’s played out in real life for me.
