After winning the Espoir Freestyle National Title, Coach Oishi congratulated me and then made me go into the corner to do pushups and squats—200 each.
I remember one Sunday morning leaving my apartment where I lived with Troy Sunderland, Yu Matsui, and Matt White. We were all big ice cream fans. I left around 9 a.m. at which time one of the above was sitting eating a five-gallon party tub of ice cream, Oreo Cookie flavor, to be exact. Let’s just say that when I returned after 6 p.m., the party tub was empty, and Yu and Matt had nothing to do with it.
Many Oishi challenges occurred in the wrestling room however. I also recall eating a whole caramelized fish simply because I was told that if I wanted to be a national champion, I shouId eat it. So, of course, I did.
I recall running the stadium steps as a freshman, coming to the last row on the west side, with Coach Oishi, Tim Flynn, and maybe Johnny Orr (not sure) at the bottom yelling to me that some others were close behind. I then heard footsteps as if someone was coming up right behind me. Well, there was no one behind me—just the coaches running in place. I certainly went faster but soon tripped and almost rolled down the steps.
I will never forget Fritzy’s enthusiasm [John Fritz], positive attitude, and ability to work out 24/7 with anyone—118 lbs or HWTs .
I always enjoyed seeing Coach Lorenzo early in the a.m. with his 32-oz Diet Pepsi from Uni-Mart and then seeing him sleep against the wall, one eye open during practice (not all the time, ha-ha).
Wrestling was and still is a very important part of my life. It helped mold me into the person I am today. Discipline, persistence, determination, and loyalty are a few of the intangible qualities that I developed from wrestling and now utilize in my daily life. The relationships I have developed are by far some of my strongest and most important. I will always look back on my time at Penn State (prior to transferring to Cornell) and be thankful for being a part of such an amazing tradition and family.
