I'm always trying to think of fun and exciting topics to write about that will intrigue wrestling fans and generate discussion. I think a fun topic would be to interview wrestlers who grew up and wrestled in states that either provide no Division I wrestling opportunities or absolutely no collegiate wrestling programs at all. The main question I would want to present to them, would be if they would have had the opportunity to stay at home and wrestle in their home state, would they have?
For example, let's take Josh Lambrecht who won a Southern Conference title for UT-Chattanooga and then transferred to Oklahoma where he finished his career as a three time All American placing 7th, 2nd and 3rd at the NCAA championships. Had the state of Florida, where he wrestled in high school, had Division I college wrestling opportunities, would we have seen Lambrecht as a Florida Gator, a Florida A&M Rattler or a Florida State Seminole rather than an Oklahoma Sooner?
This question could be addressed to a numerous amount of wrestlers from Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Washington, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Texas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Vermont.
Truth is, we would all love to see Division I wrestling in these states. Inconvenient truth is, there are still a lot of wrestlers that would have left their home states to wrestle at more illustrious and successful programs.
Delaware State University provided a Division I college wrestling opportunity for its high school wrestlers, but the best wrestlers in the state of Delaware weren't attending DSU when they graduated. Arguably one of the greatest wrestlers to ever come out of Delaware, Sheldon Thomas took his talents to Clarion, where he finished as a three time All American, including winning an NCAA title in 1996. Had he have had that success at DSU, would that have helped to propel the program to new heights? Would his success have gotten other recruits to want to go to DSU?
In more recent times the state of Delaware has produced talent like Chris Diaz and Jarrod Garnett, both of whom where All Americans for Virginia Tech. Garnett was a three time ACC champion. If DSU wrestling had still be around, would either of these talented young men have been Hornets?
How about Iowa heavyweight Bobby Telford? The workhorse Delaware native took his phenomenal work ethic to the Hawkeye State where he took 5th-DNP-4th-5th at the NCAA championships, wearing black and gold. Ask yourself an honest question. If DSU still had a wrestling program when he graduated high school and they had made him an offer, would he have taken it?
Would any of these guys? Would Zach Roberson, Kansas native, who won an NCAA title in 2004 for Iowa State, have wrestled for Kansas, Kansas State or Wichita State had the opportunity been available?
I ask this question because it is a very important question that we wrestling fans need to address. If we're going to cry and complain every time a Wagner or a Duquesne or a Portland State or a Eastern Illinois drops its program, then we better be asking ourselves, why are these programs being eliminated? Could it have anything do with the fact that they didn't generate much of a fan base? Could the fact that they didn't generate much of a fan base have anything to do with the fact that they weren't competitive and successful in their conference and in the NCAA? If so, why weren't they competitive? It may not be a question we want to look at directly in the face, but it is a question that we need to address.
In 2004, when Matt Gentry won an NCAA title for Stanford, he became the first and to this day, the only NCAA champion that the Cardinal wrestling team has ever produced. He made a statement, stating that he wanted to be an example, a role model to young wrestlers everywhere that they didn't need to attend an Iowa, a Minnesota or an Oklahoma State in order to achieve their goals. He went to a school, not known for it's wrestling program and he made it his goal to put Stanford wrestling on the map. You know what? That's exactly what he did.
If you look back through the history of Stanford wrestling, the Cardinal produced an All American about once every four years. Dave Lee placed 5th in 1986, Steve Buddie placed 4th in 1990, Todd Surmon placed 7th in 1996 and Beau Weiner placed 7th in 1999.
After Gentry won the NCAA title in 2004, Stanford wrestling climbed to new heights, producing All Americans seven out of the last ten years.
2006: Tanner Gardner 8th
2007: Tanner Gardner 7th, Josh Zupancic 7th
2008: Tanner Gardner 5th, Josh Zupancic 6th
2010: Nick Amuchastegui 4th
2011: Nick Amuchastegui 2nd, Zach Geisen 6th, Ryan Mango 6th
2012: Nick Amuchastegui 2nd, Ryan Mango 5th
2015: Jim Wilson 8th
Gentry was the match that needed lit to start the fire. Our sport needs more wrestlers like him who are willing to take the risk and go to the Lock Havens or the Bloomsburgs or the Browns or the Bucknells to begin something. I'm not knocking the kids who go to the Iowas or the Minnesotas or the Penn States to help continue to fuel a fire that is already burning hotter than the blazes of Hell. I'm not saying anything against that at all, but I am saying that if a young man wants to try and be the beginning of something, if he wants to be the one who starts the fire, then by all means we as the wrestling community should be behind him, supporting him 100%.
It is attitudes like the ones of Matt Gentry, who are going to save our sport. It's attitudes like the one of Matt Gentry that are going to grow our sport. Nathan Kraisser recently transferred to Campbell where he hopes to become the Camels first ever Division I All American. I hope he's able to do just that, because that's exactly what the sport of wrestling needs. That's exactly what Division I college wrestling needs.
