I am here to tell you when a Brad Bruhn from Cortland or a Jon Egan from Roger Williams, or a Lonnie Morris from Johnson and Whales or a Shaun Lally from Muhlenberg or a Dean Zenie from Mount St. Vincent or a Joe Patrovich from LIU Post comes calling inquiring about your services to wrestle for their DII or DIII programs, to listen.
They are good people.
It took 5 years of Falling Forward, sometimes battling for inches at a time when miles were needed.
In the end, without the inches the miles aren’t traveled.
Perhaps the biggest pride I take in having wrestled is that I introduced the sport to my son.
The devastation, heartache, and pain were as you may imagine, unfathomable for us all, but I worried the most about my seven-year-old baby boy Mookie.
All the on the mat success is great, but I am most grateful to wrestling for being the glue which has kept my family closer together.
We hit a few tournaments, and he begged to go to more, but I wasn’t sure how deep I wanted him to get involved with a sport that failed me.
I was in the drive-thru at a Sonic when I got a phone call from an unknown number.
I answered it.
It was my doctor.
We went out of bounds and I saw the exhaustion in my opponent’s eyes.
I was always told to wrestle every match like it was my last, but I never believed my last match would come before I expected.
None of what will happen in my future would be the same had I not wrestled, and for that, I am forever grateful to this sport.
