Talking with another wrestling fan the other night, I was asked how and when I became the amateur wrestling enthusiast that I am. Well, to answer that question I think it is a fairly simple, straight forward answer.
I started wrestling when I was 7 years old. Around this time I attended my first collegiate dual meet, which happened to be at the University of Iowa. For the longest time, from about 1991-1999, I only followed Iowa wrestling.
Then in 1998, my Dad played slow-pitch softball with a guy by the name of Benjie Winegarden who had wrestled for Waldorf College and taken an 8th place All American finish at the NJCAA wrestling championships. He was transferring to Iowa State University, where he was going to walk onto the team at 141 lbs.
The following season, I got to know Iowa State wrestling pretty well. Benjie got me signed t-shirts, posters and even brought me in to meet the team a couple of times. It was a very neat experience.
He then got my Dad and I tickets to the 1999 BIG 12 Championships.
It was a blast. We sat right down in front with a huge group of Cyclone fans. There was so much good wrestling. My dad knew a few of the other wrestlers from other teams, like Dave Kjelgaard of Oklahoma, but other than that we only knew the Iowa State wrestlers.
I didn't like this. I wanted to know who these other kids from other schools were. And that's really when it all began.
I began studying the sport like crazy. Come 2000-2001 I wanted to know as much about Division I wrestling as I could. And I've been like that ever since.
Winegarden unfortunately finished one match shy of Qualifying, taking 4th place. I want to say he sat out the 1999-2000 season and then was beat out for the varsity position by Aaron Holker the eventual 2002 NCAA champion the following year. Not 100% positive about that.
Anyway, I suppose it all began there. And I have Winegarden to thank for making a College wrestling fan out of me.
