Lee Kemp: Legend on the Rocks

The Lee Kemp Story The most complete story about one of the greatest wrestlers of all time

The Lee Kemp Story

CONTENTS Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Foreword .................................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1 - Late Bloomer......................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 - The Legend of Dan Gable ................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 3 - Slow Start - Big Finish......................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 4 - One College Blinks, Another’s Eyes Stay Wide Open.......................................... 11 Chapter 5 - Two High School Finals on Big Stages........................................................................ 12 Chapter 6 - An Athlete and Wrestling Program with Something to Prove.......................... 15 Chapter 7 - “I Am Going to be a Four- Time NCAA Champion”............................................... 17 Chapter 8 - So, So Close......................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 9 - Kemp the King Killer........................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 10 - Boring.................................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 11 - Three-Time NCAA Champ Versus Three-Time NCAA Champ?........................ 22 Chapter 12 - In Pursuit of Gold............................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 13 - Wrestling- Where were you in 1980?........................................................................ 34 Chapter 14 - Real World........................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 15 - Highway to Hell.................................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 16 - Broken Home...................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 17 - Love Stinks........................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 18 - Better In Time..................................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 19 - I’m Still Standing................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 20 - My Terms.............................................................................................................................. 42 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................................. 43

CREDITS: Pat Christenson, Writer/Producer Brian Hurlburt, Project Manager Chris Jones, Graphic Design

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PREFACE Kemp vs. Yagla - One of nine times they wrestled

Kemp vs. Gable - As a sophomore, Lee falls his hero

About the Writer/Producer

Pat Christenson is President of Las Vegas Events. He won the NCAA Wrestling title in 1976, coached high school wrestling until 1980 until he moved to Las Vegas to be a UNLV Assistant Wrestling coach and Event Coordinator for Athletics. From 1983 until 2001 he managed the Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium.

“Lee’s is just one of many iconic wrestlers whose story should be told. I hope others will invest their time to tell the stories of wrestling’s legends.”

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FOREWORD Pat and Lee at the NCAA Championshiop in Tucson, AZ. 1976

I am Pat Christenson and 43 years ago I won the 167-pound national title at the 1976 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Since wrestlers started competing for NCAA titles, more than 700 have won one.

I had the honor of winning my first title while wrestling in the same room as Lee Kemp, when he won his first NCAA title. But when I won my title, he was already a runner-up and would win two more NCAA titles and three world championships. There have been many accounts of Lee Kemp’s story. However, no one has told the full story. Until now. I didn’t imagine this being as comprehensive, but the more I discovered, the more I wanted to know. And now you will, too.

Lee’s story is one of recurrent challenges, beginning with growing up as a black athlete in an all-white community and participating in a sport that was also predominantly white. Despite that, his commitment and focus resulted in him becoming one of the Top Five wrestlers ever. However, in 1980, at the peak of his career, he was denied the opportunity to accomplish what he spent his entire career pursuing. He was denied, not by an injury or a bad match, but by politics. It not only would crush him emotionally, but became a trigger for decades of adversity, disappointment, and even prison.

“At the peak of his career, Lee Kemp was denied the opportunity to accomplish what he spent his entire career pursuing, not by an injury or a bad match, but politics.”

–Pat Christenson

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Lee and Pat recording “A Legend on the Rocks” podcast.

INTRODUCTION Kemp’s first NCAA title in 1976.

At the 1982 World Championships, Lee beats Karabin from Czechoslovakia 3-0 for Gold medal.

We can all remember where we were when historical and impactful things took place in our lives. Lee Kemp will never forget where he was when President Jimmy Carter announced our Olympic athletes would be boycotting the 1980 Olympics. The devastating disappointment would tip the scales of the life of one of the greatest athletes in history. “I didn’t know what to do. I felt like a death had occurred, you know, death,” recalls Kemp. Instead of Olympic gold at the end of his career, and the benefits that accompany it, the episode would trigger a couple of decades of turmoil.

“I think in 1981, and I’ll go out on the limb here. I was a national coach. Lee beat the best guy in the world by two points and beat the worst guy in the world by 2 points,” says Stan Dziedic, 1978-84 USA Wrestling freestyle coach, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and current Vice President of United World Wrestling.

After 1980, Kemp spent four more years chasing his dream, but his athletic clock was ticking and the reality of competing in the toughest weight class in the world caught up to him.

‘Your time clock is going to run out,” says Olympic Silver Medalist and Wisconsin Assistant Wrestling coach, Russ Hellickson. “If you look historically at the 163-pound weight class in the United States, it is absolutely staggering the quality of athletes who have competed at that weight.”

Not only did Kemp win three NCAA -Lee Kemp titles at Wisconsin, he also left with an Kemp won three NCAA titles and MBA. But he didn’t easily adapt to the was a split decision away in the finals his business world. Until 1990, when he took freshman year from winning four. He over a floundering car dealership. won three world championships.

“Ford had a company-owned store, “There was no one that we knew, with the and had an employee running it, just exception of Dan Gable, who had previously keeping the doors open until they found had this kind of success,” says John Bardis. somebody, eager enough, or maybe naive “Lee had physicality, balance and patience enough, to put up their own money and and he was impenetrable on his feet.” grow it into a thriving business.”

Some criticized it as conservative.

Throughout high school and college,

“I didn’t know what to do. I felt like a death had occurred, you know, death.”

Kemp did little dating, so when he was ready to settle down, he was unprepared for the challenges of selecting and marrying the right woman.

As his Ford dealership was turning the corner, life would deal him another blow.

A blow that would cost him and his kids 15 years of adversity and misery, his marriage immediately crumbling under the weight of an emotionally ill wife who demonized him.

“She was at the height of her disorienting anger, accusation and complete aggression towards Lee,” recalls Bardis.

Kemp’s marriage would lead him into to the lowest point in his life, jail.

“It was horrible man. It was like the worst thing that you can ever imagine,” Kemp recalls painfully.

Following three NCAA championships and two world titles, there weren’t many that did not see Olympic Gold for Kemp.

Life doesn’t always follow the script.

Sometimes, it makes up its own story.

“There was no one that we knew, with the exception of Dan Gable, who had previously had this kind of success.”

- John Bardis

The LEE KEMP story 5

Kemp family in 1961

“I remember the day they made the transfer,” says Kemp. “I remember getting in the car, and then stopping in the driveway of what would be my home, with my new family and my mom.”

Kemp was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on Kemp had a new home, but it was in Christmas Eve day, 1956, to a 17-yearCleveland, Ohio, at a time when racial tenold, single mother, Darnell Freeman. sion escalated into riots. He was in the midFreeman already had a child and was dle of one of the battlefields in this country, unable to care for Lee, so she gave him where bad news was the only news. up for adoption. He would be in foster “I was old enough to know what was care until he was five. Birth would be the going on in 1968 when Martin Luther first of many obstacles he would face.

King was assassinated,” says Kemp. “I was In 1961, Leroy and Jessie Kemp, old enough to know what that meant, although in their 50s, were looking for a and Bobby Kennedy being assassinated son. Kemp had found a family and with it shortly after. And, we were there, in a new name; Leroy Kemp.

Cleveland during the Hough riots.”

CHAPTER 1

Late Bloomer

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Kemp didn’t need to hear about racial tension on the news. All he had to do was walk out his door.

“I was aware of race issues because they were very prevalent,” recalls Kemp.

“I was aware that there were black neighborhoods and white neighborhoods. We didn’t go to the white neighborhoods and the white kids didn’t come to our neighborhood. My elementary school was all black. The teachers were black.”

Leroy and Jessie Kemp were part of the southern migration that took place in the 1940s and 1950s. Leroy was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where separate water fountains, harassment and the Ku Klux Klan were prevalent.

LATE BLOOMER Kemp’s parents LeRoy and Jesse Kemp

“You know there’s always that person in the room that’s hogging the instructor’s time with questions and never letting anyone else get a question in. That was me.”

- Lee Kemp

They were part of the great migration that brought hundreds of thousands of blacks from the south to industrialized cities in the north. Life in Cleveland was better than in the south, but not by much. As the inequalities of life for a black person became intolerable, Cleveland became one of the battlegrounds for equal rights.

The Kemps did not have to live in Cleveland. So, they moved to a more stable, but very white place. Here, Lee would learn to adapt to a white world.

“My parents just wanted out of that, so we moved to Chardon, Ohio, which was 30 miles Northeast of Cleveland,” remembers Lee. “We went from an all-black neighborhood to an all-white one. It wasn’t better, just because it was white. It was a better way of life; it was in the country.

“It allowed me to learn how to interact with white people,” he adds. “I remember when I went to Wisconsin, which was a predominantly white school.

There were some black athletes that

came from the inner city and never felt comfortable there. We used to talk about it.”

The Kemps bought a 25-acre farm with cows, chickens and pigs, but they were not farmers.

The farm was a piece of the American dream. His father worked in a factory in Cleveland and his mother was the cafeteria manager of a Cleveland inner city junior high school. Lee had a stable, yet strict upbringing.

The love parents showed their kids in the 1960s was much different than today. But the Kemps were just what Lee needed.

“His mother Jessie and his father Leroy were incredibly humble people and incredibly kind,” says Bardis, who had the opportunity to meet Kemp’s parents. “We were still in the early seventies. These folks had lived through some of the most difficult times in America, particularly for African Americans. I was deeply impressed by their kindness, their work ethic and their humility.”

Kemp has always had a quiet, introverted demeanor.

“I always was that way. I didn’t want to make any noise,” says Kemp. “Maybe that was because of the foster home, where being quiet and not getting noticed was a better way to survive. I learned how to survive by not opening my mouth.”

Chardon meant a secure neighborhood and schools, where Lee played lots of sports and, like most kids, he wanted

to be a basketball player.

“I went out for the basketball team in seventh and eighth grade and never played,” recalls Lee. “I had some friends who wrestled. They were always trying to get me to go out for wrestling. I would go to the wrestling matches and watch, but I didn’t want to wrestle.“ His gym teacher talked him into wrestling.

He won enough in his freshman year to stay motivated and started going to freestyle tournaments. He found a wrestling club at the YMCA where many better wrestlers, in and around Cleveland, worked out. He made varsity his sophomore year and won 11 matches, but in the summer of 1972, he would find a spark and Dan Gable would light the match.

“That summer my coach took me and a couple other Chardon wrestlers to a wrestling camp where Dan Gable was a clinician,” recalls Lee. “I had a chance to meet him. You know there’s always that person in the room that’s hogging the instructor’s time with questions and never letting anyone else get a question in. That was me. I was tugging on Gable’s arm. Can you show me this? Can you show me that? When he was drilling technique, I was his drill partner. I was obsessed to learn from this man.

“I learned a lot. Harold Nichols, head coach at Iowa State was there,” he adds.

“It was Oklahoma’s coach, Stan Abel’s camp. It was a great cross section of solid coaches. I wouldn’t go to lunch. I would stay in the room to watch Gable workout.

He was training for Munich. The Peterson brothers (Distinguished Members Ben and John) were working out with him.

That camp changed everything for me.”

The LEE KEMP story 7

THE LEGEND OF DAN GABLE Dan Gable at 1972 Olympics

CHAPTER 2

The Legend of Dan Gable In the 1972 Olympics, Dan Gable, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, set a new bar for commitment to winning and created a folklore responsible for motivating hundreds of wrestlers to national and international success.

Gable chose to wrestle at Iowa State, just 90 minutes from his hometown, where he would continue his dominant ways. He won the NCAA title his sophomore and junior seasons, going undefeated (at that time freshman could not compete in the NCAA tournament).

He developed a reputation as the most feared wrestler in the country, once pinning 24 opponents in a row. The folklore started and continued to build as he entered the NCAA finals his senior year as the only wrestler to go undefeated in high school and college.

Gable was a massive favorite over the University of Washington’s Larry Owings, a sophomore from Hubbard, Oregon, who cut 30 pounds to meet Gable.

Owings came into the match with five straight pins. Mike Chapman, a wrestling historian, remembers that “Owings was telling news outlets that he didn’t come here just to win a national title. I came here to beat Dan Gable.”

Owings, early on, got into Gable’s head.

“He got in my head the day before the tournament started, but I never knew anything about him,” recalls Gable.

Even with 181 straight wins, Gable was abnormally nervous.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” recalls Owings. “I’m not sure if anybody could have beaten me that night. I was on a real high. The adrenaline was flowing. I was ready to go.”

Gable could feel he was in trouble early.

“We’re 30, 40 seconds into the match and I was talking to myself. Telling myself

8 The LEE KEMP story

to wrestle harder, and this lasted the whole match,” remembers Gable.

Those who were there looked on incredulously as Owings took a 6-2 lead. But if you’re the greatest wrestler of all time that’s not enough. Is it?

Gable clawed back into the match and was leading by two with 30 seconds to go. But it wouldn’t be enough.

Another folklore milestone occurred on the podium. As he stood there in the runner-up position, head down and hands covering his face, the sold-out crowd was on their feet and could not be quieted. Gable remembers it.

“The crowd keeps going and going.

I keep thinking, would you guys shut up? Come on, shut up,” he says. “This is great. I appreciate it. But please stop.

The guy that was handing me the award walks over and says, ’Gable, would you look up? That’s all they’re waiting for.

When you look up, they’re going to stop.’”

Gable had no experience losing. How would he react?

“I needed that loss. I needed that loss to really get good,” said Gable.

He doubled and tripled down on his voracious work ethic and was more than ready for his first major international test.

It’s hard to overstate just how dominant the Soviet Union was on the international stage. They won every world and Olympic championship from 1969 to 1991. In 1971, Gable served notice to the wrestling world, when he entered the toughest tournament in the world in Tbilisi, Georgia, deep inside the Soviet Union. The finals was another match for the storybooks. Mike Chapman was there: “Every time they’d go off the mat in a flurry, Dan would be right back in the center,” says Chapman “The Russian would take his time getting back. Finally, near the end of the match, they had a big

flurry and the Russian got up and just walked off. He was done. Dan broke him mentally.”

Another folklore milestone. Gable not only won. He made the Russian quit.

Few appreciated great wrestling more than the Russians. They had never seen anything like Gable before, and they would scour the nation to find someone to beat him in Munich.

For most mortal wrestlers, a win like that would bring a sigh of relief and sense of confidence. But not Gable. He could smell the gold, but was not going to leave anything on the shelf in his quest to taste the dessert. Nothing! He again doubled down on his workouts.

In the Olympic Trials, he scored six pins and outscored his opponents, 121-0.

Gable went on to win every match in the Olympics, including the final against the Russian, and no one scored a point on him. Another feather in his hat. He would go on to coach at the University of Iowa where he won 15 NCAA team titles in 19 years. I am sure Kemp will learn a little bit from the folklore I just revealed to you. Nonetheless, once touched by this legend, he would never be the same!

CHAPTER 3

Slow StartBig Finish Socializing was a challenge for Kemp in high school. He was popular, even voted to homecoming court, but in an all-white Chardon, dating wasn’t much of an option. His one opportunity to date was a little awkward.

“At the banquet they paired you up with a girl. That was the first time I danced with girls,” Kemp recalls. “They picked and announced the king that night. Before the announcement, one of the white teachers came up to me and whispered in my ear. ’If you win, don’t kiss the girl on the lips, just give her a little hug and maybe a little peck on the cheek.’ I was so freaked out. I didn’t know what to think or say. I will never forget what that teacher said. It was taboo then. I am not sure what would’ve happened …”

Kemp was happiest when he was in the wrestling room where he was 100 percent in control of an outcome he could command. His enthusiasm turned to obsession.

“The wrestling camp and meeting Gable was a huge turning point for me,” said Kemp. “It allowed me to dream a little. There is a big difference between listening to a tape and going to a live camp. I watched Gable eating lunch.

Just seeing if there’s something different about him, or watching him tie his wrestling shoes.

“My eyes were always on him. He would get up and run in the morning.

I would get up before he would run, to watch him. I just watched him,” he continues. “The image of him leaving, going down this path to run, and then I sat there and waited for him to come back all sweaty. I imagined how hard he must’ve worked to get that sweaty.

Coming back that week from camp, I did that every single day. I took that back

Kemp at Chardon High School, Junior year in 1972

Coach Depenbrok congratulates Lee on state title

The LEE KEMP story 9

SLOW START BIG FINISH

Ohio State high school wrestling finals in 1973

with me and tried to emulate what I saw him doing.”

Kemp’s wrestling career turned the corner that summer. He would emulate Gable’s work ethic, his intensity, his sacrifice and commitment and … his winning! His coach, Richard Depenbrok, noticed the change.

“At that time, you were limited in the camps you could attend and practices outside of season. You had to wait to practice and drill because it wasn’t legal,” says Depenbrok. “What they got from it, more than anything else, was confidence from competing against kids outside Cleveland and our wrestling room. It’s 80 percent between your ears.”

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Thousands of kids have attended wrestling camps and listened to influential clinicians like Dan Gable. Many come away pumped up, thinking they were going to work that hard and be Dan Gable.

Few did! But it also takes a good coach.

Someone you can trust. An experienced technician and someone that believes in you. Richard Depenbrok never thought Kemp would lose and Lee felt it. Depenbrok’s coaching, philosophy and knowledge would be critical to Kemp’s winning foundation.

“I taught a lot of defense, good positioning, how to stop an attack. I didn’t force the attack because I didn’t have any kids that could force attacks,” recalls Depenbrok. “

We spent a lot of time learning the fundamentals of wrestling and the fundamentals of body position. Most wrestlers that win, win with fundamentals, they don’t win with fancy moves.”

Fully motivated, Kemp started to show some of the technique and tenacity that would define his championship career. How big was the impact of that summer? Kemp went undefeated and beat the defending state champion in the finals.

“He then knew who he was and how good he was, and he wrestled that way,” says Depenbrok. “He worked at it. He controlled and won every match his senior year.”

“She said, Mr. Kleven, you don’t have to worry because Leroy’s going to Wisconsin. You didn’t say nothing bad about nobody.” – Lee’s mom.

CHAPTER 4

One College Blinks, Another’s Eyes Stay Wide Open In his second summer camp, Kemp didn’t have to find coaches to pick their brains.

They found him. Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State, Oklahoma and more. It was time to think about college.

“I wanted to go to Michigan State because I had developed a relationship with Stan Dziedzic, the Michigan State wrestling coach,” recalls Kemp. “We were talking about me going there. I just assumed I’d get a full scholarship, but they didn’t have it for me for some reason. I wanted to go there anyway, but my dad said no.”

A small crack in the door had opened.

When Kemp appeared on the radar of Wisconsin’s new wrestling coach, Duane Kleven, the wrestling program was quickly turning the corner and getting a lot of attention.

“I was sitting in my office. Ken Kraft calls me, and says, ‘I didn’t see you at the Ohio State tournament,’” recalls Kleven.

Kraft, Northwestern coach, was high on a kid from Ohio named Lee Kemp. Wisconsin Athletic Director Elroy Hirsch had a connection in Ohio.

“I just got a call from a guy named John Grantham. They have a great wrestler in Ohio,” Kraft told Kleven.

“I said, I know. Lee Kemp. I’d just heard about him 20 minutes ago,” says Kleven.

“I called Lee and he said, ‘I’ve got it down to Michigan State and Oklahoma and, I’ve missed a lot of school.’”

“I was holding off signing the letter

of intent, hoping Michigan State would make a full offer,” recalls Lee. “The last conversation I had with Michigan State, they said they would call, but they didn’t.

That Friday morning, I just dropped the letter of intent with Wisconsin in the mail.

“And of course, what happens? Michigan State calls the next day and offers the full scholarship.”

Go back two days.

“John Grantham calls me,” says Kleven.

“He said the school just went on strike. I said, ‘are you kidding?” recalls Kleven.

Lee had a break from school.

“Grantham said he had a plane and they’d fly Kemp to Madison. He was here for two days and had a great visit. We offered him a full ride,” recalls Kleven, feeling the momentum swinging.

“I flew down there with the scholarship and checked into the Quail Hollow Motel, just a short ride from Chardon. I took the scholarship with me to his house and put it on the table,” says Kleven. “I could tell he wasn’t going to sign. I said, ‘I’m going to leave the scholarship here and I will be at the Quail Hollow Motel until you make up your mind.

“His mom followed me out to the car.

I’ll never forget that,” he added. “She said, ‘Mr. Kleven, you don’t have to worry, because Leroy’s going to Wisconsin. You didn’t say nothing bad about nobody’.

Apparently, Stan Abel and Grady (Penninger) bad mouthed each other and she didn’t like that at all

Wisconsin did not hesitate to offer Lee a scholarship. Michigan State did.”

The drama continues. Lee still wanted to go to Michigan State.

“My dad said no,” says Lee. “Wisconsin had come into the picture. He knew it was a good school, it was in the Big Ten and he said ‘you are going to Wisconsin’.

They offered you a full ride, you’re going to Wisconsin.”

On signing day, Dziedzic had found the scholarship money and called Lee. “He says I got the full scholarship,” recalls Lee. “I’m like, I, I’ve already mailed it.

There was dead silence. I felt terrible.

He said, ‘can you go get it back from the post office? My dad said, ‘there’s no way you’re going to do that.’”

Kleven camped out in Chardon waiting for Michigan State to blink. They did. But Kemp did not regret it for long.

“My recruiting trip was the most organized recruiting trip I’d went on,” says Lee. “I noticed guys were working out in the room. One of the things I always wanted to do (on a recruiting trip) was work out at the places I was recruited. Nobody was working out at Oklahoma. They had to unlock the room to show it to me. In the Wisconsin room, guys were coming and going and working out. It just looked like it was business as usual. It didn’t look like it was staged.”

Was it the right decision? “We beat Michigan State every year,” Lee recalls.

“It would have been tough being on their team because we would have been getting beat by Wisconsin. They never became a national program. Wisconsin was ranked as high as number two. That was rewarding.”

The LEE KEMP story 11

CHAPTER 5

Two High School Finals on Big Stages Before heading off to Wisconsin, Lee would wrestle in a dual meet of Ohio All-Stars against the dominate Russians.

The Americans were shutout when Lee took the mat.

12 The LEE KEMP story

Depenbrok remembers the match.

“We were getting killed. We hadn’t won a match. They dominated us. When Lee came out he got thrown to his back right off the bat and almost pinned. I don’t

know how he stayed off his back. I’m screaming, single, single…

Lee battled back to take the lead and then held off the Russian for the only American win. Another milestone for Lee.”

TWO HIGH SCHOOL FINALS “The first time Mark tried to scissor Lee, it looked like he was kicking an oak tree.” – John Bardis

“The Russian dual was a big part of my career and building confidence because Gable was beating the Russians,” says Lee. Lee had one more test before he moved on to college, the United States Wrestling Federation Junior Nationals.

But he almost didn’t enter. Wisconsin teammate Jim Hanson, who first befriended Lee while they were both working out at the YMCA in Cleveland, remembers the conversation he had with Lee. “He calls me two days before and he says, I’m not going to go. Well then, we get in a big fight. What do you mean you’re not going to go? I talked him into going. Right. I took 14th and he took first.”

At the tournament, Lee met a fellow Wisconsin recruit, John Bardis, who would become a friend for life. A student of the sport since he was 10, Bardis was immediately enthralled with Kemp who made quite an impression on his new

Wisconsin teammate.

“The weight class was pretty stacked,” remembers Bardis. “The legitimate top three freestylers were Paul Martin, a four-time All American at Oklahoma State; Mark Churella, a three-time NCAA Champion; and Lee.” Churella and Kemp met in the finals.

“It was a great match up, two incredibly successful and remarkable wrestlers,” says Bardis. “Mark was a tricky and kind of funky wrestler. He did a lot of very interesting things. Lee was so physically solid, that what normally worked on other people just didn’t work with Lee. It was very clear, at that point in time, he was way better than good.”

Churella had an arsenal of weapons in his attack and Lee had a pretty good defense on his feet.

“One of the things that I saw Churella do in early matches was, if anybody got his leg up in the air, he would scissors from behind, suck the guy back and re-

verse the takedown, says Bardis. “A lot of times he caught guys in a cradle and either scored points or pinned them.”

“The first time Mark tried to scissor Lee, it looked like he was kicking an oak tree,” said Bardis. “Not only did Lee not move, he simply stepped back, took the force of it and stepped around to finish the takedown. He was too strong and too well balanced.”

Churella remembers that match too. “I had the opportunity to wrestle some guy no one knew of, with the green eyes that would stare you down, from Ohio. His name was Lee Kemp.

Never heard of him and wasn’t really impressed with the fact that he was this guy from Ohio and won the state title. I was after revenge. I just lost in my state finals match and I’m going after this guy.

That was a mistake on my part.”

Lee won two state titles, beat the Russian and everyone else in the country.

But he had loftier goals for college.

No one knew just how lofty they were!

Lee Kemp v.

Alexander Markovich, Russia Click for Video

The LEE KEMP story 13

THEY SAID IT… PREFACE

“His competitiveness was off the charts. He had a psychological acceptance of the challenge and the personal drive to be exceptional. He was emotional in his performance. Not in a graphic way, but in a stern and fully committed. He wasn’t going to concede anything to anybody.”

- Russ Hellickson, Olympic Silver Medalist-UW Assistant Coach

“He knew his body. He knew how much he needed to do to be successful. And he was very deliberate in how he planned and prepared to win.”

“Did he ever miss practice? No. Was he ever out of shape? No. Would he ever be unprepared mentally or physically for a match? No.”

-Jim Haines, 1977 NCAA Champion and 1980 Olympic Teammate

-Stan Dziedzic, Two-Time NCAA Wrestling Champion and USA Wrestling Coach

“He went from a very, very black Cleveland to a very, very white Chardon,” – Richard Depenbrok, Kemp’s Cherelle School Coach

He said, coach, I’m not like everybody else. I said, you know something Lee, you’re right. Go wrestle with Russ.”

-- Duane Kleven, UW Wrestling Coach “The greatest transgression by far was the boycott in 1980. There was no justification, no rationale, no real reasoning. I think it was extortion; it was blackmail.” -- Wayne Baughman on President Carter’s Olympic Boycott

“His core position was ideal. He never conceded hip position on anything. And what people don’t realize is, it wasn’t so much his speed, but his quickness. His reaction to things was instantaneous.

And it was with full power.”

-Russ Hellickson, Wisconsin Assistant Coach and 1976 Olympic Silver Medalist

“I don’t see any way that you give a referee’s decision to anybody other than Lee. He would’ve and should’ve been a four-time NCAA champion.”

-- John Bardis, NWHOF Outstanding American

“The first time that Mark tried to scissor kick Lee, it looked like he was kicking an oak tree.” -John Bardis, NWHOF Outstanding American

“Having a three-time NCAA Champion and three-time World Champion as a coach, mentor and dad is special.” - Adam Kemp 14 The LEE KEMP story

CHAPTER 6

An Athlete and Wrestling Program with Something to Prove Duane Kleven was raised 20 miles from where he would eventually make his mark as a college coach. He graduated from Stoughton High School in 1957 after going 50-3, but not winning a state title. He wrestled at Wisconsin, but was not good enough to get a scholarship, so he went to work his senior year, coaching Wisconsin High School. After a two-year stint in the infantry, he took the job as the head wrestling coach at Racine Park High School. “We had a decent year,” recalls Kleven. “I took one kid to the state tournament, but I got a bus and I bussed the entire squad to Madison to watch the state tournament.”

It did not take long to make his mark as a high school coach. In the next two years, he won his first and second state championships. Wisconsin was looking for a coach and Athletic Director Elroy Hirsch said the coach had to be from Wisconsin.

“I have a football coach I hired from Illinois. I have a basketball coach from Indiana. The wrestling coach has gotta be from Wisconsin,” said Hirsch.

Kleven got the job. But the job was a challenge.

“They didn’t have any money,” recalls Kleven. “You walk on earn a scholarship.

Russ (Hellickson), his senior year, was the only one that went to the NCAA Tournament and coach George Martin couldn’t even afford to go with him.”

Kleven started at $11,500 a year and recruited, what would become the

UW Wrestling coach Duane Kleven congratulates Lee

second-best hire Wisconsin made for its wrestling program.

“Our total budget was $17,000,” says Kleven. “That included my salary and didn’t include the NCAA tournament.”

“Russ (Hellickson), his senior year, was the only one that went to the NCAA Tournament and coach George Martin couldn’t even afford to go with him.”

- Duane Kleven, Wisconsin Wrestling Coach, 1971-83

He didn’t have to go far to find an assistant. Russ Hellickson and Duane Kleven both grew up in Stoughton.

Russ’s work in his family’s tobacco fields was more difficult than working out for the World Championships.

“One year we had close to 80 acres of tobacco, which is very labor intensive,” says Hellickson. “It probably impacted my life more than anything. When I went into training camps in the 1970s, and I was in a lot of them, I thought I was on vacation, compared to being in the tobacco field.”

Hellickson did not start wrestling until he was a junior in high school and placed in the state as a senior. He walked on at Wisconsin, but would not realize his potential until 1970. ”I won the Midlands Tournament and at the end of 1970, I got a letter inviting

The LEE KEMP story 15

SOMETHING TO PROVE

Russ Hellickson - 1976 Olympic Silver Medalist UW Assistant coach

me to train with the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation,” recalls Hellickson. “The most powerful force in our human universe is influence. And I was fortunate to be influenced by very positive, productive and caring people at different times in my life. They impacted different aspects of my psyche. But the thing that impacted my international wrestling was Terry McCann and Doug Blubaugh, who were both Olympic champions in 1960.”

“The most powerful force in our human universe is influence. But the thing that impacted my international wrestling was Terry McCann and Doug Blubaugh, who were 16 The LEE KEMP story

both Olympic champions in 1960.” - Russ

In three months, Hellickson went from not understanding freestyle, to winning the National Greco-Roman Hellickson, 1976 Olympic Tournament, placing second in the Silver Medalist and Wiscon- National Freestyle Tournament, winning sin Assistant Coach, 1971-82 gold at the Pan American Games and a bronze at the World Championships.

Hellickson looks back on his first prac- He would add many more national and tice in a McCann wrestling room. international titles to his resume while ‘I didn’t even know what the rules coaching at Wisconsin. were for international wrestling. The The two Stoughton and UW graduates first day, I met Terry (McCann) 10 strategized on how to get the program minutes before the practice started, and on the move. Kleven was the recruiter, he introduced me to two guys. We had promoting the program on campus and a 40-45 minute, very intense warmup. organizing practices. Hellickson was I thought it was the practice,” says the technician and freestyle coach who Hellickson. “We wrestled for 35 or 40 connected well with everyone on the minutes, and I never scored a point. I got challenges of achieving lofty goals like the living tar beat out of me. Afterwards, NCAA titles. Wisconsin had yet to win I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Terry. an individual NCAA title. Their first He said, ‘tough day’. I said, tough team move was to dramatically upgrade their coach, I’m sorry. He said, ‘do you know schedule, adding Iowa State, Oklahoma who you were wrestling today? Bill Har- State and Oklahoma. They also created low just won a silver medal in the World their own tournament on their campus, Championships and he is a multiple the Northern Open.

Greco-Roman National Champion.’”

SOMETHING TO PROVE UW NCAA Champions from 1976-79

“By the Numbers 3 NCAA titles 3 World titles 3 Children 47 Collegiate Pins 143 Total Wins-College 109 Straight wins-college 424 Career wins 43 employees at Kemp’s auto dealership

CHAPTER 7

“I Am Going to be a Four-Time NCAA Champion” In 1975, Kemp had lofty goals that his high school career didn’t support.

“My freshman year in college, my goal was to be a four-time national champion.

It had never been done before. I mentioned that to Duane, and he said ‘Lee, that’s not going to happen.’”

Kleven and Hellickson ran regimented and demanding practices. This was not Iowa State. But Lee had his own schedule, which meant showing up for practice on what became known as “Kemp Time.”

“I’m not proud of saying this now, but

The LEE KEMP story 17

SOMETHING TO PROVE I remember my freshman year, we’d be practicing, and it would be the time to run. I don’t want to run. I want to keep drilling,” remembers Lee. “We were at a standoff. Kleven was military, so ….”

“I’ll never forget. One night he came in the room and I could tell he was in a bad mood,” recalls Kleven. “He asked me, ‘what are we doing?’ I said, ‘we’re going to drill a single leg.’ He sat down and said, ‘I don’t want to.’ I said, ‘Kemp, you’re going to drill a single leg like everybody else.’ He said, ‘coach, I’m not like everybody else.’ I said, ‘you know something Lee, you’re right. Go wrestle with Russ.’”

Fortunately, Kleven had some inside information.

“Mrs. Kemp told me, ‘coach Kleven, it don’t do no good to argue with Leroy.’

And she was absolutely right.”

“I don’t know, seven o’clock I was still rolling around with somebody,” says Lee. “I think he got it. I think he understood that I was different. He allowed me to find myself.”

Three UW NCAA Wrestling Champions in 1976

“He said, ‘coach, I’m not like everybody else.’ I said, ‘you know something, Lee, you’re right. Go wrestle with Russ.’”

– Coach Kleven

Kemp developed a solid leg attack and a technical foundation that he perfected in a talented wrestling room, with like motivated teammates.

“We had a competitive wrestling room. I remember working out with Ed Vatch and Russ,” Lee remembers. “Russ didn’t use his weight, but he was an Olympic silver medalist.”

Ed Vatch wrestled at 177 pounds when Kemp was a freshman. His senior year, Vatch beat Chris Campbell, in the Big Ten finals. Unfortunately, in the match, he tore ligaments in his knee,

18 The LEE KEMP story

an injury that ended his college career. Campbell won the first of his two NCAA titles that year. There were others in the room: 1976 NCAA champion Pat Christenson, All-American Steve Lawinger, and 1977 NCAA champion Ron Jeidy. Olympic gold medalists John and Ben Peterson would make regular appearances. But Kemp gained most of his competitive tools from Hellickson’s philosophy and technique. In the late 1970s, few colleges emphasized freestyle and international competition or took advantage of offseason compe-

tition. Wisconsin wrestlers didn’t train for international competition after they graduated. It was how they trained every day. A casualty of the team’s emphasis on its feet, was riding. Very few UW wrestlers were able to, or even tried to, ride their opponent. Their calling card was that everything came off their feet.

Hellickson’s series on the feet discouraged shooting to your knees. The whole series kept you on your feet until the takedown. The single leg, and all the options off it, was what defined UW’s amazing rise from obscurity.

SOMETHING TO PROVE Hellickson also emphasized control tie-ups, which in combination with keeping your head up and never going to your knees, enabled Lee to use his athletic ability to completely shut down an offensive attack, and score at will.

Lee’s first major test was the Northern Open, which besides the Midlands, was the toughest regular season tournament. Iowa, Iowa State, and a slew of great wrestlers, including Ben Peterson and Russ Hellickson, entered the Thanksgiving weekend tournament.

Kemp would get an early look at the national competition.

“Anybody could be there!” said Lee. “You don’t see that today in college tournaments. It was a chance to show myself how good I was.”

In the finals he defeated Iowa’s Chuck Yagla in overtime. It was the first of five meetings that year. In the Midlands, Lee lost to Bob Holland, who would go on to beat Yagla in a close match in the finals.

Lee placed sixth.

“My evaluation of all that is that I’m real close,” says Lee. “I’m right up there towards the top.”

Kemp would lose two more times to Yagla before the 1975 NCAA finals.

Kemp’s strength was on his feet. Yagla’s was on top, riding.

“He adjusted a little bit and maybe that came from coaching,” said Lee. “He made sure there wasn’t going to be a takedown. When I wrestled him in the dual meet, there was not a takedown.”

Kemp didn’t have an easy path to the finals. In his first match he went into overtime before beating SIU-Edwardsville’s Mike Taylor by a referee’s decision. In the semifinals he won a second overtime match with Iowa State’s Pete Galea, who had beaten Yagla the previous year.

“I thought Galea might have been better than Yagla,” remembers Kemp. “The match ended up in a tie again in regulation. My conditioning was good, and l kept mentally improving and I finally got

by Galea. That was a nice victory.”

CHAPTER 8

So, So Close….

Lee found himself one match away from achieving the first of his four-part college goal. He was in the NCAA finals, wrestling, who else? Chuck Yagla.

“I knew that I had to take him down if I was going to win that match. I had to get a takedown,” recalls Lee. “I knew that I couldn’t shoot underneath him, because he was so long, I snapped him down. He was pushing and I could sense he was a little off balance. He must’ve hit his head off the mat or something.”

This was the finals. Lee knew he had to do something different. He needed a takedown. Yagla knew he needed to ride Lee. The two scrapped through the eight regulation minutes, but again Lee was in an overtime match.

“In hindsight, I should have tried to ride him. Even if I was hanging onto his shoelaces, to get that minute riding time,” says Lee. “During regulation and in all the previous matches, I rode him in the overtime for a minute. If I didn’t ride him then I didn’t think I could win.”

In the first period of overtime, there was no takedown. Kemp chose the down position in the second period and for the first time Yagla rode him the whole period.

“In the third period, I’m on top. I have no choice but to ride him. He switches.

I’m barely hanging on. I’m doing stuff I never knew I could do,” says Kemp. “At the very end, he gets up on his feet and switches again. He cuts away and I drop down on a double leg and he falls on his hip again just as the buzzer goes off.”

The score was still tied. It came down to the referees determining the winner of the match.

“In my humble opinion, if you watched the Yagla-Kemp final match, I don’t see any way that you give a referee’s

decision to anybody other than Lee,” says John Bardis. “He would’ve and should’ve been a four-time NCAA champion. He got nothing but better from there.”

I don’t see any way that you give a referee’s decision to anybody other than Lee. He should’ve been a four-time NCAA champion.”

—John Bardis

Kemp lost the match by a split decision, a decision that denied him the opportunity to be the first four-time NCAA wrestling champion.

What would be the most important thing Lee would learn from his first NCAA tournament? Focus on scoring one point at a time and not on the outcome.

“From thereon, I was able to focus and compartmentalize what I needed,” says Lee. “If I needed a point, I knew I could get it.”

Lee would not be a four-time national champion. But he still had lofty goals, with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But he did not expect the opportunity to fell his hero.

Click for video

The LEE KEMP story 19

Kemp vs. Gable at Northern Open Finals in 1975.

Kemp and Gable on podium (sort of)

Kemp and Gable on podium (sort of)

CHAPTER 9

Kemp the King Killer In its third year of existence, the Northern Open was loaded with talent.

Olympic gold medalists John and Ben Peterson, Olympic silver medalist Russ Hellickson, two-time NCAA champion Carl Adams and the infamous Dan Gable were all entered. Not to mention full teams from Iowa, Iowa State and Wisconsin. But the star of this tournament would be the underdog.

“I didn’t think I was going to beat him,” remembers Lee. Him, was Dan Gable. The man he worshipped and used to inspire the lofty goals he set for his own march to gold.

“Dan taught me to understand what your strengths are,” said Lee. “He talked about it at that camp I went to in high school.”

20 The LEE KEMP story

Lee knew his own strengths and as the match grew closer, he became more confident.

“I knew I was strong and athletic,” says Lee. “I was always in great shape. I was confident in my technique and I didn’t venture outside of what I was good at.”

His roommates didn’t help his confidence much.

“I looked at him and said ‘I hope you don’t get pinned,” recalls Hanson. “He looks at me and says, ‘Jim, I think I can beat him.’”

“I wanted to wrestle better than the others in the tournament,” said Lee. “He pinned everybody.”

Others were trying to ease the pain of the inevitable loss.

“Duane (Kleven), meaning no disrespect to coach, but he didn’t want me to wrestle Gable,” says Lee. “I guess he thought it would crush my confidence and I would not be the same guy after that.”

“Russ and I had the same thought.

We were going to get them in different brackets, and they’ll meet in the finals,” recalls Kleven. “Lee would lose and that would be good for him. Lee shows up at the mat in his blue Junior World Champ singlet. I looked at Russ and said, ‘he didn’t come here to lose.’

Hellickson said, ‘I think it’d be better for everybody if he lost.’ I said, ‘I don’t think that’s his plan.’”

The UW Fieldhouse was packed. As the match began, Lee’s impenetrable stance made it difficult for Gable to get anything going. Gable pushed and tried to tie Lee up and took multiple shots. During Gable’s barrage Lee saw an opening and shot a single leg, which must have stunned Gable because Lee took him down easily. 2-0 Kemp.

An astonished, but ecstatic crowd came alive. Gable escaped to make it

KING KILLER 2-1. In the second period Lee was down and escaped easily to make it 3-1. Gable must have been thinking, “What was going on?” but he kept relentless pressure, firing a barrage of shots that ended up in a takedown to tie the score, 3-3. Gable rode hard for a minute, but not hard enough. Kemp escaped and took a onepoint lead, 4-3. In the third period Kemp rode him just enough to eliminate riding time. Score 4-3.

On their feet, Gable kept pushing hard and stretched a bit too long on a low single. In an intuitive move that Gable never saw coming, Kemp stepped over Gable’s outstretched arm, hooked a leg and took Gable to his back. Not long enough for back points, but he did score a takedown for a 6-3 lead.

“I had this move that I used to do,” said Lee. “I would step over a guy when I have a whizzer. You’re told not to do that. I was stunned that it worked on him.”

Gable quickly reversed him, tying the score, 6-6. The crowd was now in a frenzy! Lee escaped for a 7-6 lead and Gable mounted a furious and continuous attack, including a strong single that Kemp pulled up into a full bear hug. Lee, with only an arm bar, held Gable off for 20 seconds.

“In the last 30 seconds, he shoots relentlessly but I stayed in the middle of the mat so they couldn’t call me for stalling,” recalls Lee. “Gable was so aggressive trying to take me down. He got me in a bear hug.”

Kemp held him off for 30 seconds with a whizzer to beat his idol.

“I remember Russ looking at me and saying, he may never lose again,” recalls Kleven. “You know, something, you could be right.”

Kemp would go on to win his first NCAA title that year.

CLICK here to see the move and match; Kemp vs. Gable

CHAPTER 10

Boring!

How good was Lee? “Lee was a student of the sport. In fairness, as a starting point, he had an unquenchable thirst to get better” says Bardis. “His work reflected his results.

He had no weaknesses in his game. His work ethic was unbelievable. His genetics were the best you can possibly see in a human being. His conditioning, his quickness, he had no weaknesses.”

“He was independent, but totally understood what he needed to do to win,” says Hellickson.

There is more to winning, this much, at this level in college than working hard and having talent. You have to show up focused and prepared for every match.

Kemp did not have a lot of interests outside of wrestling and school. Mike Terry

and Hanson, both All-Americans at Wisconsin, roomed with Lee and recall the other side of wrestling in college.

“He was a balanced guy. He took care of business. He was a strong student with a difficult major, business,” says Terry. “He had heavy workloads that took a tremendous amount of time. He had a full day of school, but when three o’clock rolled around, it was time for wrestling practice. And, he would practice forever.

Then he’d go home, eat, study and then study for a couple more hours.”

“My sophomore year we travelled to Oklahoma. We were gone for a weekend,” Terry continues. “He came home and had a lot of homework. He had a managerial economics and a calculus 500 course. He locked himself in his room and banged out all that homework and took the tests. He had the kind of discipline that business school demanded.”

The LEE KEMP story 21

BORING Ward v. Kemp px-Kelly Ward gives Kemp all he can handle in Kemps last NCAA match before succumbing to the 3X champ.

Kemp v. Kelly Ward 1977 NCAA Finals

“In fairness, as a starting point, he had an unquenchable thirst to get better. His work reflected his results. He had no weaknesses in his game. - John Bardis Lee did enjoy himself, but his good behavior angel always won.

“We did everything together,” recalls Terry. “We were on campus together all the time. But Leroy was just not going to do anything stupid. He never did anything that was inappropriate or careless.

It just wasn’t in his nature.”

His other roommate, Hanson, knew Lee very well.

“I lived with him for two years and I knew him in high school. I never saw the guy take a drink, be drunk or do the things all other college kids do. He was 100 percent committed.”

There are so many distractions on a college campus. Being a business major demands a lot of time and focus. Then there’s all the temptations of UW’s State Street and the partying aspect of campus life. And girls … how many gifted and talented athletes lose their focus

22 The LEE KEMP story

and priorities falling in love? Lee had an interesting outlook on relationships.

“The time constraint isn’t that much, because when you think about it, you want to spend time with someone, like someone you love,” he says. “Someone to have fun with or share dinner. Someone to make you feel good.”

However, if Lee did fall in love it wasn’t for long.

“I’d have a girlfriend for a couple of months,” Lee recalls. “But when the season started, they’d call. This was before cell phones. My goodness, I don’t know how I would’ve handled that.”

Today they call it ghosting. In the seventies, during the season, Lee became a ghost to girls.

CHAPTER 11

Three-Time NCAA Champ Versus ThreeTime NCAA Champ?

The rest of his college career was about as eventful as one of his matches. However, in 1978, Kemp was wrestling at 158 pounds, the same weight as a junior from Michigan who already had an NCAA title after finishing third as a freshman. Lee remembers the impending showdown with Churella.

“That year it looked like I was going to wrestle Mark,” says Lee. “He was at 150 for two years. Now he’s at 158. If he really wanted to wrestle me, he should have entered the Northern Open. Coach Kleven thought he would enter to test me.”

Churella didn’t.

I would have preferred to wrestle him

THREE-TIME NCAA CHAMP earlier, so I could adjust (if I lost). The week before the Big Ten Tournament was the last dual of the season before the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments and it was against Michigan. I talked to coach and told him I didn’t think it was in my best interest to wrestle him now.

Coach said, you wrestled Gable and everybody, why don’t you want to wrestle Churella? I said, because, what if he beats me? He’s going to be at 158. I will have to wrestle him in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. I’m not afraid to wrestle him, but I want to be a three-time national Champion.

Lee did not take the chance in the dual.

It was at Michigan and Wisconsin sent a backup to wrestle Churella. We would have to wait until the Big Ten tournament to see the “Showdown.” Lee entered the Big Ten Tournament at 158. Michigan coach, Dale Bahr had advice for both of them.

“He said, Kemp, I’ll tell you what I told Mark. Only one of you is going to be a threetime NCAA champion. Whatever decision you make, think of that.”

Churella cut to 150 for the Big Ten Tournament and both finished their careers as three-time NCAA champions.

Hellickson was right. Lee never lost another collegiate match. His sophomore year became part of Wisconsin wrestling history, as he and two other Wisconsin wrestlers won NCAA titles. In his junior year, he defeated Iowa State’s Kelly Ward, a very talented wrestler who was the second seed, 9-5 in the NCAA Finals. In his final two seasons, Lee began to dominate more, especially on top. He mastered a power half, a good compromise with his style because he never was out of position. He ended up with 47 career pins. But, in the final match of his career he would feel a bit of what Gable felt in his last match.

For four years Lee had masterfully focused on each match, minute by minute with an impenetrable foundation and the focus of the Hubble Telescope. Ward had not won an NCAA title and he was not laying down for Kemp’s third title. The two would meet for the second year in a

was 9-8, and I had riding time. The only good thing about that match is that I won. I walked off the mat thinking, what a humbling experience. It was like waking up from a nightmare.”

Maybe a bad dream, but not a nightmare. A nightmare would have been a loss.

Just how good was Kemp in college?

“He was so driven to be at his peak level every time he performed.

You never saw Lee wrestle a bad match. He was very consistent throughout his entire career,” says Hellickson.

“Whether it was high school, college or international, he performed pretty much the same. He had the same attitude. He reacted to victory the same. He expected to win. That’s not something you can coach.

That’s something he lived by. It was exceptional to watch.”

John Bardis recalls watching him in the – Dale Bahr, Michigan coach wrestling room in a classic round robin. row in the national finals. Lee began, and “I was watching Lee with Chris Campspent most of the match, playing right into bell and Mark Churella. Some pretty Ward’s hands as he wrestled unfocused and good wrestlers. Chris was a 180 pounder wandered aimlessly through the match. Lee who had won the most outstanding techlooks back on the match philosophically. nical wrestler and was a world champion “Sometimes when you’ve had success, that year. Mark a three-time NCAA like I’ve had, you can get a little arrogant champion. Lee did not give up a single about choking. I was winning and I started takedown against either of those two to let the official’s calls get to me. He gave guys. And I watched them go for almost the other guy four stalling points.” an hour. Not one.”

Trailing and down in riding time, Ward Lee took any attempt to take sometook Kemp down and then let him go. Lee thing from him very personally, whether still had a seven-point lead in points scored it was a takedown or a victory. He had (9-2), but had lost the momentum and the the unique ability to raise his intensity official hit him for stalling twice in a short level. He could not only match your period of time making the score (9-4) intensity level, but he also had power in “I felt like I was in no-man’s land. I wanted reserve, for anytime he needed it. Once him to ride me a little bit and he just let me the flurry was over, he returned to a go. So now I’m on my feet and he takes me tediously controlled match. down again and I’m like, ‘Oh, crap!,’” (9-6) Lee ended his college career as a threeremembers Lee. “He had me in an arm bar time NCAA champion after his runner-up and he’s trying to turn me and the official finish as a freshman. He had a 143-6-1 awards him another stalling point. I was go- record with 47 pins. He was 110-1-1 his ing totally off the rails. He lets me go again. last three years, a streak of 109 matches I dive in, I grab his leg, just to stall and sure without a loss, the second-longest streak in enough the ref calls me for it. Then I let go NCAA history. It was a forgone conclusion and he gets me in an arm bar again. And the that Kemp would immediately start training buzzer goes off. I look at the score and it for gold, apparent to everyone … but him.

Kemp vs Churella

“He said, Kemp, I’ll tell you what I told Mark. Only one of you is going to be a three-time NCAA Champion.”

The LEE KEMP story 23

1975 NCAA Wrestling Championship 1975 NCAA Wrestling Championship 3/13/1975 to 3/15/1975 at Princeton John Althans, Navy

Page 13 of 30

Paul Martin 7-1

Paul Martin, Oklahoma State [5]

Paul Martin 10-2

Dave Young, Utah

150 Weight Class

Buddy Walker 12-3

Buddy Walker, Tennessee Paul Martin 3-0

Roye Oliver, Arizona State

Roye Oliver 8-7

George Way, Lock Haven Chris Horpel 5-3

Steve Rodriguez, Michigan State

Chris Horpel Fall 0:51

Chris Horpel, Stanford [4] Chuck Yagla 4-1

Tom Calhoun, Ball State Randy Watts Fall 4:42

Randy Watts, Bloomsburg

Chuck Yagla 13-0

Mark Black, UCLA

Chuck Yagla Fall 7:23

Chuck Yagla, Iowa [1] Chuck Yagla Fall 5:53

Paul Thorpe, East Carolina Randy Watson 9-3

Randy Watson, Boise State

Ken Wilson 6-2

Steve Whedbee, California-Berkeley Ken Wilson 11-5

Ken Wilson, Syracuse [8]

Chuck Yagla 4-4, 1-1 SRD

Doug Ziebart, Oregon State [7]

Doug Ziebart 24-1

Charles Becks, John Carroll

Doug Ziebart 14-0

Mike McGough, Fresno State

Gary Martin 10-9

Gary Martin, Western Michigan Pete Galea 7-6

Larry Sullivan, Miami Ohio

Pete Galea 13-0

Pete Galea, Iowa State [2]

Pete Galea 8-1

Tony Peraza, SUNY-Potsdam

Steve Daniels 8-7

Steve Daniels, Portland State Lee Kemp 4-4, 2-1

Lee Kemp, Wisconsin [3] Lee Kemp 4-4, 1-1 RD

Mike Taylor, SIU-Edwardsville

Lee Kemp 11-1

Tom Kryzak, Boston University

Doug Hassig 9-7

Doug Hassig, Nebraska Lee Kemp 3-1

Gary Kessel, East Stroudsburg Pete Dombrowski 6-2

Pete Dombrowski, Northwestern

Pete Dombrowski 5-2

Frank Peck, Oklahoma Frank Peck 2-1

Jody Sloan, Wyoming [6]

Compiled by wrestlingstats.com

1976 NCAA Wrestling Championship 1976 NCAA Wrestling Championship

Page 16 of 30

3/11/1976 to 3/13/1976 at Arizona Kevin Kramer, Oregon

Joe Zuspann 5-1

Joe Zuspann, Iowa State [5] Wally Clark, Long Beach State

Joe Zuspann 6-1

158 Weight Class

Jay Stuart 2-1

Jay Stuart, Princeton Chris Clark, Clarion

Joe Zuspann DFT 3:30 Turner Jackson Fall 7:07

Turner Jackson, Tennessee-Chattanooga Randy Watson, Boise State

Turner Jackson 5-4 Paul Martin 9-3

Paul Martin, Oklahoma State [4] Lee Kemp 4-1

Dennis Bardsley, Cal Poly-SLO Mark Osgood, Kent State Terry Martin, Oklahoma

Dennis Bardsley 0-0, 10-1 Lee Kemp 12-4 Lee Kemp 6-0

Lee Kemp, Wisconsin [1] Lee Kemp 8-5

Bruce Hadsell, SUNY-Buffalo Brad Holman, Michigan

Brad Holman 4-2 Dave Becker DFT 4:30

Mark Evenhus, Oregon State Dave Becker, Penn State [8] Tom Brown, Washington [2]

Dave Becker 7-4 Lee Kemp 4-0 Tom Brown 13-0

Rick Cousino, Miami Ohio Rick Peifer, Slippery Rock

Tom Brown 10-5 Mike McGivern Fall 7:52

Mike McGivern, Iowa Ed Torrejon, Eastern Illinois Cliff Blom, Massachusetts Bob Erickson, Utah State [7]

Tom Brown 4-3 Ed Torrejon 14-6 Ethan Reeve Fall 5:41 Ethan Reeve 13-6

Ethan Reeve, Tennessee Tom Brown 6-2

Pete Ackerman, Rider Michael Regner, Citadel John Hanshaw, Arizona [6]

Michael Regner 15-2 Michael Regner DFT 3:05 John Hanshaw 11-5

Marty Schwartz, Yale John Althans 4-2

John Althans, Navy Terry Reese, North Carolina State

John Althans 13-4 John Althans 4-3

Evan Hollopeter, Cleveland State John Janiak, Syracuse [3]

Compiled by wrestlingstats.com

24 The LEE KEMP story

John Janiak 3-1

1977 NCAAWrestling Wrestling Championship 1977 NCAA Championship 3/17/1977 to 3/19/1977 at Oklahoma Mike McGivern, Iowa [4]

Mike McGivern 7-4

Mark Evenhus, Oregon State Terry Reese, North Carolina State

Page 16 of 30

Mike McGivern Fall 3:36

158 Weight Class

Chris Moffa 5-2

Chris Moffa, Rutgers Bob Erickson, Utah State

Mike McGivern Fall 0:58 Bob Erickson 9-9, 1-0

Dave Becker, Penn State [5] Jeff Fitch, Indiana

Bob Erickson Fall 3:17 Jeff Fitch 6-1

Ed Rusher, Colorado Lee Kemp 3-1

Keith Stearns, Oklahoma [8] Ron Michaels, Kent State Jim Menne, Minnesota

Keith Stearns Fall 7:59 Keith Stearns Fall 7:59 Jim Menne Fall 6:34

Kirk Anderson, SUNY-Buffalo Lee Kemp 7-3

Dave Williams, Illinois State Jeff Cutler, Florida

Dave Williams 16-4 Lee Kemp 15-3

Nils Deacon, Lehigh Lee Kemp, Wisconsin [1] Robert Kiddy, Cal Poly-SLO [7]

Lee Kemp 12-4 Lee Kemp 9-5 Robert Kiddy 4-1

Fred Schmitt, Central Michigan Jon Jackson, Oklahoma State

Jon Jackson 8-4 Jon Jackson 3-2

George Way, Lock Haven Gene Patch, Brigham Young Ed Torrejon, Eastern Illinois Kelly Ward, Iowa State [2]

Kelly Ward 4-3 Ed Torrejon 4-3 Kelly Ward 15-2 Kelly Ward 19-4

Will Trump, Northern Colorado Kelly Ward 5-3

John Althans, Navy [6] John Bardis, Arizona Randy Watson, Boise State

John Althans 8-4 John Althans 13-5 Cliff Whalen 11-4

Cliff Whalen, Boston University Ethan Reeve 8-2

Don Meyer, West Chester Kevin Kramer, Oregon

Don Meyer 8-0 Ethan Reeve Fall 2:46

Craig Cody, Appalachian State Ethan Reeve, Tennessee [3]

Compiled by wrestlingstats.com Jeff Fitch, Indiana

Ethan Reeve 17-4

1978 NCAAWrestling Wrestling Championship 1978 NCAA Championship 3/16/1978 to 3/18/1978 at Maryland Dale Gilbert Fall 1:43

Dale Gilbert, Clarion Dan Zilverberg, Minnesota [5]

Page 16 of 30

Dan Zilverberg 10-2

158 Weight Class

Dan Zilverberg 10-6

Gary Baker, Oklahoma Dan Hollemback, Oregon

Dave Becker 4-3 Dan Hollemback Fall 3:00

Gary Drewry, William & Mary Jerry Young, Virginia

Dave Becker 11-5 Dave Becker 16-8

Dave Becker, Penn State [4] Lee Kemp Fall 7:20

William Smith, Morgan State Lee Kemp, Wisconsin [1] Jeff Cutler, Florida

Lee Kemp 15-3 Lee Kemp Fall 6:46 Jeff Cutler 16-9

Dave Hansen, Brigham Young Lee Kemp 13-5

Mike Burgher, UCLA Lee Spiegel, Rhode Island

Mike Burgher Fall 7:02 Mike Burgher Fall 4:17

Arthur Jones, Tennessee [8] Rick Armstrong, SUNY-Cortland Kelly Ward, Iowa State [2]

Rick Armstrong Fall 6:08 Lee Kemp 10-8 Kelly Ward 18-2

Roy Glenn, California-Berkeley Doug Oliver, Rutgers

Kelly Ward 8-0 Mark Stevenson 9-3

Mark Stevenson, Iowa Gary Bentrim, Northern Iowa [7] Bob Erickson, Utah State Harold Ritchie, Missouri

Kelly Ward 7-3 Gary Bentrim 6-1 Gary Bentrim 6-5 Harold Ritchie 13-7

Tony Parris, Tennessee-Chattanooga Kelly Ward Fall 7:24

Brian Rodgers, Navy Gilden McColm, Illinois State Joe Brugger, Lafayette

Brian Rodgers 14-0 Brian Rodgers DFT Robert Kiddy 6-5

Robert Kiddy, Cal Poly-SLO [6] Ron Michaels 16-6

Court Vining, Nebraska Ron Michaels, Kent State

Ron Michaels Fall 3:49 Ron Michaels 10-7

Tobey Matney, Cleveland State John Janiak, Syracuse [3]

Compiled by wrestlingstats.com

John Janiak 13-6

The LEE KEMP story 25

1984 World Cup. Lee’s last international competition.

1983 US Open.

Wrestling Jan Sanderson, Olympic trials, 1976.

All gold for the USA in Pan Am Games – Four Gold medals for Wisconsin contingency.

Russ Hellickson, Andy Rein, Jim Haines, Lee.

Perception isn’t always reality. In his junior and senior year camp dominated his opponent with 47 Pins.

Power half was his go-to pin.

Kemp with parents at 1977 NCAA U of OK

26 The LEE KEMP story

Lee was one of the coaches at the 2008 Olympics-Pictured here with Coby Bryant at opening ceremonies.

Kemp makes one of Gables books: A Wrestlers Life 2: More Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable

Chardon a small city of less than 4,000, arranged a parade for and gave him the keys to the city when he won his state championship Lee showing moves.

75-Olympic Team 1980 (r to l) John Azevedo FREESTYLE 125.5; Jeff Blatnick GRECO Hvy; Chris Campbell FREESTYLE 180.5; Dan Chandler GRECO 180.5; Mark Fuller GRECO 105.5; Brian Gust GRECO 125.5; Russ Hellickson FREESTYLE 220; Mark Johnson GRECO 198; Lee Kemp FREESTYLE 163; Randy Lewis FREESTYLE 136.5; John Matthews GRECO 163; Tom Minkel GRECO 149.4; Dan Mello GRECO 136.5; Gene Mills FREESTYLE 114.5; Ben Peterson FREESTYLE 198; Brad Rheingans GRECO 220; Bruce Thompson GRECO 114.5; Bob Weaver FREESTYLE 105.5; Greg Wojciechowski FREESTYLE Hvy; Chuck Yagla FREESTYLE 149.5

Lee and John Bardis at NWHOF Honors weekend 2018

Lee good hands with NWHOF distinguish member Bill Smith at the 1979 Pan Am games.

US Open v. Jim Zalesky, 1983.

Super champions event, Lee, Stan Dziedic, Gene Mills, John Azevedo, Bill Rosado, Chris Campbell.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/wrestledaway-the-lee-kemp-story/id1474889888

The LEE KEMP story 27

Available on: iTunes, Amazon Video, and Google Play More information at: leekemp.com

One of 14 matches with 1997 NWHOF Distinguished Member and Olympic Gold Medalist, Dave Schultz. Kemp won the first nine matches.

Kemp succumbed to Wade Schalles, NWHOF Distinguished Member, at the 1976 Olympic Trials, but a lot of wrestlers did at one time or another. He has the record for beating the most NCAA and World Champions.

But Lee kept winning, beating Churella and then Yagla. He beat them all. Gable was starting to believe.

“Dan took the pressure off of me,” said “I never liked wrestling freestyle after those doubters. In the world camp there Lee. “He said, ‘Lee, don’t worry about the season,” says Lee. “I wanted to take was a mini tournament. anything other than just taking people a mental break. I loved working out, ”I beat Joe Carr, 6-1, and I beat Dave down. Just keep taking them down.’” but I didn’t go to the open nationals. I Schultz, 3-3 on criteria, but I still won.

And that’s what he did. didn’t do a lot of wrestling. Now, wresI had two activity points. Dave had one There were a lot of wrestlers in the tlers go to three or four events after takedown and two stalling points. Most room that had more experience in freea full college season. Then it was the of his points where passivity. My points style than Lee, especially on top.

Tbilisi Tournament, now it’s the Yariguin were actual takedowns. That’s why I “I learned, and then worked on, how tournament. They’re going to all these won the criteria decision. Gable came up not to get turned,” recalls Lee. “If I got different events. I didn’t do any of that.” to me afterwards and said, ‘you have to taken down, I didn’t give up back points.

But he never lost his focus on the wrestle Dave again in an hour.’ I didn’t I didn’t turn anybody, but I didn’t get Olympics. know any better. Dan was the coach. I turned either. I would just take people “The World Championships didn’t have wrestled him again and beat him, 9-2. down. That is how I won.” a wrestler’s focus like it has today,” says I was a little pissed because it was a Lee did not waste time asserting Lee. “It was important, but I was thinking different precedent. They didn’t think I’d himself on the international stage. His more of the Olympics in 1980. I had a be a good freestyle wrestler because of first World Championship competition couple of years to get ready. When I went my style.” was in 1978 in Mexico City. A world title to the world camp, I wrestled nine matchis as hard, and sometimes more difficult, es in four days. It was grueling. I had to to win than the Olympics. UW was well beat Dave Schultz and Joe Carr in the represented with Lee, John Peterson mini tournament to make the team.” and UW teammate Jim Haines on the Lee’s conservative style was second team. A Gable-coached team meant guessed his whole career. How could they would be in better shape than any– someone who scores so little continue one in the world. to win, especially in freestyle, a style “We had intense workouts,” says Lee. Lee Kemp that rewards action. Gable was one of “We did a lot of weightlifting, a lot of CHAPTER 12

In Pursuit of Gold

“They didn’t think I’d be a good freestyle wrestler because of my style.”

28 The LEE KEMP story

IN PURSUIT OF GOLD “I didn’t really scramble. My instincts were good. I was able to score on him in that scramble situation and it frustrated him,” says Lee. “I took a lot out of him, because we scrambled quite a bit and my conditioning was always very good.

And again, he gets in on a low single and we scramble, but I scored on him after I avoided his takedown, I could tell that was frustrating for him.”

Bardis was there for the match.

“Knosp was an extremely tough leg rider. He was really tough on top. He was long, he had great hips and was extremely flexible. His matches with any other American were rarely close,” says Bardis. “But Lee always wore him down and that’s what happened in that world championship. Lee was down by a caution with 37 seconds and took him down. This is what happened over and over again in the rivalry. Lee won all the drilling, more weightlifting, and running.” wrestlers looking to unseat him and take matchups.”

In 1978, the finals were a round robin. his place on the world team. He beat It wasn’t an injury and it wasn’t Dave Kemp beat Mohammad Mohebbi from both Churella and Dave Schultz to make Schultz that brought Lee down. He Iran and Pyotr Martafrom Russia to the team, but Schultz was gaining on managed every detail of his rise. But he become the youngest American ever to him. could not control the President of the win a world title. That gave him a lift and “Dave was a very physical guy, even United States. the confidence to win an Olympic gold though he didn’t look physical. Mark, his It was difficult to see someone so medal. brother, looked physical and was,” retalented, who gave up everything in “After I won the worlds in 1978, I calls Lee. “Dave had great leverage and his life to pursue one moment in life … could see that I could be an Olympic he didn’t mind head-butting a little. He a gold medal at the Olympics, have his champion. That was my dream,” says turned the match into a brawl. He would heart ripped open by inconsequential Kemp. “I felt that I was good enough do whatever he could to give himself an politics. But that was what was next for to win it. I was in an environment with advantage. I got to a point where I could Lee Kemp. people who were really good, and I was score and not be scored on. When Dave From the day Lee walked into the as good as they were.” scored on me, it was because of the Wisconsin wrestling room until 1980, no rules back then. If you were called for one dominated the sport like he did. stalling or passivity on your feet, they’d Winning his second world title, Kemp give the other guy a point.” was primed for the Olympics and was His second world championship was a heavy favorite to win gold. And then being held in a much friendlier climate, President Carter goes on the air with San Diego, California. Lee would find this announcement. new challenges. Veteran German Martin How did it come to this? Why were Knosp beat the Russian, 9-1, and Lee athletes who sacrificed earning a living beat the Russian by two points. Knosp to train and compete in the pursuit of - Lee Kemp wins the first three flurries in his match a gold medal for their country used as with Lee and is up by two points. Knosp political pawns? There are many who Lee continued to train at a pace he set shot a low sweeping single, not knowing have an inside perspective, including for himself, until the grueling six-week that a wrestler leaning or shooting low Dziedzic, a world champion and Olymcamp. To make the team that year, he was eventually susceptible to Kemp’s pic bronze medalist who was coach of would have a showdown with a line of counters. the team.

Kemp beats veteran West German, Martin Knos, for Gold in 1979 World Championships

“After I won the worlds in 1978, I could see that I could be an Olympic champion. That was my dream.”

The LEE KEMP story 29

IN PURSUIT OF GOLD

Lee vs. Olympic Silver Medalist and 1996 NWHOF distinguished member, Stan Dziedic

“I have notified the Olympic committee that with Soviet forces invading Afghanistan, neither the American people, nor I, will support sending an Olympic team to Moscow.”

– President Jimmy Carter

“We ended up defeating the Soviets in the 1980 World Cup. That was in the heat of training when we heard hints that President Carter might boycott the Olympics. We were en route from the United States to Tbilisi when President Carter made the official announcement that the United States was going to boycott the Olympics in Moscow.”

Hellickson also weighed in on the

30 The LEE KEMP story

boycott.

“There is no role for government and no President should have the authority to prevent athletic competition. It was absolutely absurd. I think Carter recognized that afterwards and apologized, saying it was probably the biggest mistake of his presidency.”

In 1980, the United States had one of the most competitive teams ever. In addition to Kemp, Randy Lewis, Yagla, Campbell, Gene Mills and Hellickson were all looking dominant. Wayne Baughman, who won national titles in five different disciplines and is a Distinguished Member of the Hall of Fame, was the assistant Greco-Roman coach in 1980. He was also a charter member of the USOC Athlete Advisory Council and a member of the USOC Board of Directors. Baughman was one of the individuals in attendance when they were informed that there would be a discussion about a potential boycott.

“There were three speakers. The first was a woman. The first words out of her mouth were, ‘We appreciate you coming

today, so we can tell you why we’re not going to be participating in the 1980 Olympics.’ Then she introduces the Chief of Staff. He got up and the first words out of his mouth were ‘We think it’s important that you understand why we’re going to be boycotting.’ Then, Carter got up and the first words out of his mouth were ‘I appreciate you coming. I thought it was important that I tell you personally why we decided to boycott the Olympics.’ It was rigged!”

But there had to be more to this. How did it go from a discussion to done?

Well, there is more.

“The only way Carter could do it without shutting down all interaction and dialogue with the Soviet Union was for the U.S. Olympic Committee to vote themselves to not go,” explains Baughman.

The Olympic Committee was in a position to decline the President’s proposed boycott. That was the purpose of the meeting. Many of the USOC members were still determined to vote against the President. That’s when the President’s team laid all their cards on the table. The meeting was in Colorado Springs. In the meeting were the USOC Board of Directors, Olympic athletes, various National Governing Bodies and other members of the Olympic Committee. Baughman cannot forget the meeting.

“We’re going to take a vote on whether to support the government or not. Someone steps up to the podium and introduces Vice President Mondale, who says that the President really needs your support. Without it, you are putting us in a really difficult situation.

In other words, it’s your patriotic duty.”

The US is one of the few countries that does not receive funding from the government. In 1980, they were close to broke. They could not afford to lose sponsors.

“Mondale said, we’ve talked to Coca Cola and all the major sponsors,” says Baughman. “If you don’t vote to support the President, they’re going to withdraw

IN PURSUIT OF GOLD Lee and Carter: you could only imagine what was going through each wrestler’s mind as they shook hands with the President.

From 1978-82, Kemp beat Schultz nine times.

His first loss was in 1983 World Cup Trials 3-3 Criteria. He lost all three Olympic Team Qualifying Matches in 1984 (first two losses were 3-3 criteria decisions with last match losing 4-0.)

their support, not only for this Olympics, but for future Olympics.”

The USOC brought a squirt gun to a gunfight.

Baughman doesn’t mince words about how he feels about their action.

“Their offer was a threat, extortion, blackmail, whatever you want to call it. It was absolutely wrong, unethical and immoral what those bastards did. The arrogance of it all!”

- Baughman

“It was a horrific and a life-changing decision for a lot of American athletes,” says Bardis. “They were treated as if they had committed a crime. Not just preventing them from competing in the Olympics, but they threatened their visa

status, if they chose to compete as an independent athlete.”

“He was depressed and traumatized,” Bardis remembers. “He’s a very gentle person. He had focused his entire life on this moment. This was a remarkable life-altering slap in the face.”

A stunned Kemp started to think about more than wrestling. While he continued to train and assist the UW wrestling program, he entered the MBA program and also worked for a Madison, Wisconsin credit union. But the key to his wrestling success had always been 100 percent focus, which can’t be compromised if you are going to dominate the toughest weight class in international competition.

“I was just going to follow the opportunities where they were presented,” remembers Lee. “I thought I would make some money from the notoriety I gained as an Olympic champion. I felt like that was going to be a part of my life. Whether it would or wouldn’t have been, I just believed it would have been.”

While the gold medal in 1980 did not include the endorsements and support USA Wrestling provides today, Kemp

envisioned a gold medal would include other benefits.

“I didn’t expect the kind of rewards they have today,” says Kemp. “Olympic medal winners now have tremendous financial opportunities. But I thought it would lead to some monetary reward.”

Kemp still had a load of talent and was the top wrestler in the world at 163 pounds. He would continue to train and compete while earning his MBA and keeping his eye on the job market.

But again, politics would rear its ugly head and prevent yet another milestone achievement.

“In 1981, I’ll go out on the limb here, Lee beat the best guy in the world by two points and he beat the worst guy in the world by two points. That agitated the governing body,” says Dziedzic, who was coach of the team. “When we were in Skopje Yugoslavia, Lee, Campbell and Greg Gibson (all black athletes) were on the team. If everything had been fair, all three of them would have been world champions in Yugoslavia.

“The President of the international organization warned me beforehand. He said, you have to get Mr. Kemp to score

The LEE KEMP story 31

IN PURSUIT OF GOLD more points. So, I had a conversation with Lee. He was wrestling Knosp, who was the quintessential overachiever. Not strong, not quick, but pretty good balance, a great mind, and a great competitor,” continues Dziedzic. “But, not in a league with Lee Kemp. Because Lee didn’t score enough, when they had the chance in a very close match, they gave the benefit of the doubt to Knosp. That was the difference between Lee winning again in 1981. Some that were there thought perhaps it had something to do with race. The international wrestling body was not ready yet for three black champions.”

The international governing body not only slowed Lee in his matches, they also changed the rules. A new rule not only hurt Lee internationally, but would help American rival Dave Schultz gain ground on Lee. That rule forced you to drop your head when you were on your feet. Lee’s power and technique were impenetrable when he could maintain a “straight-up” stance. Forcing him to drop his head meant forcing him to shoot takedowns on his knees.

“The rules changed,” remembers Lee. “Before 1980, I didn’t go to my knees that often. Unless you were stalling and giving up passivity points and they were nine-minute matches. You can’t go all out for nine minutes anyway. So sometimes you would just shoot, fight it for a while and give up a takedown.”

Lee would be the last one to claim a rule or referee prevented him from winning, but Bardis feels it was unfair.

“They just took it from him. They weren’t happy with his style,” says Bardis. “But Lee proved over and over again that when he wanted to do something, if he wanted to score or if he needed to defend, he always did. Most of the great ones in any sport can call on offense under any circumstance that requires them to score. Kemp was one of the few ever that did that. If he needed a takedown, he scored a takedown.”

Lee took both criticism and praise for his conservative style. Gable couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just keep scoring.

“I could never figure out why he was

32 The LEE KEMP story

Interviewed by Russ Hellickson after winning Gold again at 1982 World Cup

“I feared losing more than I wanted to win.

I was afraid of losing by making a mistake.”

– Lee Kemp

so comfortable beating someone, that he could beat by 20 points, by only two points,” says Dziedzic. “If I didn’t get five points ahead, I could never relax. I could never figure that out.”

Maybe we blame his high school coach, who is happy to take the responsibility.

“People would complain that he was boring. I don’t know what’s boring about winning,” says Depenbrok. “Why score 20 points when you can show your dominance by just always simply winning?”

Haines understood Lee’s style. ”He knew his body. He knew what he needed to do to be successful. And he was deliberate in how he planned, prepared and wrestled to win.”

Lee has a simpler explanation. ” I feared losing more than I wanted to win. I was afraid of losing by making a mistake,” he explains “I only wanted to do the move that I thought I could be sure I would finish and score. I see guys scoring lots of points and then they might be off on one shot. And get scored on or put on their back. I made sure I shot (just) enough to win every match.”

But not one more than he needed.

In Lee’s career he did not deal with much competitive adversity. He always won. But the 1980 Olympics and now this? Both out of his control! But he would take back control in 1982, winning another world gold medal. But, a combination of events would hasten a decision all athletes are forced to eventually make.

“My focus was changing,” recalls Lee. “It was becoming apparent that wrestling was not going to be something I could always rely on, so I went to graduate school.

I remember going to classes for my MBA and then practice after that.

“I had always targeted 1980 as when I would stop wrestling,” he continues. ”Everything I had been doing was focused on the 1980 Olympic Games. When that didn’t happen, I wasn’t the same. There wasn’t the fight or the burning desire anymore. I felt like a vulnerable spirit. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like a death had occurred. You know, death!”

At the 1982 World Championships, 180 pounder and world champion Chris Campbell was also focusing on life

IN PURSUIT OF GOLD 1984 World Cup, the last international competition for Kemp

beyond wrestling, attending law school at Cornell University. Campbell was not competing, so Dziedzic needed a competitive 180 pounder.

“I consulted with the coaching staff and we decided the loser between Lee and Dave (Schultz) could, if they wanted, challenge at the 82-kilogram weight class,” recalls Dziedzic.” Kemp beat Schultz for the 10th straight time, but Schultz made the team and ultimately won a bronze medal.

In 1983, Lee was focusing on his MBA and told Dziedzic he was going to pass on the world championships. Dziedzic thought that was a mistake. There were plenty of workout partners in the Wisconsin wrestling room.

“He said no I don’t want to compete.

I said ‘Lee, you may create your own worst enemy,’” recalls Dziedzic.

What he meant was Dave Schultz was creeping up on him. He made the team and beat the Russian and Knosp.

Schultz’s time was coming, and Kemp was in the way. The trip to Kiev included a flight to Budapest and a 30-hour rough train ride to Kiev.

“Getting a medal at a higher weight class, helped Dave’s confidence quite a bit,” says Dziedzic. “And then, in a very tough situation, winning a medal too. I think that trip was the turning point for Dave, because he now had all the confidence, he needed to beat Kemp and make the team.”

And that’s what he did. Schultz beat Kemp to make the 1984 Olympic team and Lee would not beat Schultz again.

Kemp had taken his foot off the gas just as the next great 163 pounder was peaking.

First President Carter. Then the international referees. Then rule changes.

And competing in the most competitive weight class in the country.

“If you look at the 163-pound weight class in the United States, it is absolutely staggering,” says Hellickson. “You can go all the way back to Bill Smith (1952 Olympic champion), Doug Blubaugh (1960 Olympic champion) and Wayne Wells (1972 Olympic champion). Dziedic was an Olympic bronze medalist and he always battled a very tough Wade Schalles to make the team. Dave Schultz was a gold medalist in 1984 and Kenny Monday won in 1988. Brandon Slay came after him in 2000 and then Jordan Burroughs.

“Our body wears down over time.

The wrestlers who competed longest in international competition are all upper weight classes because the physical toll isn’t as great and speed isn’t as much of a factor,” Hellickson continues. “Speed and reaction go first. I watched Lee lose three times in one day in the World Cup. He hadn’t lost three times in his entire career. He didn’t have that edge anymore. Every Olympic cycle that came around would make him angrier, because he knew he was the best guy in the world in 1980. He’d proven that he was going to be an Olympic champion.

He never got a chance. It eats away at you. It doesn’t subside, it accelerates.

It makes you regretful of the time you were at your peak and you never got that opportunity. It’s like something was stolen from you for all time.”

Kemp reluctantly waved the white flag, but was disappointed and bitter about how his wrestling career ended. One cannot help but think, if the system in place today to support wrestlers the caliber of Lee Kemp were in place back then, would he really go for gold in 1984.

The LEE KEMP story 33

Jordan Burroughs: the modern version of a successful USA Wrestler

CHAPTER 13

“I had never been on an airplane before. I had not been outside of Wisconsin,” recalls Bender. “But that year, I drove to the United States Olympic Training Center. I got up early and arrived at the offices of USA Wrestling. I’m your new intern. The receptionist looked In 1988, Bender went to the University at me, shook her head, and said, ‘sorry of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to major in we’re not having an intern this semeswildlife management, before he learned ter’. I said ‘no, no, no, it’s, it’s all set. Can about a sports management program at I talk Ben (Bennett)? She looked at me the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. and said, ‘Ben got fired last week.’”

That year, over 2000 students applied Bender needed to get this straightfor an internship at USA Wrestling. Bend- ened out. He talked to a sympathetic er was chosen … or, so he thought. intern coordinator, who appealed his

USA Wrestling Where were you in 1980?

“We just didn’t have an organization that could afford it,” remembers USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. “If you made a world or Olympic team, you got a pair of shoes and you were on your own.”

Bender was an okay wrestler. But he was an elite fan.

“I’m in the role I’m in today, not because of my wrestling prowess, but my rich passion for the sport,” says Bender. “I have a seventh-grade report card that shows my grades had dropped throughout the year and the back of my report card to my parents said ‘wrestling, wrestling, wrestling.’”

34 The LEE KEMP story

Doug Blubaugh said that he had “two

passions in life, wrestling and farming, and you can’t make a damn penny from either one of them.”

USA WRESTLING

CHAPTER 14

Real World Kemp now had an MBA and was one of the most decorated wrestlers in American history. He landed a couple of jobs, but he was up against a lot of blue-chip business recruits who spent their college careers dreaming about the podium on Madison Avenue.

“I left wrestling for like 14 years. I didn’t go around it,” remembers Lee. “The jobs I landed weren’t because of wrestling. During my interviews, wrestling never came up.”

The first jobs he landed were on a completely different planet … in New Rich Bender, President York, New York!

USA Wrestling Everyone he was competing against had an MBA, which only meant a ticket case to then head of USA Wrestling, to reward athletes that stand on interna- into the big game. It’s like earning a full Dave Miller, but he was not making tional podiums. scholarship, but still having to make the much progress.

“The Regional Training Centers are a team. Not to mention all of what it would “’Where did you say he’s from, Miller great opportunity for student athletes take to compete for business gold. asked. I said, Boscobel, Wisconsin. Miller in college to train with our best ath“Because I stayed around to wrestle was from Madison. I started as events letes,” says Bender. “But it’s also great and train until I was 27 years old, and assistant and national events manager exposure (for them) for things outside of earn my MBA those last four years, I before accepting a role as wrestling wrestling that are important in terms of wasn’t doing the things my classmates competition manager for the 1996 living your life.” were doing,” Kemp says. “I wasn’t readOlympics in Atlanta,” explains Bender. “I But Bender didn’t stop there. USA ing the Wall Street Journal. I didn’t do served as associate executive director Wrestling started the “Team Leader” summer internships and get experience. of USA Wrestling until 2000, when the program, embracing affluent support- I was at the World Championships. I was Executive Director, Jim Scherr, went to ers who want to support a specific older with no work experience. My MBA work for the Olympic Committee. USA team. The Medal Fund, which started got me in the door, but I didn’t have the Wrestling was on a nice trajectory. We in 2012 pays: $250,000 for Olympic experience that was going to allow me to had struggled before that. We were Gold, $50,000 for Olympic Silver and climb the corporate ladder. And, looking not sure we were going to survive as an $25,000 for Olympic Bronze. It pays around, I didn’t see many black people in organization.” $50,000 for World Gold, $25,000 for leadership positions.”

Since Bender took over as executive World Silver and $15,000 for World Lee was used to working hard and director of USA Wrestling, the NCAA Bronze. working late, but he didn’t catch a bug in lifted its restriction of letting Olympic No other national governing body has the corporate world like he had his sophathletes train with collegiate athletes. anything like it. omore year at the wrestling camp. There That resulted in close to $4 million a Does Kemp go for gold in 1984 with a was no Dan Gable on Wall Street. The year from Regional Training Centers, support system like the one in place now? race up that corporate ladder had plenty being created by college programs Dreaming further, what if it was in place of smart and motivated employees, and to support 1,500 to 2,000 athletes in 1976? What would a Regional Trainthey had a big head start. continuing their training and competing ing Center pay for a three-time NCAA “My boss would tell me, ‘I need you at the international level. In addition, in Champion and three-time world champi- to stay late today,’” recalls Lee. “I’m like, 2000, USA Wrestling created a program on? Things could have been so different! it’s already like seven o’clock? I would

The LEE KEMP story 35

REAL WORLD Lee with Ford corporate brass

be there until eight or nine o’clock, then jump on the subway and not be home until 10:30. Then up again at six and back at the office.”

He didn’t see getting on the corporate ladder, much less climbing it. What he was looking for was something where he could use his energy, his intuition and apply his education. He was looking for a bug to bite him again. And one finally did.

The Minority Leadership Program was an affirmative action program, advocated by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, which incentivized companies like Ford and Chrysler to provide an entry into the car dealership business for minorities.

It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even good.

But he could be in charge of his own destiny.

“The entry wasn’t into a thriving and profitable dealership, they were for those they couldn’t sell, because they had no market value,” recalls Lee. “The car fran-

36 The LEE KEMP story

chises owned their “open” unprofitable dealerships and they served them up to black candidates with an opportunity for them to buy the dealerships outright over time. In the dealership I got my opportunity, I started with five or six employees.

It was like starting wrestling all over again, at the bottom. They paid a small stipend, which was a lot less than I was making at the time, but I could pay the bills while I learned the business.”

For two years, Lee worked in every department. Parts, service, sales and finance, while taking and passing tests, until he graduated. But now, if he wanted to own the dealership, he needed to find the money to invest. The usual investment for a car dealership is several million dollars. Ford had a company-owned store in Forest Lake, Minnesota, that had an employee running it, just keeping the doors open until they found someone eager enough, or maybe a better word

would be naive enough, to put their own money into it.

Lee could not come up with millions of dollars, but he scraped together the minimum 10 percent value of the dealership.

“I borrowed money from friends and family and scraped up enough to buy it,” he recalls.

He planned to use profits to eventually buy himself 51 Percent ownership. But this business resembled the dealership in the movie “Used Cars” more than the one you might be used to buying a car from.

“There were some days I didn’t know if I would have enough money to make payroll. Like being taken down and there’s a minute left and you look at your coach asking, what do I do? Only there is no coach to help you. So, I’m all in, sleeping there at night, working it during the day, and then out in the community.”

PREFACE Dating: one of too few happy days for Lee and Linda Isabell

Kemp’s Kids, 2002

“When we met, I thought it was meant to be.

But it wasn’t.

It was not even good. It was horrible.”

– Lee Kemp

CHAPTER 15

“Lee is very gentle in spirit and humble,” says Bardis. “I have never heard him raise his voice in anger or have any aggressive contempt toward Linda, even in the face of her behaving in the most aggressive, purposefully destructive manner, intent to harm him. This is a reflection of Lee’s character. He held on to his principles.”

Lee had not spent a lot of time thinking, learning or experiencing relation“I’m in her church. When we met, I ships. There were no clinics or coaching thought it was meant to be,” recalls Lee. available on the subject. Worse, he was “But it wasn’t. It was not even good. It incapable of envisioning anything but was horrible. But I was 32 and so focused 100 percent success. Look at what he on getting married. I found reasons all had done. How hard could this be? these years to break up with someone. ” She was conflict oriented and was I thought, you have to learn to get along at the height of her disorienting anger, with someone. Nothing’s perfect.” accusation and complete aggression But this would be worse than bad! toward Lee,” explains Bardis. “The reason Lee had no experience at love or, for I know this is they stayed at our house that matter, even serious dating. In his for two weeks during the 1996 Olympics. haste, he ignored the most important His wife is the only human being that my thing about getting married. Taking the wife has said would never be allowed in time to make sure they are the right one. our home again. She put on displays of He took over the dealership in January of outrageous aggression toward him with 1991, and he married Linda in November. jealous fits and bursts of pure insanity.

There was no honeymoon much less a We were traumatized for him. I don’t honeymoon period. think I’ve ever seen a spouse treat anoth“I was working in a very intense envier spouse with such abuse.” ronment, trying to turn the dealership “She was trying to really hurt me, hurt around. She was a single mom.” my reputation, hurt me as an individual, The tension began immediately and physically, mentally and emotionally, and quickly evolved into something much even in my own community,” recalls Lee. worse. Lee would learn later that Linda Lee did not have this type of fight in was bipolar, with paranoia and schizophre- his DNA. He is quiet and humble, almost nia. What was unfolding before his eyes submissive. Rather than focus on the was an unexplainable angry and aggresconflict in their marriage, he buried sive wife. Worse, she was threatened by himself into building the car dealership what he stood for. She would not only and the second part of his dream. Kids. never come to grips with someone as acBut kids just gave her a tool to punish complished as Lee, she punished him for it. him more cruelly.

Highway to Hell He worked it as hard as he worked at wrestling. In a couple of years, it was turning the corner. A couple of more years and he was making a profit, and, before you knew it, he had 40 employees. But there was something missing.

“I was getting older. I wanted to have a family. It was a goal. It is time to get married. I analyzed why I broke up with the different girls I dated. Sometimes they were dumb reasons. You’d find any excuse to break up with someone because you weren’t ready. I like where I am living. I have this huge investment in a dealership.

So, it was like I’m going to get married.”

Lee met Linda Isabell at church. However, he did not give this the careful consideration that defined the success he had throughout his career. He had committed his life to a sport in which he dominated.

He worked at and learned everything he could to win. But it came at a price. It was time to experience the other side of life.

He wanted a wife and a family and a piece of the American dream. However, half of those dreams get crushed, and he couldn’t prepare for this like he did wrestling. But why would he need too? He couldn’t be any less prepared for what was in front of him. He had spent 15 years being Superman. Linda would be his kryptonite.

The LEE KEMP story 37

They would yell, they would scream, they were fighting it out He would hope, he would pray, he was waiting it out Holding on to a dream While he watches these walls fall down Sharp words like knives, they were cutting him down Shattered glass like the past, it’s a memory now Holding on to a dream While he watches these walls fall down -5 Seconds of Summer, Australian Band

CHAPTER 16

sports stars. Their kids are bragging all over town. Lee was one of the greatest athletes of all time. His kids didn’t even know he wrestled!

“Wrestling was a bad thing because “She made us all really scared of her. We it was associated with my dad and my were living with that fear of her lashing mom wanted me to be against my dad, out at us. We would have to pretend remembers Jordan. “Most kids, if you sometimes to be angry at my dad, for no have a dad who was a world champion in reason, just so she would be happy,” says a sport, they would know it.”

Mercedes, who is Lee’s second child. “I Adam was Lee’s last child. tried to ignore it, but she made us think “’My first real memory was a poster of of him so badly for so many years. It was my dad in my brother’s room with flags hard growing up just because I didn’t around the border. I didn’t know it was know what I wanted to do with my life, my dad wrestling. I didn’t know who it but I always wanted to have a relationwas,” said Adam. “I didn’t know what ship with my dad.” wrestling was until I came to live with my “I thought it was normal that parents dad. She would paint her own picture of argue and didn’t like each other,” says him for us.”

Jordan, who is Lee’s first child. “Her Everyone suffers in a problem marinfluence and personality made me think riage. Children absorb relationship patthat my dad was a bad person.” terns around them like sponges. They “Mercedes comes home after her are impressionable and naive, so they first week in junior high school and says, end up taking on guilt when it doesn’t ‘Dad, these boys keep coming up to me even have anything to do with them. saying, boy, you’re very lucky. You’re “When you put kids in that type of Lee Kemp’s daughter,’” remembers Lee. situation, whatever they see in front of “’Why are they saying this?’ I asked her them or whatever they see every day, is if they were wrestlers. She said, ‘I think what they think is normal,” says Jordan. so.’ I said, Mercedes did your mother “There’s a chemical bond; a strong ever tell you about me? She said, no. Did bond between children and a mother, reyou ever Google my name or anything? gardless of if the mother is sick or not,” She said no. I was the devil to my kids. said Lee. “Linda had that bond. She had That’s the way she presented me to control over the children, which added them.” another layer of stress and another Dads who have accomplished anylayer of hopelessness. It was me against thing in sports are heroes to their the four of them. kids. High school sports stars. College

Broken Home

38 The LEE KEMP story

CHAPTER 17

Love Stinks There is a point when a marriage reaches toxic proportions that you have to ask yourself, what is better? Being miserable every day for the rest of your life to ensure the family stays intact or splitting up? But Lee had only one way of looking at that too.

“I didn’t know how to quit. I didn’t know how to give up,” says Lee. “Even though it was bad, I felt like it was wrong to quit. I accepted it similar to someone coming down with an incurable disease.

I felt that, this is my lot in life and I just have to make the best of it. I didn’t consider divorce. I could have left her and had a chance at a better marriage and other children with a woman that I loved and cared about. But I did not do that because I always wanted my kids to live with the same mother and father.

I’d seen too many situations of broken homes.”

Just when it couldn’t get worse, fate intervened. Linda left him. Many friends advised him to get an attorney and get the divorce. But Lee does not quit.

However, there was not a plan in his playbook for this. He hung in there four more years.

“No good deed goes unpunished,” says Lee. Linda took the kids to California, leav-

LOVE STINKS ing without telling him where they were going. Linda was a social worker, and she knew how to work the system. To prevent any legal action by Lee, she went to court and got a restraining order. She used the same tactic with the judge that she had used with her kids. Only this time, she used the kids to help.

“She had the kids write letters to the judge,” said Lee. “She manipulated the whole situation. Once the restraining order was in place, she would call me on a regular basis. She would say, ‘If you want to see your kids, you can come see them.

Of course, I would break the restraining order by going to see them.”

This all came to a head in Atlanta.

Bardis advised his friend to get away from the situation, inviting Lee to stay with him. Lee eventually rented an apartment in Atlanta, in hopes of one day reuniting with his kids. In late 2007, he received a call from his son, Jordan.

One of the terms of the restraining order was he was not to have any contact with Linda. But she knew the way to get at him was through his kids. Jordan left a message and when Lee returned the call, Linda answered.

“All she said was, ‘you’re in trouble, you’re going to jail,’” Lee recalls painfully. “I said, ‘I’m not calling you. This is Jordan’s phone.’ Click!’”

“We only had one phone and that was my mom’s,” says Adam. “We would ask mom to call him. One time, Jordan called my dad from mom’s phone and he called back in a few minutes. My mom answered and said, ‘you just violated the restraining order and you’re going to jail.’”

Linda was about to take her bitterness to a new toxic level. Another setup!

She contacted the Atlanta police with a sensationally fabricated story. A couple of squad cars showed up at the Bardis’s home with a warrant for Lee’s arrest, banging on the door, and demanding Lee. Only, Lee wasn’t there and neither was John. But John’s kids were and they were rattled. Kemp got a very cold call from John.

“John called, real mad,” recalls Lee. “He told me ‘the police are at my house. These are my kids, Lee. My family.’ I felt horrible because he was being so nice to me.”

Kemp returned to Minneapolis to face a judge. If you haven’t faced a judge for violating a restraining order, it is justice on a time clock. Most who are facing the judge have been there before and with bigger problems than a restraining order.

“The courtroom was filled with black people. It was a white woman judge passing judgement on all these black men who worked the system,” recalls Lee. “I was ready to make my case. She didn’t want to hear it. She saw me as one of them. I was just another black face. I was watching the cases before me. Three months, jail, boom, next! Four months, next. I’m standing there. She had already made up her mind.”

You can be sure that none of the other defendants standing in front of the judge were athletes of Lee’s background with an MBA. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. Lee has bitter memories of his time spent in jail.

“It was horrible man. It was like the worst thing that, that you can ever imagine. Fights breaking out. I had to get in a place mentally to be prepared to defend myself,” he says.

Nothing went smoothly. They were in and out of the court. There was super-

“Even though it was bad, I felt like it was wrong to quit. I accepted it similar to someone coming down with an incurable disease. I felt that, this is my lot in life and I just have to make the best of it.” – Lee Kemp

vised visitation. A lot of unnecessary things.

“My dad went to jail for literally, no reason. A lot of things happened that shouldn’t have happened,” said Jordan.

Lee served 21 days and then headed back to his apartment in Atlanta, taking advantage of an opportunity to work with Bardis on a sports facility and with a new focus on wrestling. He was back in wrestling and in 2008 served as coach of the Olympic Team.

Kemp was not through dealing with adversity. The 14 years he spent building up his dealership were about to go down the drain. While dealing with his broken marriage and jail, he elevated an employee to partner, with an understanding that the employee would buy Lee out.

“When I realized I couldn’t run the dealership anymore, I worked out an agreement with an employee to manage it until I got through this,” says Kemp.

“The agreement was that he would buy me out. We moved forward with that arrangement and he legally took over ownership of the dealership, so I was out.

He ended up mismanaging everything, and I ended up losing the dealership.”

The dealership went bankrupt and Lee lost everything.

Linda’s revulsion was so deep that she didn’t understand she was killing her golden goose. And of course, when she was in need of money that was no longer there, she accused Lee of hiding it. He finally settled his financial differences with his now ex-wife, when he was offered and accepted a salaried position at 24-Hour Fitness in Chicago. He had finally given up hope of ever having a relationship with his kids. And then. ” I got a call from my kids. They wanted to and now could come live with me,” recalls Lee. “I didn’t foresee that ever happening. Linda never accepted her diagnosis, so she never received treatment. Her condition continued to deteriorate until she no longer could or would care for them. She gave up custody.”

The LEE KEMP story 39

“Our House” from 2007 to 2014

Kemp Family 2013 Mercedes goes from sleeping on the floor to her own room and a new puppy

CHAPTER 18

Better in Time

“I remember my dad picking us up from the airport and driving to the house. I was so excited. I had my own room, my own bed, my own dresser.” - Mercedes, Lee’s daughter

sudden, a rent sign popped up on the lawn But Lee’s situation in Chicago was of this house.” unsettled. In fact, he was sleeping in a But it took a week for someone to anfriend’s basement. swer the phone. He finally got someone’s “The week before the kids got here, I attention, but he was going to need to dig didn’t have a place to stay,” remembers deep back into his background as a car Lee. “I was sleeping on an air mattress salesman days to close this one. at a friend’s house. That’s how broke I The house belonged to an older man was.” with a heavy Hispanic accent. Lee went to see the place, but there was a serious language barrier. Linda had Hispanic ancestry, but he was not about to call her.

Her parents were always pleasant to Lee and the kids. Her mother, Carmen agreed to translate. She started to tell Lee’s story to his potential landlord.

“I explained my situation, through Car– Lee Kemp men,” recalls Lee. “She told him that ‘their father is trying to get his life back together.

“And then I get this call. I’m talking to They talk on the phone for a while and Linda’s sister and she is saying, ‘I’ll make finally he says, ‘okay, I’ll let you move in. I sure I get them to you, if you can take care had to tell him I didn’t have the security of them,’” He adds. “I got off the phone deposit.” and I said, I am not giving up this chance.

Despite their language barrier, Lee But I didn’t have a place to live.” understood that the landlord had someLee was not sleeping at night. He had a one willing to pay more. Lee’s sincerity week to find something. and plight, however, touched a nerve and “I was just looking around the neighbor- he was allowed to move in without the hood for someone renting their house or a deposit or the first month’s rent. It was a room in their house,” he recalls. “I couldn’t break Lee richly deserved and needed. rent an apartment because I would have His children’s lives were not much betto go through a credit check. All of the ter. They were sleeping on the floor of an

“I was sleeping on an air mattress at a friend’s house.

That’s how broke I was.”

40 The LEE KEMP story

apartment. Their life was hell.

“I sent them a picture of the house, which got them very excited. But now reality sets in,” says Lee. “What am I going to do when I have to pay rent? I don’t have any money.”

He managed to scrape together the first month’s rent and continued to pay the rent for the next seven years.

“That was an unexplainable miracle,” said Lee. “When you go through hardships like I did, you have to keep getting back up, keep standing. However, you can.”

Thing weren’t always smooth in the new house, but they were all together under one roof.

“He was really caring. He told us he was not going to spank or yell at us,” says Adam “He took time for us. You could tell that he was so happy to have me home with him.”

“If I could go back and get back that time. There are parents that are dying to have their kids be around,” says Jordan.

“My dad’s a good man. The way it turned out has been such a good example for me.

He never gave up, and he’s still always there for us. I love my dad for that.”

“I just want to be the best dad I can always be,” says Lee. “The thing I want most out of my life is for my children to love each other.”

BETTER IN TIME Adam won 17 matches as a redshirt freshman at Fresno State

Lee and Adam after a high school wrestling match

CHAPTER 19

I’m Still Standing Adam discovered who his dad was in time to consider wrestling. Getting him on the mat was a challenge, but Lee would do what he had to do to motivate him.

Lee knew he could be good and knew he would like it if he gave it a chance. Adam was resistant, so Lee paid him $50 to go out for the junior high team.

“At first, I was just going through the motions,” says Adam. “Then slowly I’d take a little more pride in it. I remember wrestling off and losing for the jayvee team. Dang, I just lost a jayvee wres-

tle-off and my dad’s a three-time world champion.”

Adam kept at it and discovered something inside himself that he didn’t know was there. The bug nibbled at him until his senior year when he finally got bit. He started to wrestle freestyle and qualified for Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota. He didn’t place, but the next year he placed fifth in state, beating a guy who had pinned him before. Fresno State offered him a scholarship. Adam did not disappoint and made the varsity team his freshman year.

“Having a three-time NCAA champion and three-time world champion as a coach, mentor and dad is special,” says Adam. “He is not overly aggressive.

He is not one of those screaming dads.

“Having a threetime NCAA champion and three-time world champion as a coach, mentor and dad is special.”

- Adam Kemp So, considering the talent I now see in myself, I can’t help but think about what could have been.”

Looking back, his kids can’t help having regrets.

“I would have changed everything,” says Adam. “It’s frustrating for me. I see a lot of potential in myself, but I have a lot of self-doubt. I wish I started earlier.

It’s been really cool to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I think it would have made a huge difference.”

And did you think this fool could never win Well look at me, I’m coming back again I got a taste of love in a simple way And if you need to know while I’m still standing you just fade away I’m still standing better than I ever did Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid I’m still standing after all this time Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind -Elton John

The LEE KEMP story 41

MY TERMS

Lee …Then and now (left); Wrestled Away:

Available on: iTunes, Amazon Video, and Google Play

The Lee Kemp Story (top).

More information at: leekemp.com

CHAPTER 20

Fullerton and is talking to Silicon Valley.

Mercedes recently graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Theater.

“Things just fall into place, based on God’s divine province. The things that Lee won’t let a job define or confine him. have happened in my life, I can say they He continues to coach and is one of the were miracles,” reflects Lee. “Until you top clinicians in the world, not only in go through what I did, it’s hard to explain wrestling, but also in martial arts. He why they happened the way that they is highly disciplined with his body and did.” nutrition. If there were a Mr. World title His kids didn’t know him when he was for 63-year-olds, he’d at least be in the growing up, but they know him now. finals. But most importantly, he is at “He’s happy because we are finally peace. All three kids are in California. He all in California,” says Mercedes. “And lives in Sacramento, so he can be close he’s doing what he loves, wrestling and to his son, Adam. Jordan graduated with giving back to the community.” a degree in Business Administration “He is very nurturing, says Adam. “He Supply Chain & Operation Managewants to see his children grow and acment, from California State University, complish their goals. He’s always giving

My Terms

42 The LEE KEMP story

us advice, using his personal experiences. He’s always there.”

But Kemp hasn’t lost that stubborn streak he’s had since he was a kid.

“He’s very stubborn, but very hard working,” says Jordan. “He always talked about perseverance when I was younger, and I think he passed it on to me. You know, finish what you start.”

“It would be hard to find a man more disciplined,” says Adam. “Disciplined with his diet and working out. Everything he does now consumes him. He is iconic. He is a legend.”

“I have been under stress my entire life. I remember at the height of my wrestling career people would give me all this praise. But, from year to year, I never knew if I was going to be on the team,” says Kemp. “I had Schultz to beat and if it wasn’t Schultz, it was someone else. There was always someone tough to beat. I felt hunted, like there was a bullseye on my back. I could never relax, never let my guard down. When I was done with wrestling, I was thinking to myself, I get to be a normal person.”

EPILOGUE

Lee was given up at birth, but then and tie-ups were designed by Hellickrunner-up as a freshman, and earned saved by Leroy and Jesse Kemp at five son. Kleven put together a program that his MBA from one of the country’s years old. It took him until his sophoprovided a competitive supporting cast, most renowned business schools. He more year of high school to realize that year-round freestyle training and interna- would take all of it down his Yellow he didn’t have a move to Brick Road, on a quest to the basket and couldn’t fulfill his dream of winning shoot. Again, he got an Olympic gold medal. steered in the right Then he discovered there direction. Adjusting to is no Oz, but rather a man I’ve lived a life that’s full being a black boy in an behind the curtain. The all-white world, he was game is rigged.

I’ve travelled each and every highway looking for that “someThe Yellow Brick Road And more, much more than this thing” to feel fulfilled and begins to have bumps and to fit in. If we filmed a potholes, and there is not I did it my way scene from the camp he an enchanted forest to attended in the sumguide him. One bad turn mer of 1972, it would sends him off a cliff. There Regrets, I’ve had a few be the scene from the wasn’t a honeymoon for But then again, too few to mention “Wizard of Oz,” where Lee. He went directly to Dorothy sees Oz for the a toxic marriage with a I did what I had to do first time. Meeting Dan mentally ill woman, who Gable would set Lee refused treatment and And saw it through without exemption on a journey down the whose life was defined by “Yellow Brick Road”. Oh, torturing him. But two valand what a journey. ues that defined Lee were There were times, I’m sure you knew He possessed a secret that he never gives up and When I bit off more than I could chew vision that was so grand he is stubborn. His pathat he dared not share it. tience paid off. His former But through it all when there was doubt He had the raw strength wife, without someone to I ate it up and spit it out and character, but would support her, gave up. that be enough? Another Today, Lee has left the I faced it all and I stood tall disappointment was filled past in the past. He has And did it my way! with an opportunity when all three of his kids back his dream school did not and enjoys the kind of -Frank Sinatra show up when it countlife a champion like him ed. But the University deserves. He has left the of Wisconsin did. And it stress of winning champiintroduced a technician who would match tional competition with a focus on winning onships in life in the rear-view mirror. his physicality and character with the NCAA titles.

He now focuses on his kids and maythird and final ingredient, creating a path When he walked away from UW, be, just maybe, one of them will be an to success. Lee’s domination on his feet he had won three NCAA titles, was All-American someday!

My Way

The LEE KEMP story 43