Wrestlers at the Trials

THE TRIALS... 1984 From ’78 to ’84 Lee Kemp controlled Dave Schultz. The turning point was Lee studying for his MBA at the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1983. Up until then I don’t believe Kemp had ever lost to Schultz, although all their matches were close. Heck, all of Kemp’s matches were close, no matter who he wrestled.

Anyway, that September the World Championships were held in Kiev.

Lee had just won the Pan-Am Games in August, but he decided not to try out for the US World team because he wanted to start the final semester of his MBA program.

I was disappointed because Lee had a great chance of winning the Worlds, but I, along with the other coaches, respected his decision.

Besides, we had a pretty darn good replacement at 163 pounds – Dave Schultz.

As we all know, Dave went over there, beat the Russian and four others to win his first World title. He was our only gold medalist.

Kemp created his own monster by opening the door for Schultz.

That decision I believe changed the whole dynamics of their rivalry. By winning the gold in the Russians’ own backyard, Dave gained too much confidence for Lee to overcome in ’84.

149.5 pounds Freestyle – Nate Carr vs Andy Rein

T

he 149.5 pound class had its share of past, present and future NCAA champions in the competition – Steve Barrett, Jim Heffernan, Ken Mallory, Andre Metzger, Kenny Monday, Pete Yazzo. Under-rated Oregon standout Bill Nugent managed to place above all those champions, garnering a 3rd at the Final Trials.

The top two wrestlers left to vie for the right to wrestle at 149.5 on the Olympic team were both multiple-time National champions, Nate Carr and Andy Rein. Carr was a three-time NCAA champion at Iowa State and would go on to become a three-time US National Open Freestyle champion. Rein was a two-time National AAU champion, the Pan-Am champion, a Tbilisi champion and a 144 Wrestlers At The Trials

THE TRIALS... 1984

“

In the third match the score was close when Rein slipped behind me while on our feet and I had his leg hooked.

Suddenly, the referee taps me on the shoulder and says to us to break the hold. As I unhook my foot Andy throws me and the judges award him the points and I lose the match.

– NATE CARR

NCAA champion at Wisconsin.

Nate Carr’s story: I followed the same pattern as my older brothers. I was the sixth of nine boys – I also had seven sisters. Dad was a church pastor and we were brought up in a strong Christian family environment.

Like the others, I practiced in Coach Canvan’s garage. If I didn’t do a move right, some older brother was there to hit me until I did.

Early on people said ‘this guy is going to be good’. I was quick and strong.

At Erie Tech I wrestled 126, 132, 138 and 145 my four years there. I really wanted to be a state champion but it eluded me for a while. My junior year, I lost at the State Tournament due to being disqualified for a slam. In my senior year the best advice my coach gave me was, ‘Don’t slam anyone.’ So, I just smashed everyone to win the state title.

The first school to recruit me was the University of Iowa. I was flown out there with other top recruits and Gable told us that if we all came to Iowa, we’d build a dynasty. They had Chris Campbell look after me and he put some pressure on me to attend Iowa. However mom had this dream that I shouldn’t go there. She liked the idea of an older guy as my coach, like Harold Nichols, so I went to Iowa State instead.

I remember J Robinson, Iowa assistant coach at the time, telling me that if I went to Iowa State I’d never be a NCAA champion, never an Olympian and Iowa would always beat Iowa State. That was a lot of motivation for me over the next four years. By the way, J

Kenny Monday and Nate Carr had a heated rivalry that went back to their college days in the Big Eight Conference Photograph courtesy of Bobby Douglas

and I are now good friends.

I was very excited to be at Iowa State. I wasn’t the greatest student, but I was determined to study hard and earn my degree. Getting that degree was a championship for me, too.

I won the NCAAs as a sophomore, with Scott Trizzino from Iowa being my main competition.

I had beaten him twice during the season and then we each made it to the finals. On the day of the finals, I went into the steam room to lose a few pounds before weigh-in. Who is in there but Trizzino. I was a little slow to shut the sauna door and Trizzino yells, ‘hurry up and shut the door, Carr.’ I didn’t care much for that, so we start wrestling right there in the sauna. After 30 seconds of beating on each other he says, ‘Okay,

let’s stop now and finish this off tonight on the mats.’ We did. We went right after each other and he head-butts me in the opening period. I go to my corner, tell the coaches to quickly slap a butterfly on my brow and then run over to Trizzino’s corner where he’s talking to Gable. I drag him by the arm to the center of the mat and say, ‘Let’s go, Trizzino.’ I was so fired up.

I ended up beating him 10-5 to win my first NCAA title.

I won the NCAAs again the next two years as I developed a close, tough rivalry with Kenny Monday. Both in ’82 and ’83 Kenny beat me in the Big Eight finals. Both times I tell Kenny after our match, ‘Good job, Kenny. But the next time we meet is the one that counts’. We’d always Wrestlers At The Trials 145