Reach for the Stars
The Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament
by
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On setting the tournament scoring record.....
Good things come to those who wait. That’s one of the oldest clichés in the English language, but in Waverly it became part of the best team performance in the history of Iowa’s traditional state wrestling tournament.
Since the dual-meet tournament was started in 1987, the word “traditional” was put on the meet in Des Moines that involves those who get through the gauntlet of the sectionals and districts. In Class 3-A programs such as Waverly-Shell Rock, the sectionals are bypassed and the qualifying meet is the district.
“I always underplay everything. I’m not going to be boisterous, I’m not going to be bragging about my team. I think it’s unnecessary pressure on my kids, but in that year there was no question we were going to win. It was just how bad,” Waverly-Shell Rock coach Rick Caldwell said of 2008.
We were intending on winning the national championship that year, that was our goal. We finally got into “The Clash,” we were going to wrestle Apple Valley twice that year – a perennial top-5 team – and they beat us twice in two really close duals, so we fell short of that goal. We needed to perform, but there was no doubt with that team. When you go up and down that lineup, there was nobody in Iowa who was going to touch us. Going into it, I wasn’t saying that to anybody. I wasn’t even saying it to my team. But the coaching staff, we knew. We could set every record ever established: most qualifiers, most place winners, most champs, most finalists, points…we knew we could do it all. This team was not going to be denied. They were too good.”
On tough-minded individuals...
Some of the first stars in the state wrestling tournament, after the Iowa High School Athletic Association began sanctioning the event in 1926, were from a tough Fort Dodge High School pack known as “Coop’s Boys.”
“Coop” was Fred Cooper, who coached Fort Dodge to eight team championships – and a share of a ninth - between 1927 and 1941. There were 25 of “Coop’s Boys” who won a total of 28 individual championships between John Brindley at 85 pounds 1926 and Eldon Faine in 1942.
How tough were they? The Dodgers’ Andrew Pontius won the 158-pound state championship in 1927 at Ames, despite getting a case of frostbite on his ear bad enough that the ear swelled and split.
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About the Book
Wrestling is as much a part of winter in Iowa as is snow and cold. Dreams of state championships begin in elementary school and, since 1972, come to fruition - or heart-breakingly fall short - at an arena in Des Moines in February or March. In 2011, the tournament finals sold out for the 24th consecutive year. Individuals and teams carve their names on the sport’s history tree each year. Some champions were blind, some were deaf, some were amputees but all earn the respect of thousands for their work ethic - a hallmark of the state’s populace. Is this heaven? No, it’s better than that. It’s high school wrestling in Iowa!
About the Author
Dan McCool grew up in a wrestling hotbed in the state of Iowa and has followed the sport for most of his life. An addictive aspect of the sport came in 1977, when he witnessed a boyhood friend winning a state championship. He wrote about the sport for 30 years. As a writer for the Des Moines Register, McCool covered wrestling at the high school, collegiate and international level and was respected for his knowledge of the sport and its participants. For several years he handled the paper’s wrestling rankings for high school teams and individuals. Because the state tournament is a must-see event in Iowa, McCool wanted to give readers some stories about the teams and individuals of a sport that has turned out national champions, Olympic champions and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. When he’s not watching wrestling, McCool lives in West Des Moines where he enjoys oldies music, photography, travel and football.