GOODBYE, OLD FRIEND
After 60 years, Dodger wrestling program bids adieu to cozy confines
If these walls could talk.
They’d talk of sweat. Desire. Determination. They’d talk about a program that has elevated itself to the very top of the state on more than one occasion.
These walls would talk about those who walked in as boys, and almost always left as men. About fathers who toiled through countless workouts, and their sons that followed.
They would talk about a legacy created within a small, confined space by athletes and coaches alike, which will always be carried in the hearts and memories of those who passed through.
If these walls could talk, what a story they would tell.
The walls inside the Fort Dodge Senior High wrestling room sit in silence now. Since 1958, they surrounded one of the best programs in the state of Iowa. But on Valentine’s Day this year, the room hosted its final practice.
Sometime next fall, the Dodger wrestlers will put on singlets and wrestling shoes in a new room — one fashioned out of Fort Dodge Senior High’s former auxiliary gym.
As part of the update to the high school approved last year in a public bond vote, the former wrestling room will be reconfigured into a part of two additional locker rooms. A new auxiliary gym is being built west of the current one, allowing the opportunity for the wrestling program to move into a new home.
But the memories of the cramped, dark, smelly but beautiful former wrestling room will last forever.
“There’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears shed in that room. A lot of champions came out of that room,” said current Fort Dodge wrestling coach Bobby Thompson, whose team has brought home four team trophies from the traditional state tournament and state duals the in last three years alone. “I’ll think about the memories I made there as an athlete (Thompson was a state runner-up at FDSH in 1982), and I’ll remember the kids we’ve been able to work with as a coach.”
The room has been home to two state team championships, won by the 1980 and 1985 squads. Thompson was a member of the 1980 group, along with former head coach Ed Birnbaum.
“Years ago, we talked about (Fort Dodge wrestling) as our family,” said former head coach Don Miller, who led both the 1980 and 1985 state champs. “Things that happened in the room stay in the room. We went over mistakes each night after a meet, and everyone could see that even the great ones were making them and they could learn by watching us go over everyone’s situation.
“The space of the room really didn’t dictate much, other than we had to be much more creative with how we prepared for conditioning drills and drills in general.”
There have been seven other FDSH teams that have earned state runner-up trophies including the 2017 squad. Three different Fort Dodge units have brought home runner-up trophies from the dual state meet, including this year’s team — the last to wrestle inside its walls.
More than two dozen state champions, hundreds more placewinners and thousands of wrestlers have honed their skills in the room. They wrestled for just a handful of coaches. They’ve put in countless hours just to try and etch their names in the program’s storied history books.
In its final year, the room produced just the school’s third ever four-time state placewinner in Triston Lara, who joined Brad Bruhl and Paul Macek with four state medals.
It also produced the just the third and fourth ever three-time state finalists in Lara and junior Brody Teske, who became the school’s first ever three-time state champ. Macek was also a three-time finalist in the 1930s, while Mark Rial wrestled in three straight championship matches from 1992-94 as another product of the Dodger wrestling room.
“It was 40×40 when I arrived here in 1970. (Former athletic director) Dutch (Huseman) had some cages and a wall taken down in 1974. That made it about a 40×50 room, as it is now. Most rooms are at least three 40×40 spaces, so yes, it was small,” said Miller, who retired after winning the 1985 crown. “We devised a way for groups of four to wrestle two at a time in short (rounds), about a minute. It worked but kids were still getting kicked and ran into.
“One time we had about 60 kids out for wrestling, and we utilized the room to its fullest extent. We made groups of four, and had a ladder drill and went one minute (rounds) and everyone was either involved or shortly thereafter involved.”
The Dodgers will have more than twice as much space to practice next year. Right now, they have the equivalent of about one and 1/3 mats. The new room will have the space of three full mats.
There will be better air exchange, lessening the chances of skin disease, and there will be cardiovascular equipment that the wrestlers will be able to use.
“It will be nice,” said Thompson. “It will give us so much more square footage so we can have better practices. It’s just time for us to upgrade.”
What it lacks in history and memories, the new facility will make up for with its impressive features.
Thompson said there are plans to take some of the paintings done by Jim Lind and move them into the new room. He also said he hopes to move the “Dodger Pride” sign above the room’s door to the new facility. It’s become a tradition for wrestlers to smack that sign after each practice and before heading out for home meets.
The new room will also give a nod to the school’s rich history in the sport. On one wall will be pictures of the 1980 and 1985 state champs. On another wall will be the names of all the Dodger state placewinners — an impressive list that dates back to before 1930, as well as biographies and pictures of some past Dodger greats.
On another wall, Thompson then plans on motivating current and future Dodgers with the words “Who’s next?”
“I think this will definitely attract more kids to wrestling,” said FDSH athletic and activities director Matt Elsbecker. “The old room is definitely a tribute to what our kids have been able to do (in a confined space).
“This is going to be a really nice addition to the improvements we are making in our building. It will pull it all together.”
Thompson greatly appreciated the community’s vote of confidence in moving things forward.
“Everyone has been just so supportive through this whole process,” Thompson said. “Matt and I have been in communication a lot about what I would like to see in the room. We’re very thankful for the vision (of the voters).”
Elsbecker said work will start on the new wrestling room on May 1, with a Sept. 1 completion date.
Miller added, “I’m tickled to death the community rallied to allow the program to not only continue to grow in stature but to have (these) facilities. (Past and present coaches) have shown they will get it done; they never came and asked for anything more than what they needed, and the kids benefited from that because they know wrestling is made by willpower, determination, dedication and just plain hard work.”