—Messenger file photo Current Fort Dodge wrestling coach Bobby Thompson wrestles for the Dodgers in 1980. Thompson finished third in his freshman season as part of the Dodger state championship team.

When Bobby Thompson was a 14-year-old freshman in 1980, the last hour of school was his favorite — and provided the path that would dictate his future.

Outside the classroom waiting to pick him up was Paul Porter. Not to take Thompson home, but to give him a ride to wrestling practice.

Forty years ago, ninth graders went to school at North Junior High. The high school was for grades 10, 11 and 12 only.

Porter was a junior on the Dodger wrestling team at the time; Thompson was a slender freshman ahead of his time skill-wise.

“I was 14 and going to North,” said Thompson, who is now completing his 15th year as the FDSH head coach. “Paul came and picked me up to take me to practice. I would go up to the school with him and practice (at the high school).”

At that time, it was rare for a freshman to wrestle varsity. Thompson was the expectation.

“I walked in off the streets on Thanksgiving and jumped on the scale at 95 pounds,” Thompson said. “Coach (Don) Miller said you’re going to have a wrestle-off (for the varsity spot), then said you’re going to wrestle. I was just a kid and I didn’t have any expectations going into the Eagle Grove Invitational. I was scared, but Coach Miller said I had a chance to win it.

“I just wanted to win one match (in Eagle Grove), and I ended up winning the tournament.”

This weekend, Thompson took 11 of his own wrestlers to the state tournament — 40 years after he was a youngster on the 1980 Dodger state championship team. For the last 15 years, Thompson has instilled everything he absorbed from Miller and those experiences into his own program.

Life in the Dodger wrestling room in the 1980s was a culture that his carried over, and is still felt by kids who slip on the red and black singlet today.

“We called it the family and we were the children. The older guys like Don (Ewing), Dave (Ewing), Ed (Birnbaum) and Jeff Johnson were the family, and us younger guys were the catalysts to the culture,” Thompson said. “God. Family. Wrestling. That’s where it, started and that’s what we’re living as a program today.

“The culture was actually started back in the 1920s by Fred Cooper. He created it. It went through some lulls, but Don Miller rebuilt it and everybody wanted to carry it on from there. (Miller successors) Hans (Goettsch), Ed (Birnbaum) and I just tried to do our part.”

Birnbaum, who started in the trenches with Thompson as a senior, followed the same path as Thompson as a leader in the Dodger room. Birnbaum coached the Dodgers from the 1989 season through 2005.

“It was kind of weird how I got the job. I came back over Christmas Break one year and a science position came open. I was back (in Fort Dodge) in 1985 as a volunteer, and I got to observe all the things from a coaching standpoint. I saw a lot of things,” Birnbaum said. “When Coach Miller got out and became the athletic director in 1986, I handed him my application and told him I was applying for the (head role). He said, ‘no, you are applying for the assistant job. I’ll let you know when you’re ready.’

“Hans took over, and after four years, he said I’m done and you’re ready. I was older (26) and more mature. I had a better understanding and was extremely grateful for both of them (Miller and Goettsch), as well as Coach (Jerry) Einwalter.”

Birnbaum, who finished fourth on the championship squad in 1980, didn’t immediately understand the potential of this group.

“We came out of nowhere. We were just a group of kids from Fort Dodge wrestling in the Don Miller era,” Birnbaum said. “We were above average, but not what you would call an elite program. In 1980, we were relative young and returning points from myself, Tommy Thompson and Dave Ewing. We had a lot of good seniors that didn’t start for us and wrestled JV. It was a family and the seniors ran the show.

“We didn’t realize the talent we had back in December. The talent grew and developed as we moved into January and February. I don’t think we knew what we had. We didn’t realize that we had something special.”

Miller knew what he had, but getting the team to buy in was the most critical step.

“(Coach) Einwalter had a big poster on the wall. It was a big ladder with had rungs on it,” Birnbaum said. “Every time we won a dual or a tournament, he would color the rung in, and every time we lost (twice), he would break a rung. When we lost, Coach Miller had a clipboard in his hand and we had a serious talk before practice. When he broke the rung, Matt Summers said, ‘oops’ in an arrogant way. Coach Miller threw the clipboard.

“That’s when he told us that we didn’t realize what we had or what we were capable of.”

When the Dodgers hit the state tournament in 1980, Miller’s program was ready to pursue gold.

“Coach Miller knew he had thoroughbreds in the room,” Birnbaum said. “When I was a sophomore and junior, (Miller) ran everything from the beginning to the end of practice and dictated it all. When we were seniors, he backed off and let the seniors run the warmups.

“He pointed us to the third turn and stepped back and let us go. He steered us into the last corner of the Kentucky Derby and we brought it home. If we got out of line, he would step in. Don had a unique talent to get the whole team going in the same direction at the same time with confidence.”

Birnbaum and Thompson were Miller disciples, and the roots of Dodger wrestling spread quickly.

“Dodger wrestling goes deep,” Thompson said. “I walked into Wells Fargo Arena (this year)…Dave Ewing texts me good luck. Ed Birnbaum and I talk all the time. History goes way back to Donald Ewing when I was a freshman and Porter picked me up. I would wrestle 20 matches with Don and Jeff Johnson. They took me under their wing. The culture is what made me successful.

“The culture that everyone started was also created in the community. Now that has carried on to second and third generations. It’s a tribute to our community. Names like Ayala, Lara, Egli, Teske are popping up again from the 80s. And you see plenty of Fort Dodge names in Waukee, Ankeny…throughout the state.”

After winning the 1980 title, Thompson remembers how important it was to the community when they returned with gold.

“After we won state, we came back to the community that treated us like kings,” Thompson said. “It was unbelievable. Our community was so supportive. Dutch Huseman created a culture that was important to build from. We had a lot of respect for that. It’s what kept Fort Dodge wrestling as close as it still is to this day.”