Willpower Works For Him Riverside High Wrestling Star Models Championship Desire

Of all the stories Henry Peterson can tell, the most telling occurred in a Costa Rican orphanage.

The caretakers had an interesting way to feed little Henry and the other orphans. They placed food in the middle of the room and let the youngsters prove their will to live by fighting for scraps.

Young Henry made it to the center of the room and seized enough morsels to survive. His younger brother didn’t.

Peterson, a senior at Riverside High, is years and miles away from Central America. But his nature, at the core, hasn’t changed that much.

Peterson has the will to win.

Also, he doesn’t care much when others resent his actions. He knows, at its essence, that life is about taking care of yourself first and foremost.

Wrestlers have to do that. State champion wrestlers, such as Peterson, show a dedication to self that most people can’t comprehend.

If Peterson has a reputation for bad decisions or not being a team player, he is also known for unique acts of kindness and friendship.

Adopted at 4 years old, Peterson was brought into a white, Mormon family living in a rural setting.

His adoptive father taught him about hard work, but personality and cultural clashes between father and son were inevitable. Although he lives at home again, Peterson at one time moved out.

Disputes or not, however, Peterson showed long ago what his family means to him.

“My parents have always taught me that if you’re going to stick with something, stick with it,” Peterson said.

In her house, Peterson’s mother has a memorial to son Nathan, who died at age 13 during a 1982 Boy Scout outing in Canada.

One day, one of Henry’s wrestling medals showed up among the mementos on the memorial.

Henry said that Nathan, given the chance, would have won the same tournament.

Peterson’s Riverside teammates are, as he says, “on their own” when it comes to motivation. I’m not there to be the team leader, Peterson said.

Yet before Riverside’s Northeast A League-clinching win over Deer Park, Peterson was the guy loosening up the team with pre-match dancing moves.

“People who know me like me, because they know who I really am,” said Peterson, who begins a quest this weekend to repeat as State A/B 115-pound champ. “I admit, I screw up and get in trouble. But I don’t look for trouble.”

Rumors abounded before this season that Peterson wouldn’t wrestle because of troubles with the law last spring.

Peterson’s version is that a group of his friends went after some Whitworth College students who called them names. The students fled, leaving behind groceries that Henry and his friends took home.

Peterson was arrested and spent more than two days in jail, but charges were dropped because of inconclusive evidence.

“There were tabloids around here: `State champion finds himself in trouble,”’ Peterson said. “This year, I haven’t been in big-time trouble.”

Any big-time trouble has been directed at wrestling opponents. Peterson is on the road toward three goals: his fourth District 7-A/B championship, his third Region IV title and his third consecutive berth in the state finals.

First-year Riverside head coach Randy Miller said Peterson’s string of success is no accident.

“He works out tremendously, then puts in the extra time at home,” Miller said. “He loves the sport, and loves being in the limelight.”

MEMO: Two sidebars ran with this story under the following headlines: 1. Riverside’s season one for the books, however thick those books may be 2. Weekend tournaments