Baumgartner Still The Man
He’s turned in his singlet for a single-breasted sports coat, but Bruce Baumgartner has hardly turned his back on wrestling.
The American champ was at the Avista Corp. XXVII World Cup of Wrestling Saturday, running a clinic, pressing palms, signing T-shirts and programs and just being the world’s best-known wrestler.
At 38, Baumgartner is the first to admit, he’s not exactly at his 286-pound super heavyweight wrestling weight. He’s now about 295 pounds. It was once reported the 6-foot-2 athlete measured 52 inches around the chest. “That’s about what my waist is now,” Baumgartner joked. “I’m a big boy. Always have been.”
And he’s been a winner forever, collecting four Olympic medals (gold in 1984 and ‘92) over 16 years. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Baumgartner took home the bronze and became the first wrestler to win 13 World or Olympic medals. It was his fourth and final Games and the one in which he was chosen to carry the United States’ flag at the opening ceremonies.
But there will be no more competitions for the 1996 James E. Sullivan award winner. No Michael Jordan, retire-unretire acts in his future.
Last August, Baumgartner was elected USA Wrestling’s president, the national governing body for amateur wrestling. It’s a volunteer job with long hours that often keeps him away from Linda, his wife of 17 years, and their three sons (ages 2, 6 and 8) in Cambridge Springs, Pa. As for income, Baumgartner was named athletic director at Edinboro College in 1997. That’s when he gave up coaching at the northwest Pennsylvania school.
As for Team USA’s future, Baumgartner said: “We have some great athletes, two to three in each weight class who can compete. Most likely, we’ll have eight wrestlers at the Olympics.”
Travels with the kids
It’s not just the athletes who get to see the world when they reach this elite level. Many of the families also have some impressive looking stamps in their passports.
Take American Lincoln McIlravy and his traveling posse. There’s dad, Kenneth; mom, Linda; wife Lisa; and sons Streeter, 2, and Sterling 4-1/2 months.
Kenneth, a rancher in Philip, S.D., has been to Iran and Siberia, sites of the past two World Championships. Istanbul, Turkey, the host of this year’s World Championships, is next up. Linda has remained stateside, but if things keep going well for her youngest son, she’ll be snacking on Vegemite Down Under in the summer of 2000.
At Saturday morning’s 153-pound match against Canadian Daniel Igali, Linda shielded her eyes and sat scrunched sideways for the entire match. She finally relaxed when McIlravy earned one point in overtime to win 3-2.
He finished the tournament as an undefeated gold medalist by defeating Amir Tavakolian 5-3 in a match contested by the Iranians.
“It’s nerve-wracking but we enjoy it,” Linda said.
American Les Gutches’ fan club includes grandpa Warren Gutches and grandma Betty of Rogue River, Ore.
Grandpa Gutches said he was in Iran at last year’s World Championships, but Betty stayed behind.
“We were told it was not safe to bring women,” Warren said. “When we got the to the arena, there were about 15,000 people and just one woman there, a journalist.”
Steamin’ Sammie
In the upset of the weekend, American Sam Henson lost to Iran’s Gholam Reza Mohammadi by the stunning score of 10-0 in the opening match. Henson, the current world champion at 119 pounds, was nowhere to be found.
“You don’t want to talk to Sammie right now,” said teammate Les Gutches. “He probably walked home.”
Henson, however, was on the platform when the Americans were awarded the gold medal. He won an indvidual silver medal.
A stately gathering
The 1998-99 Washington high school state wrestling champions were honored during Saturday’s day session. Gonzaga Prep coach Phil McLean and G-Prep’s two-time State 4A champion Travis Pascoe were given more than certificates. Coach and prize pupil were awarded a trip to the Olympic wrestling training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where they will observe and participate this summer.
This weekend, the two astutely observed the matches at the Arena.
“They wrestle at such a high level,” said Pascoe, a junior. “It takes them about four shots to get a guy down. In high school, it usually takes about one time.”