It doesn’t sound like it,
but winning the Racine Junior High School
wrestling Championship
might have been the highlight of my brief wrestling career

another highlight is
I also made the Racine Horlick High School varsity wrestling team
at 98 lbs. my sophomore year in high school
which used to be the first year of high school
back in the day

It was also the smallest weight class
it would have been worse if I had been the only guy at that weight on the team
but I had beaten out Shawn Briggs and Larry McMillan
and convinced two other guys not to try out for the team
who I wrestled in gym class

I also placed second
In the Racine Invitational my Senior year at 126 lbs.
making the finals
against a wrestler
my older brother beat every time
and he liked to shoot a takedown right away
so my strategy was to shoot first
which I did and gained a 2- 0 lead
and didn’t have a plan
for what to do next
and I lost the match
but still have the medal
with the Racine Lighthouse Invitational Tournament
32 years later

my final highlight
was my senior year in high school
when we wrestled Kenosha Tremper High
who had been ranked as one of the top wrestling schools in the state
they had the Mayor of Kenosha there at the meet
and a band, and it was parents night
they had a 340 lb heavyweight
and all we had was 190 lb. “Black” Jack Hanson
Jack and I had a routine, where I would help warm him up
before every match
and he had lost to this guy before
because he was so huge
but Jack wore him down
after getting caught underneath him once
he ended up on top with a pin
I remember being in the locker room
hearing the coach say
and we banged the lockers and cheered
this will be one night you will remember
the rest of your life

I didn’t believe him

and if I had not written this poem
I might have forgotten…
why…