Lehigh's Craig won't let wrestling define him

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Far be it from Billy Kounoupis to understand David Craig's complicated relationship with wrestling.

David Craig

The owner of Billy's Diner, the famous Bethlehem hotspot where Lehigh's 184-pounder is a regular, has known him for about two years. But for all the conversations they have had over Craig's usual eggs, bacon, and hash browns with coffee, one in particular sticks out in Kounoupis's mind.

"I asked him about what he'd do if his son wants to get into wrestling," Kounoupis recalls. "And he told me he'll say, 'Wrestling, what's that?' He said there's no way he's going to let his kid wrestle, and that he'll do everything he can to talk him out of it."

That includes hiding all his trophies and avoiding the sport entirely. Hate is too strong a word to use to describe how Craig feels about wrestling. But it's safe to say that Craig's past experiences will shape his future actions, especially when it comes to a sport that he wanted nothing to do with in the first place.

When you've dedicated nearly two decades of your life to the manic pursuit of excellence in one sport, you can hardly be blamed for feeling burnt out by the end. But that isn't the case with Craig. The fact is that he's never loved wrestling because he didn't choose it. Soccer was his preferred sport.

David Craig gets his hand raised after a victory (Photo/Lehigh Sports Information)

"I never wanted to do it," Craig says. "My dad put me in wrestling and that was, 'No questions asked, this is what we're doing, period.' So I never chose to be a wrestler. I just started doing wrestling, and eventually, you develop accountability to the team, the (high school) community you grow up in. You can't let them down, so you have to stick with it."

But the man who Lehigh coach Pat Santoro says has "a great, natural feel for the sport," thrived despite his lack of passion for it. He went 179-0 and won four Florida state titles while helping powerhouse Brandon High School extend its national-record streak of 459 consecutive dual match victories. His domination extended beyond the state when he was a Junior Nationals double champion in Fargo in 2005. But even then, signs like deciding against traveling to Fargo to defend his titles as a senior pointed to wrestling's place on Craig's priority list.

For as much praise as Craig was given during his illustrious high school career, there have been equal amounts of scorn whispered in his direction for his failure to win multiple national championships on the collegiate level.

David Craig, who went 179-0 and won four Florida state titles, was InterMat's No. 1 overall recruit in the country in 2006 (Photo/Jon Malinowski)

"You see a lot of kids who have done well in high school, but don't do well in college and vice versa," says 174-pounder Dave Chirichello, a close friend of Craig's on the Mountain Hawks. "So I don't think it's fair to assume that just because a guy did well in high school, he'll do well in college."

Fair or not, that was the level of expectation heaped on the No. 1 recruit of 2006 (according to InterMat), the only guy in the country more highly thought of than eventual 2008 Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo. It was not a question of if he would ever stand atop the podium at Nationals, but merely when. But Craig claims those words go in one ear and out the other.

"I never tuned in, originally," Craig says. "I really never heard, never cared what anybody else said. I never put any stock into the expectations of other people, personally. All I do is try to go out there and win matches. Most of those people are just fans, have never had to deal with as many things as college wrestlers have to deal with. The ones who have are more understanding. It's not peaches and cream ... it's not fun at all. None of it."

Those who know Craig well describe him as a humble, mature, honest deep-thinker with varied interests outside of wrestling. He's an avid fisherman and loves to write. That was part of the reason he switched majors from business to journalism after he became academically ineligible midway through his sophomore season. Since then, he has posted over a 3.0 GPA every semester. In a sport that demands the heart and soul of most of its participants, Craig says wrestling doesn't define him one percent.

David Craig is currently ranked No. 12 n the country at 184 pounds by InterMat (Photo/Lehigh Sports Information)

"It shouldn't be the most important thing to people," Craig says. "Eventually, wrestling ends. (But) a lot of wrestlers fall under that spell, where wrestling is the driving force in their life. And whenever it ends, if they haven't been No. 1, they're lost within themselves; there's space that can't be filled. My main goal in everything is to just try to be a good person. That's it."

Which is not to say that Craig doesn't try to win or doesn't care about his results (for the team's sake, if not his own). The senior is 4-1 this season, and ranked No. 12 in the country by InterMat. His only loss was by a narrow 4-3 margin to 2008 NCAA champion Mike Pucillo of Ohio State. The talent and physical tools are there for Craig to go out and make Nationals for a third time at Lehigh, qualifying every year that he was eligible to do so. To make it onto the podium for a first time, however, Santoro feels he needs to open it up a bit and attack more, not merely settle for narrow 3-2 or 4-3 victories.

"If David Craig is just himself and wrestles, he's pretty solid," Santoro says. "If he does that, he can wrestle anyone in the country. He's very intense, very smart on the mat, but I think just getting him to pull the trigger a little more will make a huge difference in March."

To most people, Craig's accomplishments would constitute a very solid college career. As of Thanksgiving, he has compiled a 68-22 career record, won the 2009 EIWA title, and qualified for the NCAA Championships twice. Ultimately, however, Craig is bound and determined to define his own success, on and off the mat.

"My goals are pretty simple," Craig says. "I want to win every match, and more importantly, help my team win every match. I feel worse when other people lose than when I lose, (and) especially bad if my loss contributes to a team loss. I want to win the EIWAs, do well at Nationals, become an All-American and possibly a national champion."

He pauses, then shrugs. "(But) if none of that happens, so be it."

For 18 years, wrestling is practically all David Craig has known. Hours upon hours of practices, study halls, workouts, dual meets, and tournaments. The void may, at first, feel substantial.

"It's a lifestyle commitment until you finish up," Craig says. "Then you got all this free time and you have to decide what to do with it. It's like being a normal person. You have a lot of weight off of your shoulders, so I'm kind of anxious to see what that feels like."

Craig makes no bones about the fact that, for him, wrestling is a means to an end; that end being a degree from a highly regarded academic institution, an academic opportunity that he would not have otherwise been afforded.

As of Thanksgiving, David Craig has compiled a 68-22 career record, won the 2009 EIWA title, and qualified for the NCAA Championships twice (Photo/Lehigh Sports Information)

"To me, college is about academics, and wrestling is a sidebar to that," Craig says. "(My wrestling scholarship) is a tool to help me get a degree from a great academic institution. And I think that should be the goal of all college students."

It's that kind of big-picture perspective that gives Craig peace of mind, that allows him to live in the moment, but move on when it has passed.

"There are greater things beyond wrestling," Craig says. "Wrestling ends ... and after that, it's done. To me, it's fleeting and there's only so much you can do, unless you want to dedicate your whole life to it. Some people do, and that's fine ... but I have other goals, I don't want do wrestling after college. Then it's not even important anymore."

Once he does graduate, Craig says that he doubts that he'll ever truly know what he wants to do in life, but for now, the plan is to head back to Florida and get a graduate degree in public administration from the University of South Florida. And what will he do with his spare time, with those moments that he had spent practicing or working out, all those hours that wrestling had previously consumed?

"Do some fishing, try to get my brother to teach me how to surf," Craig says with a smile. "Just enjoy life, not have to worry about wrestling."

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