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ONCE UPON A TIME I wrestled in middle school in ILLINOIS. Our family then moved to Texas for a year, and I wrestled for Western Hills High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Not to sound like too much of a Midwestern wrestling snob, but I was varsity as a freshman at the first practice of the season. The big tournament for us was the Metroplex championships, which involved all of the high schools in the Dallas and Fort Worth area. That's where I encountered my first wrestling hero. He was just a kid like me—probably a freshman as well—but he was super slick on the mat, a sensational wrestler, wore a very cool singlet and was blind. Stephon Breedlove is a name that I have never forgotten. At the tournament, I watched all of his matches and rooted for him the whole time. As a blind wrestler, he always started matches with his hands on his opponent. His opponent was also given this advantage. In neutral, the wrestlers had to maintain contact by rule. How did he know where his opponent was going? How did he know where his opponent's legs were? It was an amazing sight. And yet he dominated that bracket and won a city championship as a freshman. I had heard rumor at the tournament that he was a National AAU champion, and that kind of explained it. Recently, I decided to look up this amazing fellow. The University of Texas at Austin archive had an image of a young Stephon Breedlove learning to read braille. They spelled his first name wrong, but this was still an amazing find. Later, I discovered that he wrestled at Paschal High School in Fort Worth before transferring to Fort Worth Country Day, although he also wrestled for the Texas School for the Blind. Next, I discovered that he had matriculated to that very same University of Texas where he had learned to read braille and eventually graduated with an honors degree in Government. He went on to law school at UT and practiced law in Houston, married a beautiful woman and fathered two children. And so, with that background information, I decided to call my first wrestling hero. We ended up having a lot in common—from education to work experience to family—and not just one wrestling tournament in a large Texas metropolitan area. IWB&F&B: When did you start wrestling? BREEDLOVE: In Sixth grade. IWB&F&B: Did you ever wrestle your brother, who was an amazing athlete in his own right? [He is sighted] BREEDLOVE: No. He was interested in basketball. Haha! IWB&F&B: Did you wrestle for Paschal High School in Fort Worth for one year? BREEDLOVE: Yes. IWB&F&B: Do you recall that DFW Metroplex wrestling tournament? BREEDLOVE: Yes. IWB&F&B: Did you have extra help from any coach? BREEDLOVE: Yes. Coach Murph at Country Day and the Texas School for the Blind. IWB&F&B: Where else did you wrestle? BREEDLOVE: There were tournaments in Canada and Europe. Also, there were AAU tournaments. IWB&F&B: What advice would you give to wrestlers? BREEDLOVE: Go straight at them and take them down. [I think he meant it metaphorically, as in don't dilly-dally around and get after it.] IWB&F&B: What advice would you give to wrestlers without sight? BREEDLOVE: Be ready for obstacles and GO FOR IT!

Matt Hamill. He wrestled for a year at Purdue then transferred to RIT (D3). Won three D3 national titles. There was a wrestler that I coached for a couple of years that was both deaf and legally blind. I recall the visual impairment being described as a tunnel vision that would get progressively worse until he was totally blind. He didn't reach a high level of success, but I recall being totally surprised by his performance the first time he took the mat in competition.

Well, death hasn't stopped me from hanging up the ban hammer yet.

Master Yoda was only 2'2". Argument invalidated.

I’ll bite: Spencer is more desirable for the Iowa job. Jordan is more desirable for every other job.

Word is that he tore ligaments in his ankle the day before. So basically, blew out his ankle. What would be the point of trying to compete against one of the all time best US wrestlers if you can even put weight on your leg? To not have your toughness questioned by random guys on the internet? I guess he did beat Taylor while not being able to put weight on his leg.... so maybe he should have given it a go.

Yes. It wasn't a very wide release, but I did manage to see it in a theater. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hammer_(2010_film)

Was there a movie about Hamill or am I thinking of another guy?

https://shoresportsnetwork.com/a-shot-in-the-dark-new-movie-portrays-inspirational-story-of-blind-st-john-vianney-wrestler-anthony-ferraro/

Great stories. Thanks! Way back in the 60s Marty Wiiligan, Hofstra was a 2-time NCAA All American including runner-up to Dan Gable in ‘69. Willigan was deaf and went on to a long, successful career coaching at Gallaudet University. One of the proudest honors of my wrestling accomplishments was coaching a blind wrestler here in New Hampshire. Cory Wilkins was a two time state place winner. Reading the story of Stephon Breedlove made my day today.

My understanding is a reply is also a tweet, so scrolling adds up fast. I don't have an account, but I click on embedded tweets fairly often and I can no longer read those on Twitter. That use case seems very common to me and surely drives ad revenue. This policy leaves money on the table.

Interested to see some of these cooks come out tomorrow…. I got a dozen or so people coming, big menu: St. Louis Ribs; pulled chicken; pulled brisket, Mac n cheese, variety of melons, variety of veggies, home made cucumber salsa. Added some furniture down at the PitDock, but man it’s going to be a hot mutha…..

Here’s my brisket. Been in since 10 am Sunday. Probably go till noon tomorrow. Then ice bath followed by 3 hours on the Webber Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Many other sports allow more than one entrant per event. Wrestling and Boxing both should have two per weight.

Absolutely Yes. Colleges are selling a product that is way over priced and in some instances worthless.

Politics at its finest. The Republicans look like cruel and greedy scrooges while the Democrats look like victims - much the same as the serfs indebted to a cruel and greedy system. Didn't cost a dime and nets millions of votes while the Republicans joyfully declare Pyrrhic victory. Biden 2024 - check but not quite mate in his game of 4d chess.

Beautiful story! Ref whistles, end-of-period horns and even cheering crowds are lost. Coaches can't coach their wrestlers while on the mat. You can't hear your opponent breathing hard. You gotta be tough to even try it! Wasn't there a deaf wrestler on that old UFC show The Ultimate Fighter? He was a bad *** as well. On another note, I forgot to link to the original story on The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond. It has more pictures, links to other cool stories, and that Laura Bridgman narrative from Charles Dickens. It is right here.

Good stuff... thanks for sharing! We had a kid in Idaho a number of years ago that was as tough as they come who was deaf. Much easier to wrestle with hearing loss than sight loss, however an amazing story in itself. He ended up being a 2x state champ in a small school division, but beat most of the big school guys if I remember correctly.

I just read Jonathan Turley's take on this and Constitutionally he is correct in my layman's' opinion. Granted I am no scholar on Constitutional Law, but I don't think you need to be to understand that the House controls the purse, Reps have to be 25 years old minimum, Senators 30 years old, and the President 35 years old. It really is fairly straight forward. I will highlight just a few key paragraphs of his to show my point. https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/4076993-constitutional-cruelty-how-democrats-now-oppose-a-democratic-process-on-student-loans/ Constitutional cruelty: Democrats now oppose a democratic process on student loans by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor - 07/01/23 10:30 AM ET “Disappointing and cruel.” Those words from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) after the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s loan forgiveness program may say more than the opinion itself. The court’s “cruelty” was in supporting Congress’s core constitutional power of the purse. Schumer’s disappointment in having to address and vote on the forgiveness of hundreds of billions of dollars in loans speaks volumes about the collapse of our constitutional values. ... In his response to the court, Biden declared that “the hypocrisy is stunning” and that the court had “misinterpreted the Constitution.” However, during the last presidential campaign, Biden himself acknowledged that this effort would be unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts even cited former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the opinion for stating the obvious: “People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.” ... Biden was undeterred after that ruling and promised, “I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver [the] relief.” Perhaps, but the Constitution has once again stopped him from becoming a government unto himself. .... That brings us back to Schumer. James Madison designed a constitutional system with a frank understanding of the factional and petty impulses of politicians. Yet he believed that he had created a system of checks and balances that could rely on the institutional self-interest of members to jealously protect their powers under Article I. Madison believed that, despite party or ideological affiliations, “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” In all of his study of the ancient Greek and Roman states and contemporary politics, Madison never encountered the likes of Schumer and his colleagues. Their ambition runs elsewhere, and they view the support of their authority to be an act of constitutional “cruelty.” They are calling on a president to turn them into institutional nonentities — legislators who engage in a type of empty performance art as the president governs alone. It is a curious position for those who have campaigned on protecting “democracy.” These same figures are now calling on a president to avoid presenting this major program to Congress because they know that the majority would oppose it. ... All of this is meant to avoid the one option left to the president — going to Congress. After all, the last thing you want in the defense of democracy is to have an outbreak of democratic process. ... What is left, to paraphrase Schumer, is a cruel joke. But the ultimate joke is on the American people. Half of their representatives in Congress are struggling to make themselves (and those they represent) entirely irrelevant at this key moment. That is a constitutional debt that should not be forgiven. This is an interesting opinion, because he is going at the D's for trying to go around the Constitution to get this thing done. These are the same D's that cried "we will lose our Democracy" if Rs are voted in. It is the height of hypocrisy to say that and now say that the right thing is to not do what democracy dictates. Go through Congress, get it appropriately funded, and then give it to the President to sign. Losing our Democracy is allowing the Executive to do what he/she wants whenever he/she wants. And that is what the D's are advocating for now along with throwing their own legislative power away. Turley is not taking sides I don't think, he is just showing how the whole thing was unconstitutional and those that are boldly declaring this is a miscarriage of justice, when it is so apparent it is not, are the Ds. He is shows that these Ds are not jealously holding onto their power but instead abdicating it. Maybe surprised is the wrong word. mspart

It came out in the Supreme Court case that Harvard's admission rate for legacies is 34% and for non-legacies it is 6%. So legacy status is a big leg up. I always knew it was my father's fault I didn't get into Harvard.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that."

As of Jun 26, these are the numbers of entrants per https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/11072503-mens-freestyle-entries-for-the-budapest-ranking-series 57 - 23 entrants 61 - 14 entrants 65 - 23 entrants 70 - 15 entrants 74 - 19 entrants 79 - 14 entrants 86 - 28 entrants 92 - 11 entrants 97 - 20 entrants 125 - 19 entrants The number of entrants for non Olympic weights is fairly drastic. They have no more than 15 entrants averaging 13.5 entrants per weight. The Olympic weights have more participants with an average of 22 participants. For what it is worth. mspart

Now we see the violence inherent in the system.

Thawing a brisket now for tomorrow. I got it from a friend who raised 2 cows at a time and at about 18-24 months had them butchered. We would split a 1/4 side with another family. Really good meat. He's no longer doing it, but it was a good deal for a number of years. It is rather a small cut but it should work for my wife and I. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. mspart

Christ! Wrestling can not get here soon enough...

I think the change of telling the refs to call stalling could be a reason they are holding off on the turn needed for riding time. Makes sense to see what kind of impact that has first

Which is arguably more subjective than most folkstyle stalling calls…

Haha, nice try. This forum is chock full of Twitter links. Mike Parrish made a daily habit of posting Twitter links to rile up conservatives. Followed by an lololol of course. How about you stop following me and leaving me personal messages.

If you have something to add to the conversation - it would be welcomed by all. But posting someone else's twitter "post" is super weak... like brain dead weak. If you like someone else's post, read it - learn from it - then post what you've learned in your own words, as you, with your own thoughts. Be original, use your voice. That's why we're here. Nobody comes here to read twitter posts. They would go to twitter for that garbage.

I am. But the refs still are pretty involved.. so your point doesn’t hold merit. If you want to do freestyle. Promote it.

After watching trees flying by all else seem boring, didnt lose power like most of my friends so felt like should post.

i say, the reason they didn't add the need to turn was that it only happened in 7% of the riding time matches...

isn't part of the problem the decreasing value of a college degree? at one time it put you ahead - got a good job that made up the expense pretty much out of the gate.

LOLOLOL. Sure he did man. The site was virtually unusable (again) but it was actually a GOOD thing. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Lots of folks have won gold with broken stuff but how do you shoot takedowns with a high ankle sprain? Folkstyle sure, Freestyle prob no. I heard that Synder kid is tough.

Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters of all times. He didn't last long as a manager, though, because he couldn't understand why everyone couldn't hit .400 like him.

As president of the University of Iowa will Spencer really have time to be the head wrestling coach and AD?

I noticed on John Giura's entry in the wrestling database his profession is listed as "antique dealer." I thought that was an interesting profession for a World Team member. Have any other antique dealers represented the US in wrestling on the world stage? Is he still involved in the antique business? Does he have a showroom anywhere?

The only other wrestler I've heard of that was involved in this kind of thing was this guy: https://vault.si.com/vault/1985/12/02/scorecard

I don't know of any actual showroom. Most recently he was known for being the executive producer for the film Foxcatcher. Back in the 1990s when he was the coach at NYU, I believe he was pursuing a master's degree in museum studies.