This question lead me down a rabbit hole that answered a question I've had for 20 years.
Who is Matt Oddo?
He showed up coaching in Williamson Co Wrestling Club when i was in high school. Early 2ks. Quiet but mean. Not mean in the sense that he is a bad person (FAR from it), but mean in the sense that he's the one guy in the room, no matter the room, that you don't mess with. An enigma to a high school senior. You just KNEW he was a monster, a hammer, on the mat. But he never talked about it. There were rumors he was Mike Thorn(of Minnesota)'s uncle, but I honestly couldn't tell you if it was true or not.
After I graduated high school and went off to college and then came back home to start my life. I've seen Matt 3 times since then. Once at Drake's, where my wife and I bartended, where he started a huge bar fight and I ushered him out before the cops showed. Once at Bye Bye Baby where he bought my wife and I the most expensive baby monitor they had, as a thank you for saving him a ride to jail. And once at a mutual friend's funeral.
So back to this question answering my question, after i saw the post I went to the St Ed's page to gander at their Hall of Fame to see if maybe I could find who the best wrestler to come out of St Ed's was. I filtered by sport and scrolled down to see the list of names and there was the name..Matt Oddo...right before Collin Palmer. I assumed it was just a coincidence, its not an uncommon name-ish. Had to be. I mean, its St Ed's. So I googled, like i had so many other times, in search. There he was....Coach Oddo. In the St Ed's hall of fame. That opened the flood gates. I found NCAA brackets and a Youtube video. A question that has plagued me for two decades...finally answered.
Who is Matt Oddo?
2x NCAA qualifier for Auburn, Starter at Iowa State, St Ed's Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 1978, but most importantly, a friend and the badass we all knew he was from the beginning.
St Ed's Wrestling Hall of Fame
Blogspot post on the 1978 Eagles Wrestling team
Coach is in the yellow up front.
Matt Oddo (Iowa State) vs Mark Trizzino (Iowa)