Hulk Horace

Among the many changes that I personally experienced during my time in Alaska was my physical abilities.  I still loved basketball and would have chose it as a career move had I not been so slight of build, lacking in height, and able to jump no more than the phone books I sat upon to play the Tuba. So my Dad suggested wrestling.  I had not wrestled since that one year in Homedale, except for the many times Michael and I had battled for top brother supremacy in our home over the years.  My Dad said it would be a great opportunity for me and that he would help me as well.  Dad was a former champion wrestler from his high school days in Idaho. 

            The first day of tryouts was unbelievable.  There were about forty-something guys that were there on that first day.  In fact there were more guys wanting to wrestle than were on the football team. That was surprising to me because I never saw wrestling as much of a big deal back in Idaho. I mean there were some very good wrestlers but there weren't a lot of parents and classmates that were excited about going to wrestling matches. In Homer, all of the classes were represented from freshmen to seniors.  I didn't know very many of them but I was glad to see that there were guys of all sizes including a couple near my own miniature status.

Coach Darrel White

Coach Steven Wolfe

            Right off the bat our coaches, Steven Wolfe and Darrel White, had us running laps around the school going from 1^st floor to the 2^nd floor as much as possible. I had never run so much in my life. After what seemed like an hour of running we did some other exercises and then sat around on a big gym mat and listened to the coach explain to us what we had to look forward to over the next few months.  I have to admit I was more than a little apprehensive knowing the regimen that I would be expected to complete every single day.

            I committed to myself that I would give it my all and that I wouldn't quit no matter what.  This made me feel proud when I saw a few of the team quit after the first day.

            Everyday we did drills, exercises and weightlifting for 3 hours after school.  I slowly began to get stronger and my stamina continued to increase.  I would go home and practice moves with my Dad and he would give me some additional pointers as well.  By the time we had the first wrestle-offs to see who would be the varsity, JV and 3^rd string teams I was holding my own with some of the veterans who had trained and wrestled for years. 

My T-Shirt from the 1986 Homer Winter Carnival

            Now being a small guy as a junior had a slight advantage over others in my weight class.  Wrestling at 98 pounds were usually freshmen, and once in a while you would see a sophomore.  But you never saw a junior like me.  I felt this helped me as I could intimidate opponents being the older kid.  I made the varsity team for the first meet at the 98 pound weight class.  The first tournament was scheduled in Homer for the Winter Carnival.  This was one of the biggest tournaments in Alaska with about 20 schools traveling to Homer for the event.  The new gymnasium fit 4 giant wrestling mats and another 2 were laid out in the Commons area. The stands were packed with people. It was amazing. I had never seen so many people who wanted to see wrestling other than the corny "wrestling" matches on TV between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant or King Kong Bundy.

            I was extremely nervous for my first match. Partially because I hadn't wrested competitively in many years, and partially because the 98-pounders went first.  My first match was against a kid from Seward who had placed 6^th at the state tournament the previous year.  He was a sophomore and was forecasted to be one of the finalists at the 1986 state tournament. 

            We shook hands in the middle of the mat and then the whistle blew.  Before I knew it my opponent had shot in and got a hold of my ankle.  He quickly took me down with a single leg and I fell to the mat, flat on my back, with the other wrestler directly on top of me.  I had been trained so well that with out thinking about it, I used my momentum from falling and instantly rolled in an attempt to get off of my back.  When I did, my opponent rolled with me and before I knew what had happened I had him on his back. I quickly spun around so that his face was pressed into my stomach and both of his arms were locked under my armpits.  I didn't know what to do so I looked up and saw my coach.  He was yelling something but I couldn't hear him.  All I could hear was my dad from the other side of the mat.

            "Spread your legs, Horace!" He hollered.

            I spread my legs and realized that now my opponent could not reverse the move and roll me back over. 

            "Put your chin in his chest and lock his arms tight" Dad continued to bark out instructions.  It was so clear. I know the entire gym was noisy with all the people cheering, especially the hometown fans who were now watching one of their Homer Mariners.  But I could hear nothing except the voice of my Dad as though he were the only other person in the room besides me and the wrestler from Seward struggling beneath me.

            My chin went down and I pressed it hard into his chest.  My arms locked tight to his and I knew he couldn't move.  "Just hold him, just hold him!"  I could hear the excitement in my Dad's voice. 

            All of a sudden I felt someone tapping my shoulder.  I didn't want to let go and then I felt the tapping again.  I glanced up and saw the referee.  He was grabbing me to get off of the other wrestler.  Apparently he had blown the whistle some time ago after slapping the mat signaling that my opponent had been pinned.  I was shocked.  I looked up and saw my Dad cheering as well as the rest of my team who were on the side of the mat.  They were jumping up and down and pumping their fists.  The referee raised my arm in victory and I shook my opponent's hand.  I could see the dejection in his face but I was too excited to care.  I ran to the side and quickly hi-fived the team and got a bear hug from Coach Wolfe and Coach White.  Then my Dad clapped me on the back and said “perfect”.  He didn't have much time to congratulate me however as the Mat Maids had made their way over to me.  The Mat Maids were the cheerleaders of the wrestling team.  I received a hug from each of them and then the last one took a giant gold diaper pin and pinned it to my singlet.  She said "congratulations, you will receive a pin for every pin you make this year!"  It was awesome and my smile didn't leave until my next match.

            I ended up winning 2 of my next 3 matches and placed 4^th in the tournament.  It was much more than I had expected of myself.  I also received two special awards from the team.  One was for having the 1^st pin of the year for Homer High School.  The second was for having the fastest pin of the tournament at 22 seconds.  I was really going to enjoy this sport.

Ian Pitzman and I in Homer, AK  October 2012

            Wrestling also gave me the opportunity to see much of Alaska. We traveled to Valdez, Anchorage, Seward, Kenai, Soldotna, Wasilla, Palmer, Seldovia and other distant places. The trips were fun and I got to know my teammates better. One of the funniest trips was our trip to Seldovia. We got to ride a small commuter plane over the bay to get to the meet. We could only have a few guys on the plane at a time and I flew over with Ian Pitzman. Ian was the Defending State Champion at 175 pounds and was wrestling 191 pounds that year.  He had not lost a match in 2 years.  He was huge with muscles everywhere. He reminded me of a High School version of Arnold Swartzenegger. He was also very athletic. He was an All State Football player as well as an All State Track & Field performer. He was just good at everything.  He could even compete wrestling with Coach Wolfe. Coach Wolfe was a stout guy himself and had even competed at the NCAA championships as well as some of the World Championships. Ian was a flat out stud.

But you should have seen Ian on that little airplane. The pilot decided to mess around with us and he put the plane into a stall and went into a nose dive. Ian and I were scared out of our minds. We may have even cried though neither of us would admit it. Ian finally looked at the pilot and with a little panic in his voice told him to correct the plane and just take us to our destination. I think he probably scared the pilot because he didn't even hesitate. He just steadied the plane and took us to Seldovia. After we landed I wondered if Ian would go after him but he just gave the pilot a dirty look and got off of the plane.

            On another trip I was supposed to meet the team bus in Anchor Point on its way up to Valdez. It was a very long ride to Valdez and I had packed clothes for a few days on the road. I waited at the phone booth in front of the little market on the corner of North Fork Rd and the Sterling Highway for about 10 minutes when I saw the bus coming up the rode. I picked up my bags and walked over to where the bus would let me climb aboard. But the bus never stopped. I tried to wave it down but it just kept on moving right on towards Anchorage. I sat there with my pack of clothes as the snow fell around me. I was depressed not to go. I called my Dad and he came and picked me up and took me to school. Before we got to school we had to stop and pick up a few things at Ray Evarts store. Ray's wife Pat was at the store and we told her about the bus forgetting me. Pat told me not to worry and she called the airport. Next thing I knew I was on a small plane to Anchorage. They radioed ahead to the bus driver and told them to pick me up at the airport in Anchorage. It was great because I only had to ride the bus from Anchorage to Valdez. My teammates were all jealous because they had just spent about 5 hours on the bus while my trip took about 1-1/2 hours.

            I was happy to have cut some of my bus time out because there were a lot of disgusting things that wrestlers do on a bus. They spend the entire drive trying to ensure that they can get to the qualified weight requirements to wrestle. A 112 pound wrestler could not weigh more than 114 pounds at the time of weigh-ins. Though this was never a problem for me, many of my teammates were always needing to shed some pounds before each meet. One of the most common practices was to take a bag of starbursts and put one in your mouth. But instead of swallowing the saliva juices that were created by the starburst, you would spit it into a large cup. A large bag of Starburst would last quite a while if a guy did it properly. The negative result was a bus full of wrestler spit!

            There were other practices that were used on the bus as well but that was the most common. Guys were pretty dedicated too because you didn't want the wrath of Coach Wolfe if you didn't make your required weight.

Since the drive was so long we would stop at schools on the way and would sleep in their gyms or in classrooms. Some guys didn’t get a lot of sleep because they were still trying to lose weight. Some of them would put all of their sweats on and then wear giant black trash bags over their clothes. They would then go into the shower area of the locker rooms and turn the showers to full blast hot. They would close all the doors so that the room became like a sauna. They would find a dry spot in the room and they would do jumping jacks and squat thrusts, also known as burpees, until they couldn't bear it any longer. The sweat would just poor out of them. A guy could really lose some quick weight this way. Coach Wolfe was the one who showed us this technique. I heard that a few years later this activity was banned later because some wrestlers were dehydrated and collapsing before matches. I know that if I had the choice I would have done the Starburst spit technique instead.

            Our wrestling team was really good.  We had a few returning state finalists and one that was ranked 1^st in the state.  That was Ian Pitzman.  One of our best wrestlers, Brad Baxter, at 112 pounds got hurt and so they asked if I would move up a couple of weights because we had another good 98 pounder named George Wynn.  George was tough and he and I had some good battles in practice.  We also had one of the top 105-pounders in Lance Bailey.  Lance was tall and lanky but he could tie people up in knots that were impossible to get out of.  I learned this first hand myself. 

            112 pounds was definitely a challenge.  There were more kids my age that I would have to face and I would also be a little underweight.  The other guys didn't feel bad for me though because I could eat whatever I wanted and never had to worry about not making weight. I did ok at 112 pounds winning more than half of my matches. I always performed best when Dad was there cheering me on.

            Once we had an exhibition match at our practice room at Homer High.  There was a team from the Russian town, Nikolaevsk, which was upriver from Anchor Point. They came and we worked out together and then a few of us wrestled.  They had a 126 pound wrestler that did not have anyone to scrimmage with so my coach asked if I would give it a try. I said sure and to make a long story short I lasted for a period and a half before the Russian was declared the winner by technical fall. Technical fall meant that he had scored 15 points more than his opponent. I had tried my best but felt like I couldn't move the bigger Russian. 

            Two weeks later we wrestled the team from Ninilchik which is up the highway from Anchor Point. The same Russian team from Nikolaevsk was invited to participate as well in three-way meet. Once again, I was asked to wrestle the 126 pound Russian because neither of us had an opponent.  I agreed to do it again and hoped that I would not be embarrassed in front of Dad and Becky. 

            We took our stances on the mat and the whistle blew. I don't remember too many of the moves I made but I will tell you that it was a battle for the ages. I took the bigger Russian down and even exposed his back to the mat for extra points. I was unable to hold him down and he escaped. After the first period I was up by a point. The second period was just as tight and he scored one more than I did to enter the third period all tied at 7 each. During the short intermission before the third period I tried to remember all of the training I had received during practice. I was the better conditioned athlete and I began to jump up and down and show that I still had energy to wrestle.  Many times this would discourage our opponents because they were so worn out by that time that they lost heart and were easily beaten in the last period. I could tell that my Russian opponent was tired but he knew that I was tired too.  He also knew that he had whipped me once and could do it again. He was bigger and he would try to use it to his advantage.

            The parents, coaches and teammates were going crazy.  Most of them were now rooting for the little guy. My coaches and teammates were the most excited as they had witnessed our first meeting and I had already exceeded their expectations. I saw my Dad in the stands and he smiled at me and nodded his head. I was glad that he was here and it was reassuring that he thought I could do it.

            The referee called us over and I took the down position to begin. The whistle blew and I tried to explode from my hands and knees to a standing position. As I stood up, the Russian swept his leg in front of mine and tripped me back to the mat. He put his whole force on me and then grabbed my right wrist and pulled it away from my body. He then quickly placed his arm up under my armpit and placed his hand over the back of my neck. I felt the whole match getting away from me as he tightened his "half-nelson" and began to push it forward to roll me to my back. I held out as long as I could but the weight of the Russian was too much and I was rolled to my back. I immediately kicked my legs and rolled the other way and ripped myself free of his grip.  I stood up before he could get another hold of me and we were again facing each other on our feet. The referee had given him 2 points for exposing my back in a "near fall" and awarded me 1 point for the escape. Before my opponent had a chance to gather himself I shot in and caught his left ankle with my right hand and pulled it tight to my chest while driving forward. As I came within reach of his other leg I grabbed it with my left hand and continued to drive my body forward into his. The motion was too fast for him and my momentum threw him off balance and he fell to bottom and quickly rolled to his stomach.  I climbed on him and saw the referee award me 2 points for the take down. I looked at the timer and it showed 40 seconds left. I was up by one point and just needed to hold on for the win. The Russian was doing everything possible to get away from me.  I locked myself onto his back and tried to control his legs with mine. He tried to roll but I wouldn't budge.  

Nikolaevsk, AK

             I was so tired and knew I couldn't hold him down much longer. I could hear my Dad and my coaches screaming for me to hold on. I took another glance at the clock and watched as the second hand dragged on.  30 seconds.  20 seconds. 15 seconds. 10, 9, 8… I squeezed my opponent as he became almost violent in his quest to escape. 7, 6, 5.. I was beginning to lose control. 4, 3… At 2 seconds my grip failed me and the Russian sprang away and to his feet.  The buzzer sounded and I laid down on the mat totally spent. My opponent had scored the final point to tie the match. I wanted to cry but didn't have the energy. Slowly I heard the crowd's cheering and then felt someone pick me up from the mat. I looked up to see the Russian with tears in his eyes smiling down at me.  He took my wrist and raised it high in the air and then gave me a big bear hug. He said "moy brat" to me and then went to his bench. At that moment I was mauled back to the mat by my entire team. I had only tied but in their eyes I was the champion that day. My Dad came over and gave me a big hug and told me how proud he was of me. Becky smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead. When things finally calmed down and I had caught my breath again, I saw the Russian boy out of the corner of my eye.  I walked over to him and shook his hand again. I asked him what he had meant by "moy brat" and he said in English, "My brother".  I smiled and gave him another hug and said good bye.  I would never see him again but I will always remember my Russian brother.

            Later in the wrestling season we met with Kenai High School at Kenai. They were one of the top teams in the state at the large school level. Homer was just a small school but we competed with many of the larger schools partly because they were near and partly because we wanted to better ourselves by wrestling the better competition.  At this meet, Brad Baxter, returned to our line up and I was bumped from the varsity squad to the JV but would fill in if needed at any of the weights between 98 and 119 pounds. In Kenai I was called to wrestle in the 119 pound slot due to an illness to our varsity 119-pounder, Russell Walls. I was now used to being thrown into these situations but what I didn't know was that my opponent was at a whole other skill level. As my match approached, a couple of my teammates came over and told me not to worry because it would be over quick. I asked what they meant and they told me that my opponent was one of the best in the state. He had won the State Championship as a sophomore and then was runner up as a junior. He lost the championship that year in one of the biggest upsets of the year.  He had moved up a couple of weight classes his senior year but was still ranked #2 and was predicted to finish 1^st or 2^nd at state again. 

            My stomach did a couple of turns and the butterflies set in. I tried to calm myself down listening to some music and loosening up but I was so nervous that I had to run into the locker room to throw up. I decided I would just do my best and my goal was to last more than one round and at the same time I would not allow myself to get pinned at anytime in the match.

Homer Mariner Wresting

            Our match time finally came and I stepped up to my spot and got into the start position.  My opponent did the same and we sized each other up.  He was definitely bigger than me and more muscular. He had that "wrestler" look, with the big shoulders and almost no neck. I could picture him without his headgear on and imagined the cauliflower ears. We shook hands and waited for the whistle to begin. When it finally came, we both leaned in to lock up each others heads with our hands. I leaned into nothing but air as he disappeared to the mat. Before I knew what was happening I was flat on my back. He had taken both my legs right out from under me. My instincts were quick and I flipped off of my back to my stomach instantly. I managed to block his attempts of turning me over and he finally let me go. I was now down 2-1 and no sooner had the referee awarded my 1^st point and I was on my back again. This guy was so fast and I had no defense. I continued to work to my stomach and basically use stall tactics to prevent him from getting me back on my back. Then he let go of me again. I got up and received another point for an escape. I adjusted my head gear and found myself on the floor again. This time he just let me go and then took me down once more. 8-3 and there was still time on the clock. He let me go once more and again took me down like I was some little kid he was toying around with. This time he didn't let me go and the clock ran out with the score 10-4.  I was surprised I was still in the match at this point. I was still determined to not let him pin me so that was my only resolve. I selected the down position at the start of the 2^nd period and when the referee blew the whistle something strange happened.  It was something that should have never happened.

            One of the first moves I learned at wrestling practice was called the "5 on 2". There isn't a pretty way to describe it, so to be as delicate as possible, it means to take your 5 fingers of one of your hands and reach between your opponents legs from behind and gently grab the 2… you know what. The rule when using this maneuver is that you are not allowed to squeeze the 2 during the grab. This will upset your opponent and may even disqualify you from the match if the referee sees it. Squeezing is not needed much as most males react instinctively when the slightest feel of someone's hand grabbing at their jewels causes them to jerk their hips forward out of harms way. When they do this they are throwing themselves straight to the mat.

            Well the first thing my opponent from Kenai did at the start of the second period was the old "5 on 2". But he broke the squeezing rule causing me to yelp out in pain as I went flat to the mat. I couldn't believe it. I lost my train of thought and for a split second did not think about the "champion" my opponent supposed to be. I used my anger filled adrenaline to get back to my hands and knees. At that time my opponent stuck his leg under my stomach and put his foot and ankle through my legs. This is called a leg ride. I quickly lifted my hips straight into the air so I was now on my hands and feet with my opponent still attached to my back with his leg still wrapped around and through my legs. I lifted my head up and looked right at my coach who had a smile on his face. In that moment I could see his understanding of what I was going to attempt next. I had just learned the move the previous couple of weeks and had practiced it daily. I ducked my head and rolled onto my shoulder and into a somersault. At the same time I reached my arm around my opponents head and pulled him through the somersault with me. I ended up on my backside with the head of my opponent in one hand and one of his legs in the other. I pulled them together with all the strength I could muster and eventually pulled both of my hands together and clasped my fingers in a vice like grip. Now that I had a good hold I pushed my feet to the floor and lifted my hips causing my opponent to roll onto his back. I continued to squeeze his head as hard as I could and with my teeth gritted and my eyes closed tight I wrenched his whole body. In fact I had squeezed so hard that after the referee had blown the whistle he needed to assist me in letting go. My fingers couldn’t move even when I tried. I was so caught up in my moment that I had failed to realize that I had won the match by pinning the guy. I just thought that he had been injured or that the time had run out on the period. But I had actually pinned him. It was even a bigger upset than his championships match the year before. There was no attempted hand shake after the match as he was furious and stomped away off of the mat. I was once again in the middle of a team frenzy and it was great. There was no doubt who the better wrestler was, but that guy got a little too aggressive with his "5 on 2" and wound up losing.

My T-Shirt from the 1986 Region III Championships

            So those are some of my most memorable matches. At least the good ones. I had some great moments for a guy who had very little wrestling experience. But there were some bad ones too. Like after I qualified for the Regiona III tournament. Those who placed 1^st or 2^nd at Regionals got to go to the State Championships. I made it to the 112 pound semifinals along with Brad Baxter who was in another bracket. My opponent in the semifinals was a kid from Eielson High School. He was a military brat and he looked like he'd been lifting weights since he was a toddler. For the first time I was actually psyched out before my match even began. I was thrown around the mat like a rag doll. I didn't even make it to the second round. He didn't pin me but he had so many points just rolling me around on the mat getting "near falls" and 2 points each time my back was to the mat.

            I went on to place 4^th in that tourney after losing a close match in the consolation bracket. Brad Baxter took second after lasting nearly 2 periods with the Eielson brute. Our team took first at the tournament and sent 7 wrestlers from different weight classes to the State Championships. At the State Championships, 4 of our guys won the tournament including George Winn at 98, Lance Bailey at 105, Vince Littrell at 177, and Ian Pitzman at 191. Another 2 Homer wrestlers were runner ups.  We took first place as a team and as of 2016 is still considered one of the best teams in Alaska State High School Wrestling history. Ian Pitzman was voted most outstanding wrestler after finishing yet another undefeated year at 191 pounds.

            I was very excited about wrestling again as a senior. I had gained so many good friends. I had learned so much and had done so well in my first year. My confidence in myself was 180 degrees from before. I knew that I could compete at the State Championships the next year. I would begin working towards that goal right away.