34 min

Looking back at 20 years in Fargo Short Time Wrestling Podcast

    • Wrestling

1999 – First Year Was working at a KFC in the Grafton section of Yorktown, Va. Got a call from Mike Newbern. “Twink, Gary Alcon (ref) can't make it, do you want to go to Fargo?” That right there changed it all. Everything. Stayed in Reed Johnson Hall. Virginian Christian Smith made the Cadet Freestyle finals at 83.5 pounds. He ended up being a 3x state champion and NCAA qualifier for Duke and Liberty (He took down Nickerson in 2007 to open up the tournament). There was no Buffalo Wild Wings. There was a Bison Turf, there was a mug and I may or may not have been from Alabama. Or named Kevin. Shared a dial-up line with Sara Koenig from NCMat.com (you know her now as one of the tournament directors for the Super 32. Rob Sherrill vouched for me for a media credential. Thankfully, I'd met him in Virginia at the Virginia Duals when I was in high school. Don't remember much about the competition since I was still pretty new to the national scene. We had the Dream Team Classic in VA that year, so I paid attention to guys like Foley Dowd, Jason Powell, Clark Forward — and two of those Team USA guys met in the finals, Damion Hahn beat Jason Potter. 2000 – Year 2 Buffalo Wild Wings Opened. Taco Bell re-opened, it was closed the year before for renovations. Harry Lester vs. Mark Jayne, Junior Greco. Jayne was returning JR. Champ, Lester won cadets the year before. 3-5-3 (BOOM). 132 pounds. Virginia had two cadet champs – Christian Staylor and Albert Childress (almost bookends) Kid named Tyler Safratowich of Minnesota won at 83.5 pounds, did a backflip, then he started eating. Mary Kelly going 2-2 in Cadet Freestyle and Micah Amrozowicz, now the head coach at the Newport News Apprentice School, having to come from behind to beat her 8-7. 2001 – Year 3 Started doing freelance work for TheMat.com and wrote features on the Dibbern triplets, Mary Kelly wrestling against the boys in the Juniors. Cerebral Palsy kid J.C. McMaster – his e-mail address was pimp_limpin@ something another dot com. Jeff Courtney, a deaf All-American from West Virginia ? and TRAVIS EFFING LEE. Lee “leis' greco gold. Beat Nick Simmons. Stopping Simmons from becoming just the second guy to win 4 JR FS titles. As of right now, it’s only Alan Fried. 2002 – Year 4 – Drove from ODU. FIRST YEAR OF FEDERATION WEIGHTS. WENT FROM 96 AAS TO 120 IN JUNIORS 104-136 Started bringing my radio equipment and doing the webcast for USAW with Rob and the late Jon Ponwani. Cleveland – NO Chicago – Driving down Addison, game over Milwaukee – Karaoke at a Friday's in Brookfield, WIS Minneapolis – Twins vs. Angels, Milton vs. Washburn, preview of ALCS First year of Junior Women — Malinda Ripley beat Mary Kelly in the finals. Who the hell is Malinda Ripley? Natasha Umemoto was 3rd. She got the first pin of the tournament ever. Poeta beat Metcalf in Cadet FS. Only finals loss in Metcalf's Fargo career. Stepovers, if I recall correctly for exposure. Decent year from VA, Anthony Burke from my club was 5th in a bracket with Coleman Scott, Mike Rowe, Garrett Scott, Mike Rodrigues, Jake Kreigbaum and Eric Albright. I think I had a team PA jacket on when I gave Burke a high five after beating Albright for 5th. Patrick Bond won Cadet FS. Todd Meneely was the OW, beating Teyon Ware. Some guy with an Afro won Junior FS at 171. Herbert was 3rd. Afro guy recently lost a fight. VANS WARPED TOUR WAS OUTSIDE. 2003 – Year 5 – Drove from ODU on short notice Got up, went to Jiffy Lube and boom. Drove to Milwaukee – was using an old atlas, so I didn't know about the cut through via Rockford and kept adding 90 more minutes to my ride. Went to the same Fridays to sing karaoke again. Sat on top of my truck after a session and listened to a Willie Nelson concert at Newman Outdoor Stadium. Years later, Doc Jim Porter would crap all over my Nelson story and say he went and ended up hanging out with him. All-Southern Cadet final as Nick Marable of Tennessee beat Ben Fiacco of

1999 – First Year Was working at a KFC in the Grafton section of Yorktown, Va. Got a call from Mike Newbern. “Twink, Gary Alcon (ref) can't make it, do you want to go to Fargo?” That right there changed it all. Everything. Stayed in Reed Johnson Hall. Virginian Christian Smith made the Cadet Freestyle finals at 83.5 pounds. He ended up being a 3x state champion and NCAA qualifier for Duke and Liberty (He took down Nickerson in 2007 to open up the tournament). There was no Buffalo Wild Wings. There was a Bison Turf, there was a mug and I may or may not have been from Alabama. Or named Kevin. Shared a dial-up line with Sara Koenig from NCMat.com (you know her now as one of the tournament directors for the Super 32. Rob Sherrill vouched for me for a media credential. Thankfully, I'd met him in Virginia at the Virginia Duals when I was in high school. Don't remember much about the competition since I was still pretty new to the national scene. We had the Dream Team Classic in VA that year, so I paid attention to guys like Foley Dowd, Jason Powell, Clark Forward — and two of those Team USA guys met in the finals, Damion Hahn beat Jason Potter. 2000 – Year 2 Buffalo Wild Wings Opened. Taco Bell re-opened, it was closed the year before for renovations. Harry Lester vs. Mark Jayne, Junior Greco. Jayne was returning JR. Champ, Lester won cadets the year before. 3-5-3 (BOOM). 132 pounds. Virginia had two cadet champs – Christian Staylor and Albert Childress (almost bookends) Kid named Tyler Safratowich of Minnesota won at 83.5 pounds, did a backflip, then he started eating. Mary Kelly going 2-2 in Cadet Freestyle and Micah Amrozowicz, now the head coach at the Newport News Apprentice School, having to come from behind to beat her 8-7. 2001 – Year 3 Started doing freelance work for TheMat.com and wrote features on the Dibbern triplets, Mary Kelly wrestling against the boys in the Juniors. Cerebral Palsy kid J.C. McMaster – his e-mail address was pimp_limpin@ something another dot com. Jeff Courtney, a deaf All-American from West Virginia ? and TRAVIS EFFING LEE. Lee “leis' greco gold. Beat Nick Simmons. Stopping Simmons from becoming just the second guy to win 4 JR FS titles. As of right now, it’s only Alan Fried. 2002 – Year 4 – Drove from ODU. FIRST YEAR OF FEDERATION WEIGHTS. WENT FROM 96 AAS TO 120 IN JUNIORS 104-136 Started bringing my radio equipment and doing the webcast for USAW with Rob and the late Jon Ponwani. Cleveland – NO Chicago – Driving down Addison, game over Milwaukee – Karaoke at a Friday's in Brookfield, WIS Minneapolis – Twins vs. Angels, Milton vs. Washburn, preview of ALCS First year of Junior Women — Malinda Ripley beat Mary Kelly in the finals. Who the hell is Malinda Ripley? Natasha Umemoto was 3rd. She got the first pin of the tournament ever. Poeta beat Metcalf in Cadet FS. Only finals loss in Metcalf's Fargo career. Stepovers, if I recall correctly for exposure. Decent year from VA, Anthony Burke from my club was 5th in a bracket with Coleman Scott, Mike Rowe, Garrett Scott, Mike Rodrigues, Jake Kreigbaum and Eric Albright. I think I had a team PA jacket on when I gave Burke a high five after beating Albright for 5th. Patrick Bond won Cadet FS. Todd Meneely was the OW, beating Teyon Ware. Some guy with an Afro won Junior FS at 171. Herbert was 3rd. Afro guy recently lost a fight. VANS WARPED TOUR WAS OUTSIDE. 2003 – Year 5 – Drove from ODU on short notice Got up, went to Jiffy Lube and boom. Drove to Milwaukee – was using an old atlas, so I didn't know about the cut through via Rockford and kept adding 90 more minutes to my ride. Went to the same Fridays to sing karaoke again. Sat on top of my truck after a session and listened to a Willie Nelson concert at Newman Outdoor Stadium. Years later, Doc Jim Porter would crap all over my Nelson story and say he went and ended up hanging out with him. All-Southern Cadet final as Nick Marable of Tennessee beat Ben Fiacco of

34 min

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