When I heard wrestler Cyler Sanderson was transferring to Penn State, I had not yet met either him or the coaches and I wondered about his journey.
Ever since I read ‘The Bridge at San Luis Rey’ — in which five different people wound up a bridge that collapsed — I have wondered what goes through a person’s head through his or her journey. Cyler likely doesn’t sit up at night giving this a second thought, but I am dealing with someone who has come to the end of his college wrestling journey and became an All-American in a PSU uniform. I am probably a little bit too analytical about all of this. Forgive me.
The first time I met Cyler was at an endowment meeting, and he struck me as a happy kid. He had a twinkle in his eye and reddish hair. I thought, ‘Maybe Garrett (my red-headed son) will drop those golf clubs and get rid of that basketball. I might be looking at someone he may look like in several years. Probably not.’
Watching Cyler, I started to think about some things from my angle. You see, I have a father who is and always will be my hero. He was big and strong, so I wanted to be big and strong. And Lord knows he has always been my biggest influence regarding the weather. Cyler comes from a wrestling family with three brothers who were (and still are) great wrestlers: the assistant coach, Cole (not at Penn State, but a tough guy) and head coach Cael, the greatest college wrestler ever.
Then there’s Mom and Dad, whom I’ve talked to about how they raised their sons. The father wrestled and coached, and it’s clear in talking with him that the most important lesson he teaches his kids is running the straight race in life. For more on Cael’s mom, take a look at this blog entry. (I actually read this to my kids, it’s so good.)
Bob Dylan wrote, ‘When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ Cyler is probably dealing with the opposite of that. It is tougher to risk a little when you have so much than to risk it all if you have nothing. Guys who are great often have to confront the fact that ‘only those that risk going too far ever find out how far they can go.’ To put it another way: To whom much is given, much is required. Well, that seems to apply
to Cyler.
Cyler was exciting to watch; he brought the crowd to its feet more than a few times, and he was someone you looked at for excitement. I found myself looking forward to him taking the mat as much as I had for previous wrestling greats here.
His coaches (who happen to be his brothers) are of the same genre as Bill Koll, even though they are 50 years younger than they he would be today. Coach Koll screamed at a player in front of the crowd for allowing his opponent to score late, even though the Nittany Lion won, 12-4. Cyler beat someone but was ridden out the last 15 or 20 seconds, and Cody was not happy (an understatement). The fact that it was his brother was a level-up for me. Your family name is very important and is something you always try to advance. Cyler took a tough path, following his brothers, but it was the right thing to do. It’s a lesson I hope my kids can learn.
Besides, when your coaches are Cael and Cody Sanderson and Casey Cunningham — no knock on the new coaches at Iowa State (Kevin Jackson is a legend) — kids want to up their level and zare going to take the tougher path because they want to be tougher physically, mentally, and, forgive me, character-wise. After all, anyone can do what they know they can do, it’s doing what you don’t know that demands answers to questions only you can ask.
When it came to Cyler, there was another risk. With the returning middleweights, Cyler had no assurance of a starter position. (Had Bubba Jenkins remained, a lot of PSU fans dreamed of what could have been: four shots at a national title between the 141 and 165 weight classes.) This made his decision to transfer all the more remarkable.
‘Character’ is the appropriate word here to describe Cyler Sanderson. I see him around, and he still has a twinkle in his eye. I hope he continues to wrestle, and maybe I will get to him out there on the golf course with my son Garrett (and, perhaps, a bit of Cyler will rub off on Garrett, so I can have a red-headed wrestler in my house).
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Speaking of golf and wrestling check out the Nittany lion wrestling club golf tournament. I will be trying to get out there, now that I have a ringer (Garrett) to beef up my team. (Chad Dubin, Rob Neidlinger, my wife Jess and I actually won one of these ’cause we had such lousy handicaps. We used Jess to tee off the women’s tee and drive the ball to beyond where we could from the men’s…and almost everyone else!) Of course, it’s in the middle of hurricane season, so that may be interesting this year, since I think a much more active season is on the way.
Golf, weather, wrestling. What else is there?
