The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Rulon Gardner, in town earlier this week for the Rulon Gardner Wrestling Camp, impressed me in more than a few ways.

The guy almost seemed aloof as he walked around the wrestling camp, children hollering out to him and chasing along behind him during a short water break. He seemed aloof not because he was ignoring the campers, but because even during a break, he was playing along. Wrestler after wrestler tried to jump up on his back. Others grabbed on to his tree-trunk legs. They all fell away as if he was covered in butter, and he reacted so little to each assault — not altering his gait or appearing to shed a drop of sweat — he might as well have been one of the mountains that surround Steamboat Springs.

And his story is impressive. It’s a tale of going from a small farm to Olympic fame, a story that involves near-death experiences and harrowing escapes. It all flows easily from Gardner’s bright personality.

He said he does about 15 such camps a year, and he gets regular work as a motivational speaker.

On top of all that, he is leaving in early August for Beijing, where he will be one of the main Olympic wrestling announcers for NBC.

Yet, talking about his camp Tuesday afternoon, he was quick to point out how important it is to build a level of excitement around wrestling in Steamboat Springs.

Ski Town USA hasn’t been much of a wrestling town in recent years. Last winter’s Steamboat Springs High School team had just two varsity wrestlers, Houston Mader and Derek Morris, and Morris battled injuries throughout the season.

But Steamboat hasn’t always struggled. The evidence prominently hung Tuesday in the Steamboat Springs High School gymnasium, directly above where Gardner and a group of Northwest Colorado wrestling coaches labored with the campers.

The Sailors once reeled off a decade of dominance, winning the state wrestling championship six times between 1958 and 1968.

Gardner may have been unaffected by the legions of young fans jumping on him, but that banner sure caught his attention.

“We’re trying to get these kids to where they know they can compete,” Gardner said. “If you look around here in Steamboat, up on that banner, wrestling has been one of the most successful sports, but it’s been 20 years since they had much success.”

High school-aged competitors were few and far between at Tuesday and Wednesday’s camp. That reflects wrestling’s current place in the Steamboat sports hierarchy.

Younger wrestlers, meanwhile, were everywhere, all excited, happy and enthusiastic to be working with Gardner.

To the coaches looking on as Gardner rolled on the mats and showed off his favorite tricks, it’s those kids in which the future lies.

What impressed me most about Gardner wasn’t his size, his Herculean strength or his stories that make him sound nearly immortal.

It was that with all he has going on, he knew how important tutoring all those kids was to Steamboat wrestling. And he actually cared.

“There’s a group of young wrestlers here, and it’s been exciting to watch and see what kind of character and technique these guys develop,” he said. “These are all junior high and elementary kids, which is good, because that’s where you build a program from.”

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@steamboatpilot.com