By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
Mike Zadick remembers when it happened to him … when he became a mountain man.
“When I was little, I was kind of soft,” said Mike, the youngest of four children born to Bob and Toni Zadick of Great Falls, Mont. “I know there was one coach who told my dad, ‘This one might be a violin player.’
“I liked going out to the mountains, but if we were out in the mountains and my dad told me to get out of the camper and run to the truck to get something, I’d have a flashlight out and look at every square inch of every step and was nervous.
“But by the time I was in seventh or eighth grade, I started wanting to go out in the pitch-black woods, cover bacon grease all over me and walk around for a week. I wanted a bear to attack me, just so that I could kill him with a knife.”
If that makes Mike sound like the second-coming of Jeremiah Johnson — the legendary mountain trapper popularized in a 1972 movie of his name — that’s O.K. with him, his older brother, Bill, and their father, Bob.
“They are close to it,” said Bob. “I took them to the mountains when they were babies and we spent a lot of time there.”
“It’s not quite that rough but Mike and I have probably made it seem that way,” said Bill. “Great Falls is city of 60,000 and we grew up in town, but any time we had a chance to be out in the country, whether it was hiking or fishing or camping or just driving around looking at the scenery, that’s what we did.”
“Growing up, I always wanted to be (Johnson),” Mike added. “Just like some kid who grew up wanting to be a Dallas Cowboy quarterback, I always wanted to be a mountain man and live up in a cabin far away where no one knew where I was and live off the land.
“It gives you that savage, killer instinct. Not that you are a killer, but you put out that mentality if you are on a battle field or in a wrestling match.”
And that sums up the “hearts on sleeves” attitude of the Zadick brothers, who will help lead the contingent of the United States freestyle team to the FILA World Championships to Guangzhou, China, later this month. Mike earned his first trip at 132 pounds, while Bill will compete at 145.5 pounds.
“What you see is what you get,” said Bill, 33, the former (1996) Iowa NCAA champion. “That’s attributed to our parents and the way we were raised. We were all very straight-forward type people. We’ve been associated with a lot of people during our careers who are similar.”
“I’ve gotten that reaction quite a bit,” said Mike, 28, a three-time All-American at Iowa (2000-02), said when asked if his intensity is misunderstood by some people. “But I guess people have also said, ‘If you only knew him.’
“Growing up, I thought (Tom and Terry) Brands were the meanest, toughest guys I’ve ever seen. Then I got to know them in Vegas, while they were competing there and I remember talking to them, thinking that day that these guys are two of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”
Mike added that he would rather be honest about his feelings.
“Some people give you a great front and boy are they nice people,” he said. “They sound nice and say the nicest things but after a while they put a knife in your back. I’d rather be one of those guys may have been a little vulgar or a little intense for someone, but they are genuine and are going to shoot you straight, face to face.”
Both brothers have had a long rode to the top in their respective weight classes, each having to deal with the disappointment of just missing out on a World Team berth at particular times.
Bill, a 2001 World team member at 138.75 pounds, had to deal with the elimination of a FILA weight in 2002, which forced him to move up to 145.5 pounds, where he finished second in both the 2002 and 2003 World Team Trials, seventh at the 2004 Olympic Trials and sixth in the 2005 World Team Trials. Mike, meanwhile, finished second at the 2003 World Team Trials and the 2004 Olympic Trials and third in the 2005 World Trials.
Bill said that he and Mike are similar in other ways.
“We are a lot the same in our mentalities and how we approach life and wrestling,” Bill said. “As individuals, we probably have different traits. I’m a little more analytical and a little more more conservative. He’s more of a fly-by-the seat of his pants kind of guy.”
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