By Mike Chapman, W.I.N. Columnist

Somewhere today, Dean Rockwell is smiling from ear to ear. I can just see that big grin, and the glint in his eye.
Rockwell is one of the true heroes in the sport of wrestling. Not only he is a wrestling icon, he played a pivotal role in the key battle of World War II, when the Allied Forces were invading Normandy at Omaha Beach. I have mentioned him in previous columns through the years, and devoted an entire column to him when he passed away in August of 2005, at age 93.

Rockwell was a high school wrestling coach at East High School in Detroit, winning three Michigan high school state team titles in the early 1940s. He was an Olympic coach in 1964 and a World team coach in 1962. He loved wrestling like few other people I have ever known.

So, why would he be smiling so widely right now? Because most of all, Dean Rockwell loved Greco-Roman wrestling. And today, the United States is the king of the Greco-Roman world.

As you know, our wrestlers went to the other side of the world and captured the team title. “This is the greatest day in the history of U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling,” said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling. “This obviously puts a stamp of legitimacy on USA Wrestling’s Greco-Roman program and the depth of our program. It’s a testament to all of our coaches and athletes and their commitment to this program. It’s unbelievably impressive what these guys did.”

And what’s more, Rockwell’s star pupil, Steve Fraser, is the national coach for Greco-Roman at USA Wrestling, the sport’s national governing body. Also coaching the team were Momir Petkovic, Anatoly Petrosyan, Rich Estrella, Jay Antonelli, Ivan Ivanov and Shon Lewis, but the buck stops with Steve Fraser. Combining the first-ever world championship with the fact that Steve is the main guy behind the success … well, now you know why Dean Rockwell is smiling somewhere!

THERE ARE LOTS of people who have poured their hearts into Greco-Roman wrestling through the years. Joe Scalzo of Toledo, Ohio, gave the sport a huge boost in the early 1950s and ‘60s, when no one else seemed to care much. Scalzo was an indefatigable leader of the above-the-waist-only style and traveled the world to learn more and bring back the knowledge to America.

Scalzo and Rockwell are both called the father of Greco-Roman wrestling in this country, by various people.
Alan Rice, a two-time Big Ten champion and All-American at Minnesota, was another who led the charge into Greco-Roman wrestling. Alan was an amazing athlete. He and Dan Hodge are the last two wrestlers to win national titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman in the same tournament. Alan pulled off the double at 136.5 pounds in 1956, while Hodge did it the same weekend at 174 pounds.

Even after placing fifth in the World championships in freestyle, Rice turned toward Greco-Roman. He made the 1956 Olympic team at 136 pounds and devoted much of his life to Greco-Roman wrestling. He and his wife, Gloria, played key roles in the founding and development of the Minnesota Wrestling Club, which had an amazing run of placing at least one athlete on a World or Olympic team for 41 straight years!

Appropriately enough, I received my first notification of how well the Greco-Roman team did from Alan.
“Did you hear the news?” he asked. “We won the World Championships in Greco-Roman!” The words seemed to hang in the air, and all I could say was, “That’s just amazing!”

BECAUSE MANY OF my best friends have been Greco-Roman stars, I have always harbored a fondness for the sport. I grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, one block from the house of Bob Buzzard, an Iowa State star who made the Greco-Roman Olympic team in 1972. Jim Duschen, another Iowa State star, won two national titles in Greco-Roman and made the 1973 World team; we were in each other’s weddings.

Mark Johnson, now the head coach at Illinois, was a three-time Greco-Roman national champion and 1980 Olympian, while Brad Rheingans, made two Olympic teams and won seven national Greco titles. They are two of my closest friends.

Russ Camilleri, J Robinson, Jerry Wager, Dan Chandler, Wayne Baughman and the late Mike McCready are among the Greco-Roman champions at various levels from the past that I have known and admired through the years. And Steve Fraser and I have worked together the past decade. I was the one who talked him into writing a column for W.I.N. many years ago, and then writing a book last year entitled “VICTORY”, talking about philosophy (see ad on page 57).

Perhaps the best endorsement of Greco-Roman wrestling I have ever heard came from a freestyle Olympic champion, John Peterson, who won silver in the 1972 Olympics and then claimed gold in 1976. In the book “Legends of the Mat”, John said he passed up the 1974 World freestyle tryouts to participate in the Greco-Roman camp instead.

“It was one of the best things I ever did,” he confided. “Working out with Dan Chandler and others was great. I don’t think I would have beaten (Istvan) Kovacs of Hungary (in the 1976 Olympics) if I hadn’t had the Greco experience, because he was a big thrower. I couldn’t throw much but at least I learned how to cope with throwers.”

It’s testimony like that — and the performance of the 2007 team — that could help dramatically increase the popularity of Greco-Roman wrestling in America.

And so could the successes of Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Matt Lindland in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), which is exploding in popularity all around the country. There’s no question that their Greco-Roman experiences has been a huge factor in their MMA successes. Couture may be the most popular figure in the history of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships), and his Greco-Roman background is talked about extensively every time he enters the octagon.

SOME TIME next February, Greco-Roman wrestling will get another huge boost with the opening of the Alan and Gloria Rice Greco-Roman Hall of Champions in the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.

The hallowed area will pay tribute to the nation’s greatest Greco-Roman stars and will be housed between the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of fame of Iowa, and the Dan Gable Teaching Center. It will also be right across the room from the Dean Rockwell Library and Research Center.

The wing will be full of exhibits and displays that chronicle the sport’s top moments and top performers. Included will be a video that will show visitors what Greco-Roman is really all about — beginning with a film clip of a match that took place back in 1905. It is believed to be the oldest wrestling film in existence!

Plans are under way to have a tremendous first inductions into the Hall of Champions. More details will be announced in the coming months.

Greco-Roman wrestling is hot right now! Very hot. As I said at the outset, somewhere Dean Rockwell is smiling today!