By Kyle Klingman, W.I.N. Writer

As a heavyweight wrestler, Dustin Fox is anything but typical. His wrestling style? Sometimes. His personality? Never.

            “I always get people telling me ‘Wow, you’re smart for a big guy,’ Like all big guys are dumb,” said Fox. “I go to Northwestern, a great university. I can’t say that I’m the best student but what I can say is that I’m really intelligent and I obviously take some of that to the mat.

            “I think I unnerve people because I’m cultured. I was an Asian studies major for a while, I speak a little bit of Mandarin. I have plans to travel in Europe after college. Wrestling people call it weird, other people call it cultured. I like sushi and that boggles the mind of a lot of people.”

            No matter how the wrestling public views Fox, nobody should be surprised that he was this year’s NCAA champion at wrestling’s heaviest weight class. Despite a dual meet loss to Wisconsin’s Keith Massey earlier this year — a match Fox called a turning point in the season — the Northwestern senior has been the man to beat in his weight class. Fox finished the year with a 29-1 record after finishing third last season.

            With the win, Fox became the eighth NCAA champion in school history and the first heavyweight to win a title since Jack Riley won in 1932.

            And the man Fox had to beat in the finals was a familiar foe. Ohio State’s J.D. Bergman moved into the heavyweight class after spending the previous four seasons at 197 pounds. The two had met twice, once at the National Duals and once in the Big Ten finals with Fox winning both times.

            “I went to Ohio State and was recruited by him,” said Fox after his semifinal win over Oklahoma State’s Jared Rosholt. “We trained together for two or three years. I’ve known him off and on for seven years now. He’s a great guy and I respect him a lot. When he moved up to heavyweight I was like ‘Oops, your mistake buddy.’”

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