DragonDad Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1194725/1/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlHungus Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Try reading that without a tear coming to your eye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMAWRESTLER Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 We went to camp at OPRF last fall, my son and I became friends with Mike. You would never know anything was wrong with him. He made such and impact on both of us. Being around him you soon understand the work ethiic that this man demands. He is a great coach and mentor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddio Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 We also was at op camp with coach powell. This is an amazing person and coach who still keeps in contact to follow my sons career. What an insperation and great guy. The respect his wrestlers have for him is amazing. It was an experience that my son and i will never forget. He left an impact on my son from 2 days that will stick with him forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldfat119 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 wow thanks for posting that! That is the kind of story that should be on national news,, I sure hope he beats it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogGrappler Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 What a wonderful story about a remarkable person. It goes to show you great wrestling coaches are and at what lenghs coaches go to turn young wrestlers into MEN. I can relate with this coach and how he turned special ed kids life around. I have a son who was labeled as a special ed student, always suspended from school in elementary and middle school at many times the administration tried to expell him. It took a wonderful wrestling coach in my sons middle school to realize what kind of person my child was. I am proud to say that as a sophomore my son has made honor roll every time in his freshman and sophomore years, and he has also qualified for semi state. Thanks to this remarkable wrestling coach who took the time to understand my child and countless others in the same situation. No longer is my son labeled a special needs child. He is now a leader in the school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bog190 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Great story, what a great sport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachCook Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Sports Illustrated tells the story of former Indiana University All American and HS coach Mike Powell http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1194725/1/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchas Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Thanks for sharing this story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOMCVILLE Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 great story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whoosier Daddy Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Sad, but a great story......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoGutsNoGlory Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 This has to be one of the greatest wrestling articles i have ever read. Found it on TheOpenMat posted by our very own, Drooke. Please take the time to read this, it will blow you away. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1194725/1/index.htm What does it mean to be a man? It is a late-spring night in 1997 on frat row in Bloomington, Ind., and the blood is starting to thump in Mike Powell's temples. Behind him, the wiry dude with the wild eyes is yelling on the steps of the frat house. "Stay the f--- off my porch!" he roars. "Come back here, and I'll kill you." The guy's friends are right there with him, taunting along. Powell grimaces. No one talks to him this way. He's 205 pounds of pure fury?an All-America wrestler in Indiana's highly rated program, a sophomore on track to compete in the Olympics. Charismatic, darkly handsome and fueled by a confidence that borders on arrogance, he's the kind of guy who wears ripped tank tops to parties, who wedges a Junior Mint in the crevice of his cauliflowered left ear and dares girls to eat it, knowing they will. Those close to Powell see his gentler side?how he's the only male in a women's studies class, how if you asked his three roommates to name their best friend, they'd all say Mike Powell. But to the lugs at Bloomington bars and parties he is only the most alpha of males, someone to test themselves against, and he is happy to oblige. In his senior year at Oak Park and River Forest High near Chicago, he went 42--0 on the mat and won the state title. Since then he's also undefeated in bar fights. Tonight Powell has left a frat party with five other wrestlers, and now he hears them yell back and senses the brawl taking shape. He turns, and the night becomes electric. It's six versus 30, but that doesn't matter. Powell puts one guy in a choke hold, flips another over his back. A burly young man comes flying in; Powell catches him and bangs his skull on a car, cracking it like a coconut. He looks up, the rage in his eyes. Who else wants some? The angry, drunk kids continue to rush at him, and Powell dispatches them with frightening efficiency. They don't know who they are up against, how much power lies in Powell's 5'10" frame. In a few days he will be chewed out by his coach for fighting and lose about $2,000 off his scholarship. Those reprimands will fade, though. What will remain is the truth of this night and many others like it: No one messes with Mike Powell. Now it is March 2009, 12 years later, and Powell stands with his arms outstretched on the sideline at the Illinois state team wrestling tournament, awaiting the impact. At 33, he has become the man he always aspired to be: coach of a top high school squad, fianc? of a beautiful woman he adores, father figure to so many lost boys. continued above Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjax Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I believe this was posted once already, but it is definitely worth posting again. I highly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoGutsNoGlory Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 My fault, didn't realize it had been posted already. You are right though, I could see it posted every day and not bother me. It is that good of a story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navy80 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Not sure if anyone has already read this but it came from ESPN....awesome article http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=&title=AS+THE+COACH+AT+A+HIGH+SCHOOL+NEAR+CHICAGO,+MIKE+POWELL+-+02.13.12+-+SI+Vault&urlID=469659082&action=cpt&partnerID=289881&fb=Y&url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1194725/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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