Takedown Report

Abbott Blog: A heartfelt tribute to my friend, the late Joe Seay

BY GARY ABBOTT, USA WRESTLING | JULY 13, 2019
It is a truly busy time at USA Wrestling, with the USMC Junior/16U Nationals beginning today, a number of foreign tours on the schedule, a magazine deadline looming, as well as preparation for the upcoming age-group and Senior World Championships. Plus a ton more things. In spite of all that, I am compelled to squeeze in a few minutes to write about my friend Joe Seay, who passed away on Thursday. On a wrestling level, Joe Seay was a giant. His gift was the ability to coach, and help develop and support great wrestlers. On a personal level, Joe was a wonderful man with a kind heart that made spending time with him a positive thing.

You can track his coaching career and understand why he is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He was a great high school coach, who then moved up and built the CSU-Bakersfield program into a Div. II giant, with many Div. I champions and All-Americans (back then, D-II champs could go to the D-I NCAA meet). He went on to coach two NCAA Div. I national champion teams at Oklahoma State. Later, he was a masterful freestyle coach for the Sunkist Kids, and in perhaps his biggest moments, he was volunteer head coach for many of the greatest U.S. World and Olympic teams in history. If you were a great wrestler, or was active with USA Wrestling at the national level during Joe’s prime as a coach, you knew Joe Seay and probably worked with him often. Rest of the story at †

July 14, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized