Takedown Report

Northern Iowa Wrestling Perseveres Despite Facility Instability

Doug Schwab and his UNI wrestlers were forced to relocate from the 98-year-old West Gym and they’ve found a new home across town in Cedar Falls.

The clock on the freshly painted white wall is ticking toward noon on the final day of September and Doug Schwab is yelling instructions to his Northern Iowa wrestlers. 

His commands are filled with messages about opportunity and response — words the Panthers have been putting into action in recent weeks. 

Their longtime home — the West Gym — has been vacated, forcing Schwab and his team to pack up and move a couple miles off campus to a Cedar Falls training facility that’s been remodeled in short order. 

The building belongs to Shawn Kelly, a former Northern Iowa wrestler and the president of Black Hawk Roof Company, and everything about the place is blue collar.  On this day, weights are scattered on the cement outside in an area the Panthers have dubbed “The Yard.” Nearby are pallets of shingles, barrels of adhesive and a forklift parked on a trailer. 

There’s a strong construction vibe here. 

The building was once the site of a weight lifting gym, but the Kelly family turned it into a wrestling room and launched the USA Mat Club. They set out to create an inclusive wrestling environment, purposefully leaving Cedar Falls out of the club name with hopes that wrestlers from other communities would also come here to train. 

And they did. Kyven Gadson, who went on to win an NCAA title at Iowa State, … rest of story at … Flowrestling.org/articles/Northern-iowa-wrestling-perseveres-despite-facility-instability

October 3, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized