Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

Gary Abbott Was The Right Person At The Right Time For USA Wrestling

ary Abbott leaves a lasting legacy after 37 years as USA Wrestling’s director of communications.
By this point, everyone has a Gary Abbott story. My favorite was at the 2019 World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Several members of the U.S. delegation experienced some sort of bug, and, halfway through the tournament, it got Gary. I saw him in the bathroom with a handful of paper towels when I asked what happened. He puked on press row and was about to clean up his mess. 
Gary vomited three times and never left the tournament. He powered through like a Jordan Burroughs double-leg takedown. 
I moved as far away from Gary as possible, hoping to avoid his fate. I held my breath if he was near. I used paper towels to open doors. I didn’t make eye contact. I tried everything. 
Well, it didn’t work. I got sick the next day and puked three times — just like Gary. 
Only I returned to the hotel to recover. Andy Hamilton, Trackwrestling’s content manager at the time (this was at the peak of the Track vs Flo wars), said Gary defeated me 3-3 on criteria since he kept working through the session, and I did not. 
There’s a strong chance we used “BarfingGary1” as a password for one of our Trackwrestling accounts when we returned home. 
This was quintessential Gary Abbott. Nothing would ever stand in the way of getting the job done — even if you have to sacrifice your health to make it happen. There’s a reason USA Wrestling’s executive director, Rich Bender, calls Abbott the hardest working man in wrestling, and Gary always proved it. 
Gary is calling it a career after 37 ½ years as USA Wrestling’s director of communications. He covered the Olympics, World Championships, NCAA Championships, youth tournaments, beach wrestling, and everything in between. 
His greatest legacy will be the advancement of women’s wrestling. There were times when Abbott was the lone voice for a sport that was working to find its place. 
Bender was an intern at USA Wrestling in 1988 when he was asked to make a presentation to the board of directors about sending a women’s team to the 1989 World Championships. The presentation must have worked since the first U.S. women’s World team competed the following year.
He credits Abbott for the presentation and for his groundbreaking women’s wrestling coverage.  “Few, if anyone, has had a bigger impact on the promotion of women’s wrestling than Gary Abbott,” Bender said. “He’s long been a bulldog on the idea of women having the same opportunities as men. Gary doesn’t jump to the front for credit, … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/14588959-gary-abbott-was-the-right-person-at-the-right-time-for-usa-wrestling

October 3, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , | Leave a comment

Tony Dungy: An uncommon bond with Minnesota Gophers Wrestling

By Brian Jerzak
Since 1977, the Gopher Wrestling Club has been supporting the Minnesota Gophers’ wrestling program. The year before, the football program graduated, at the time, their career leader in pass attempts, completions, passing yards, and touchdown passes. Many years later, the Gophers’ wrestling program and its NFL Hall of Fame inductee alumni – former Pittsburg Steelers player and former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts – Tony Dungy will continue their long-time relationship with each other with Dungy as the featured speaker at the Minnesota Gophers’ wrestling gala next month. Dungy grew up in Big Ten country, cheering for the maize and blue of Michigan and the green and white of Michigan State.
“I grew up in Jackson, Michigan, and it is midway between the University of Michigan and Michigan State,” Dungy said. “My dad got his undergrad degree from Michigan, and my mom was a Spartan. They both did graduate work at Michigan State, so I grew up on the Michigan State campus. When I was in middle school and high school, my dad would take me to Michigan games. I felt like I was going to go to one of those places. I fell in love with Michigan State. In the middle of my senior year of high school, [Michigan State head football coach] Duffy Daugherty announced his retirement. His number one assistant, Cal Stoll, got the head coaching job at Minnesota. Coach Stoll talked to me about why he was at Minnesota, how wonderful it was, and how I could set my own legacy. I decided I wanted to get away from those campuses. I visited Minnesota, and it was amazing. I decided this was the place I had to be.” Early in his time at Minnesota, Dungy, who had never wrestled a day in his life, struck up a friendship with Gopher wrestler Pat Neu, starting a nearly fifty-year relationship for Dungy with the wrestling program. “At the University of Minnesota, all of the athletes were kind of together in study hall and in the same dorm, and I got to become friends with Pat,” Dungy said. “He was a dynamic wrestler and a good guy. We hung out together on campus and in study halls. I would see how hard the wrestlers worked. They were not only good guys, but they were also so disciplined. That is what caught me. … more at … https://theguillotine.com/2025/04/tony-dungy-an-uncommon-bond-with-minnesota-gophers-wrestling/?doing_wp_cron=1750739698.2963581085205078125000

July 24, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , | Leave a comment

Cuyler Captures Fourth Championship of Freshman Year at Midlands

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Freshman phenom May Cuyler of the seventh-ranked Presbyterian College women’s wrestling team continued an immaculate start to her Blue Hose career on Monday night, winning a first-place crown at the famed Midlands Championships just outside of Chicago.
Eight PC grapplers represented head coach Brian Vutianitis at the NOW Arena for the 60th edition of the Midlands bracket, where Cuyler (160) boosted her outstanding personal record to 16-1. Fellow newbie Carina Giangeruso earned a bronze trinket on Monday by winning back-to-back consolation-round matches, allowing Presbyterian to tally 18 individual W’s in all.
Cuyler’s first three victories came by either technical fall or pin, snatching the gold prize in a highly-competitive decision over North Central’s Tiera Jimerson (10-7). In fact, there were 13 matches between PC and a North Central opponent in the Windy City. Both programs have become a mainstay in the NWCA national top ten. … more at … https://gobluehose.com/news/2024/12/30/womens-wrestling-cuyler-captures-fourth-championship-of-freshman-year-at-midlands.aspx

January 1, 2025 Posted by | Uncategorized | , | Leave a comment