IN THEIR WORDS
Indeed, Wojo was great
In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in The Blade’s sports section. Blade sports writer Steve Junga talked with Greg Wojciechowski. Among the names linked with the history of wrestling in Toledo, the most identifiable is a local legend best known by a nickname – “Wojo.”
Greg Wojciechowski (a k a “The Great Wojo, “from his pro wrestling days) is a product of Whitmer High School and the University of Toledo.
The body fit the name. Above the tree-trunk legs, thick biceps and barrel chest of this 6-0, 260-pounder were the trademark shaved head and Fu Manchu-style moustache.
Beginning when he was still a high school senior in 1968 and through the 1980 U.S. Olympic trials, Wojo, now 54, was either the best amateur heavyweight in the country – freestyle or Greco-Roman or both – or a notch from the top.
Three times – 1968, ’72 and ’76 – Wojo was a runner-up at the Olympic trials. When he finally won the freestyle heavyweight spot for the 1980 Summer games in Moscow, a U.S. boycott of the Russian games, ordered by President Jimmy Carter, prevented him from competing. But that did not devastate Toledo’s most accomplished wrestler.
“Just making the team, “the focal point of a 12-year obsession, was reward enough. He ranks this as his second-most memorable sports achievement after winning the first of two high school state heavyweight titles for Whitmer in 1967.
Number three was the NCAA heavyweight title he won as a UT junior in 1971. That was sandwiched by NCAA runner-up finishes in 1970 and ’72.
Included in the modest memorabilia collection in his cozy South Toledo basement are a photo of himself with President Carter, his honorary 1980 gold medal, the NCAA trophies and the bracket board from his ’71 title run, the brackets from his two state titles, and a newspaper article from his pro days.
Upstairs are pictures of his three true proudest accomplishments – grown sons Chad, 33, Kyle, 30, and Ryan, 27 (all college graduates) – whom he raised as a single father from the time they were 13, 10 and 7, respectively.
Wojo’s father, Richard Wojciechowski, got his son into weightlifting at age 5. Mother Elaine provided moral support, and always made sure her only child ate properly.
The early strength training was complemented by the competitiveness of a sports-oriented neighborhood that surrounded the Wojciechowski home on Davida Drive in West Toledo.
Helping mold his wrestling career were Joe Scalzo and Dick Torio, who entered their protege in national AAU tournaments, where he won 13 national titles. He also credits his UT training partners, Don Wyper and the late Paul Elzey.
His 12-year stint in the pro ranks was Wojo’s way of using the sport to pay his family back for all the sacrifices they had made.
During his amateur and pro careers, Wojo spent 27 years teaching at Libbey High School. He also coached wrestling at Libbey and later Bowsher.
Wojo’s greatest battle was not trying to move the mountainous, 6-4, 415-pound Chris Taylor, the Iowa State behemoth who beat him out for the 1972 NCAA crown as well as spots on the U.S. freestyle and Greco-Roman teams. It was the near-fatal heart ailment, a dissected (torn) aorta, which required surgery and sidelined him from the wrestling workouts and heavy weightlifting that were still routine to him at age 48.
These days, on permanent disability retirement, he hoists light weights three times a week, plus walks about nine miles daily to satisfy his workout hunger. Mostly, he is grateful that his lion-sized heart is still beating.
“MY DAD WAS very supportive of everything I did. He guided me but he didn’t push me into sports. He was a frustrated person, who grew up out of the Depression. He knew he could have been good [at sports], but he didn’t have the opportunities. He made sure that I had those opportunities.
“Steve Kerlin, my Whitmer coach, was an ex-UT wrestler and a MAC champ. He was also an ex-Marine drill instructor. He treated us like we were Marines. Everybody had to have butch haircuts, and it was like going through basic training. But he also allowed us to have fun. We had discipline and we had fun. Those were probably my favorite years of wrestling.”
“HAVING DICK TORIO and Joe Scalzo behind me in Toledo really helped me. They set me up. After I won the state my junior year, they sent me to the nationals. I came in fifth in the freestyle. After that, I knew I could compete at the national level.
“I was so obsessed with making the [Olympic] team, and I knew after I made it I could die happy. I had three kids to come home to.
“I had put a lot of years into amateur wrestling and I had three kids living on a teacher’s income. I had worked at Roadway [trucking docks] on the weekends for years to get by. So, I wanted to make some money [from pro wrestling]. I had paid enough dues into the sport.
“I went into it with an open mind. You have to be able to wrestle, but you also have to be flamboyant. You have to entertain the fans. It was pretty good money. I made up to a thousand dollars for a match. When I went to Japan I made $10,000 a week for a three-week tour. I also had a tour in Puerto Rico where I did pretty good. It was enough to take care of my kids’ expenses for college.”
“TO ME, BEING a father is the most important thing there is. I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes, but I can honestly say I did my absolute best. It was tough. I had to learn how to cook. All three of the boys were athletes, so we couldn’t be eating McDonald’s and pizza all the time. We had to eat healthy. Being a father was definitely the most important thing I ever did, and the toughest.”
“THEY FIGURED I must have had high blood pressure beating at [his heart] for years. The aorta was torn, a jagged split all the way down. It went right through the valve. I have a metal valve in there now.
“I was on the brink [of death]. It took me about six months to start feeling good enough and to get the confidence to go out at all. Maybe after about a year I started feeling better. This was the same condition that killed [actor] John Ritter. I thank God for being alive.”
Contact Steve Junga at: [email protected] or 419-724-6461.
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