From the Warren (Ohio) Tribune-Chronicle, posted at TheMat
Grandmother’s guidance helped Warren native become Olympic contender
By MIKE McLAIN Tribune Chronicle
There was no way anyone could suppress the boundless energy Joe Heskett had when he was six years old.
Heskett had been introduced to wrestling at the Warren YMCA, and he
took to it with a passion that is still with him to this day. He
wouldn’t keep quiet, and he wouldn’t sit still. All he knew at that
tender stage of life was that he wanted to wrestle like his older
friend, Raheem Whitaker.
Doug Dennis, who coached the YMCA team, remembers taking Heskett to
summer camps at Walsh University in Canton to see how he would compete
against other kids his size and age. It was a long time ago, but it
seems like yesterday as Dennis describes the trips.
“Joey would take a little pillow and lunch, and his grandmother would
go with him,” Dennis recalled. “He would have a blanket, and he slept
in the stands.”
Even then Dennis could see greatness in this wiry ball of energy. With
proper amounts of instruction and dedication, Dennis knew that Heskett
had a chance to make it big.
Dennis couldn’t have been more accurate. Some 20 years later, Heskett
is one of the world’s top wrestlers. He was a four-time All American at
Iowa State University, where he had a career 143-9 record with 59 pins
at 165 pounds. Twice he was a runner-up in the NCAA Division I
tournament, and he capped his college career by winning a national
title in 2002.
Last year Heskett was the 163-pound alternate for the United States
Olympic team. Although some might think he’s beyond his prime at age
26, Heskett is determined to represent the U.S. at the 2008 Summer
Games in China.
Heskett, who attended Warren and Howland schools before enrolling at
Walsh Jesuit High School as a freshman, is driven by his goals. He
knows enough about the hard times of life to realize that missing out
on a chance to be an Olympian wasn’t a reason to give up.
“It hurt,” Heskett said of his loss to Joe Williams in the Olympic
trials final. “I trained my whole life to get to the final match and
prove myself to be one of the top athletes in my wrestling class. You
get to where you want to be and you come up short.
“You can’t hope for things to happen. You have to make things happen. I
have four more years to make them happen. I went up against one of the
best wrestlers in the world, and I came up short, but I’m not done.”
Those who know Heskett aren’t surprised by the success he’s achieved
and his undaunted drive to excel. They’re traits that have been
instilled in him by his grandmother, Evelyn Nye, who began raising him
shortly after his birth in 1978.
Heskett never knew his father, and his mother’s unstable lifestyle and
death when he was 10 placed the responsibilities of raising him
squarely on Nye’s shoulders. She took to the role with a strong
maternal grasp, making certain that he didn’t wander off course.
“I always encouraged him, whether it was academics or athletics,” Nye said. “I never pushed him.”
Heskett has followed his grandmother’s guidance in a remarkable way.
His athletic accomplishments are well known throughout the wrestling
world, but Nye is equally as proud of the fact that he was a four-time
academic All-American and is currently a few credit hours short of
earning a master’s degree in educational leadership.
“My grandmother drove me across the U.S. when I was young to go to
wrestling competitions,” Heskett said. “She’d drive me five hours to
go to a practice or a competition where they’d have some of the best
kids in the state wrestling. She was mandatory about my school work.
She prioritized myself with focus and commitment.”
“Our cars always had over 100,000 miles on them,” Nye said. “Of
course, they had 50,000 or 70,000 miles on them when we got them. It
was easy to drive because of having his brother (Jayson) go with us.
Money-wise, it was cheaper than flying. We’ve seen quite a bit of the
country.”
One can only wonder the lifestyle Heskett might have drifted into
without his grandmother’s guidance and the love he has for wrestling.
“It’s a scary place to think. I don’t know,” he said. “It gave me
direction, it gave me focus and something to strive for. I gained
confidence. I traveled the world. It’s given me an opportunity to grow
as a person. Eventually, it’s given me the goal to give back in a way
that I don’t know would have been possible if I had chosen another
route.”
The first key step Heskett took in his wrestling career came when Nye
followed Dennis’ advice and found a wrestling club for him to join that
could pit him against other smaller kids. At the time the Warren YMCA
program simply didn’t have enough wrestlers comparable to Joe.
Nye eventually signed her grandson with the North Akron Wrestling Club,
which was directed by Walsh Jesuit High School coach Bill Barger.
Eventually Barger convinced Heskett to continue his schooling at Walsh.
“It was great for academics, and they still had one of the best
wrestling programs in the community,” Heskett said. “I knew him
(Barger), and we had a great relationship. He’s one of the best human
beings I know. It was an obvious choice for me.”
Heskett blossomed into one of the best wrestlers in Ohio at Walsh,
where he compiled a 150-11 record (40-0 as a senior). He won the 135
state title in his sophomore season and added the 152 state title in
his junior and senior seasons.
Heskett’s career has continued on the rise since he graduated from high
school. He went on to become a three-time Big 12 Conference champion
and a three-time member of the U.S. National team. He’s currently
competing for a fourth trip to the World Games.
Perhaps the best part of Heskett’s life has been his three-year
marriage to his wife Tara, who is always there to lend support no
matter where events take him. Tara gave birth to daughter Olivia three
months ago.
“It’s so much less stressful for me to have my family around me all the time,” Heskett said.
Joe recently took time away from training for the national trials to
compete in a made-for-television wrestling tournament called Real Pro
Wrestling. The tournament, which was completed last fall, included some
of the best wrestlers in the world.
PAX and Fox Sports Net have been televising the preliminaries on
Sundays (PAX) and Wednesdays (Fox). The final for each event will be
televised in May.
All competitors have been sworn to secrecy. The preliminaries for the
163 division were aired recently, and Heskett and his chief nemesis,
Williams, will meet in the final.
Monetary awards were handed out, but Heskett jokes that he’s not living
in a mansion off his earnings. For him, it’s all about giving the sport
he loves more national exposure.
“It’s wonderful, and I can only hope that it keeps up,” he said. “The
sport has a lot to offer to the masses. People can understand wrestling
better. People can appreciate the sport for what it is. It’s not
barbaric. It’s technical. It’s dealing with men that respect each other
and who use their brains and intelligence to outwit and outmaneuver the
opponent.
“Most of all, we wrestle because we’re passionate for it. We’re not
getting paid big bucks. There’s not much money in wrestling. It can
help pay for a college education, but it’s not the same type of egos
that you find in other sports.”
While Heskett’s sights are set on the 2008 Summer Olympics, he also has
his post-wrestling career in focus. He’s currently an assistant coach
at California Polytechnic State University, but he’s not certain he
wants to become a coach on a full-time basis. He’d like to put the BA
degree he earned in speech to use in the business world.
No matter what Heskett does, he seems destined to be successful. For
someone who was handed a raw deal when he was born, he’s certainly made
the most out of his life.
“He’s taken what gifts God has given him and used them wonderfully,”
Nye said. “He has a wonderful life with his wife and child. Everything
he has, he’s worked for. Things are really coming together for Joseph
very well.”
Life would be a little better for Heskett if he could earn that spot on
the Olympic team. His grandmother thinks about it all the time.
“That’s a wonderful dream and thought to have,” she said. “Anyone who
has children, no matter what it is, you always want them to be at the
top.”
Heskett is on the top of life, and the view is good.
Wrestling Gear
