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Local News

Monday, March 03, 2008

A chip off congressman's block

By JAMIE BAKER

Staff Writer

COLUMBUS -- No one had a bigger smile on his face than Congressman Jim Jordan when the 71st Ohio High School Athletic Association state wrestling tournament wrapped up Saturday night.

That's because he was less congressman and more wrestler and father. His son, Ben, had won his third state championship and was named the Division II Outstanding Wrestler while competing for St. Paris Graham High School.

“This is wrestling heaven in February and March,” said Jordan, a Republican from Urbana who represents Findlay and Hancock County in Congress. With district competition and then the state tournament, “it doesn't get any better than this.”

Before he took down political opponents on his way to winning the 4th Congressional District seat in 2006, Jordan was a legend in Ohio prep wrestling.

He was a four-time state wrestling champion for Graham from 1979-82 with a career record of 150-1.

He earned a degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin, and won two NCAA wrestling championships for the Badgers in 1985 and 1986 in the 134-pound weight class.

Jordan has been around wrestling as a coach, competitor, and now as a wrestling father for nearly 30 years.

His brother, Jeff, is head coach at Graham, and has built the program at the Champaign County school into a powerhouse. The Falcons won their eighth straight Division II state team championship this weekend.

For Jordan, wrestling has been a family-oriented sport since childhood. Although he won collegiate championships and wrestled internationally, his fondest memories were made on the mats at the state tournament.

“I tell kids who ask at my brother's (wrestling) camp that the biggest win of my career came without a doubt when I was a freshman at the state tournament when I was able to win,” Jordan said.

“I tell people I was able to win mostly because of my dad. All I knew was what my dad told me. If you set goals and work hard, good things will happen. I was dumb enough to believe him,” he said.

“He was there to do what moms and dads have been doing for years, not only in sports but in other activities, too. He was the guy who supported you and gave you the kick in the backside when you needed it,” he said.

Getting a kick from Don Jordan was one thing. Being a naive, wide-eyed 15-year-old who didn't know any better was another.

“When I really think about it, I mostly won because I was ignorant,“ Jordan said with a laugh. “I didn't know freshmen weren't supposed to win the state tournament. I didn't know that kids from Southwest Ohio weren't supposed to beat those tough kids from Cleveland, Akron and northeast Ohio.

“The truth is that I didn't know a redneck country boy from Graham High School wasn't supposed to win.”

These days, Jordan truly is a wrestling father. Typically, he stays in Washington during the week and flies home for weekends. He didn't miss any of Ben's matches this year, even making the commute midweek to attend Ben's last home match at Graham.

In the past, Jordan even sat matside at Ohio State's Value City Arena helping his brother Jeff coach Ben at the state tournament.

Jordan would jump up and down, yell, scream and urge his son on from the coach's chair. This year, though, he decided to stay in the stands.

“I'll tell you, as nervous and as excited as you get when you are competing, I've found it to be worse watching your kids compete, particularly when it's a big match or an important match against a tough competitor, which you always seem to have in our state. I get more nervous now watching my kids than I ever did when I was wrestling,” Jordan said.

“When I'm matside, I get too wrapped up in it, too excited,” he said. “Funny, that I don't get that way with other boys that are out there wrestling, but when it's your own boy out there, you get so much more worked up.”

Last year's state tournament was tough on the Jordan family. Ben lost in the championship match. The dream of matching his father's and uncle's four state titles was gone.

“Those setbacks, they are more important than the wins sometimes. I know Ben learned a lot from it,” Jordan said. “When I look back I think I learned more from my losses than from the wins.

“The Good Lord brings those losses into your life for a reason and you just have to learn from it and move on with life. I was very pleased with Ben's attitude and how he handled things last year.”

Jordan still finds his way into the wrestling room to work out occasionally, about six or eight times this season. He admits to “feeling it big time the next day” after wrestling with the kids.

He finds a way to satisfy his appetite for wrestling in different ways. His job as a congressman is stepping out onto a wrestling mat of sorts.

“Parts of my job that most parallel wrestling are like when you have a debate on the floor of the House,” he said.

“It's like a wrestling match because you are fighting for something that matters to families and taxpayers back home and it's something you believe in. You're making the argument. You're doing the best you can and you are trying to win,” he said.

“It's the same with a campaign. Campaigns are just one long wrestling match. You know on election night whether you are going to get your hand raised or not,” he said.

“I kind of like the intensity of the campaign. They kind of remind me of those days when I was on the mat.”

Contact staff writer Jamie Baker at: (419) 427-8409 Send an e-mail to Jamie Baker
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