WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Hall still making impact By Gary Abbott
One of the fiercest competitors in American Greco-Roman history was World champion and Olympic medalist Dennis Hall, a Greco specialist from Wisconsin who made three U.S. Olympic teams. Hall won a World title in Prague, Czech Republic in 1995, only the second American to ever win a Greco-Roman World gold medal. He added an Olympic silver medal in 1996 in Atlanta, Ga., as well as a World bronze medal in 1994 in Tampere, Finland.
With two older brothers who wrestled, Dennis started compet- ing in elementary school when his parents let him try the sport. He credits some good youth wrestling coaches from his com- munity in helping him learn to love the sport. It wasn’t long before he also learned that he liked wrestling Greco-Roman. “My older brother Dale would beat me in freestyle. The only way I could beat him was to throw him. I learned how to throw early on. In fifth grade, I won a national title in Greco and I remember thinking I would like to make U.S. World and Olympic teams,” said Hall. A three-time high school state champion, Hall had big goals in college wrestling and redshirted as a freshman for Wisconsin. However, that summer he made his first Senior World Team in Greco-Roman and was faced with a difficult choice. Would he miss the World Championships to go to school, or compete and change his goals? Greco-Roman wrestling won out. “I decided to go towards the Olympic style,” said Hall. “I liked college wrestling and wanted to win NCAA titles. But I also wanted what every wrestler should want, to be a World and Olympic champion.”
Hall made his first Olympic team in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain at the age of 21 and placed eighth at 125.5 pounds. He soon became one of the best Greco athletes in the world, winning a World or Olympic medal for three straight seasons from 1994- 1996.
“The big thing was my foreign training partners,” said Hall.
“You can’t win at the World Championships or Olympic Games without having a tough guy on top of you in the par terre posi- tion. I also got sick of losing. In 1993, when I lost to the Cuban, I wasn’t completely exhausted. I decided never to let that hap- pen again. A lot of my success was my mindset.” Hall won 10 straight U.S. Nationals titles during his prime. He did not make the 2000 Olympic team, and fell from the top spot at his weight in the early 2000s. Hall stuck with it, and made a weight drop to 121 pounds for the 2004 Olympic Trials, defeat- ing his friend Brandon Paulson in the finals in a memorable overtime match that went 16:54 before Hall won. He competed in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, his third Olympic team. “I looked at it as my last chance to wrestle in the Olympic Games,” said Hall. “In 2004, I realized it was do-or-die. My mindset was to win the Olympic Games. My training got very regimented and I did everything possible to give myself a chance to win.” Hall retired after that, but never left the sport of wrestling. He remains in Stevens Point, Wis., where he lived most of the years when he was competing. With wife Chrissy, who is a
12 USA Wrestler
World champion Dennis Hall (right), shown with Art Martori of the Sunkist Kids, was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame earlier this year. Larry Slater photo.
school teacher, Dennis is helping raise four children, all who are involved with sports.
He has turned his focus towards coaching, both on the youth level and the Senior level. Hall runs World Gold Wrestling, a year-round wrestling school in his community which helps train youth athletes. He also operates wrestling camps in the sum- mer. Hall is also involved with the website World Wrestling Resource, along with Terry Brands and Jon McGovern, which provides quality coaching information and training resources. “It is cool helping guys achieve their goals. One hard part is that you can’t correct them yourself. It is on them to correct their wrestling. I enjoy seeing the progress of the kids. You can see a difference in a year’s training when you work with them on a daily basis,” said Hall.
Hall has also coached a number of U.S. Senior Greco-Roman
teams. Two of his students, Ben Provisor and Jesse Thielke, are making an impact in Greco on the Senior level. He also spent a year as head coach of the USEOC program at Northern Michigan, teaching Greco to talented college students. This year, Hall was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, an honor which humbles a very intense individual. “It is really an honor to be elected. You don’t realize it until you walk into the Hall of Honors and see all of the other great wrestlers there. I saw the displays of the guys I followed when I was young. It was like I reached the highest pinnacle in wrestling,” said Hall.
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