WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Erikson made big impact
By Gary Abbott There was a time during the 1990s when many people believed that Tom Erikson was the second best freestyle heavy- weight wrestler in the world. The problem for Tom was that he was also the second best heavyweight in the United States. For a decade, Tom Erikson was the top domestic challenger
for the great Bruce Baumgartner. Tom was at his best during Bruce’s long run as one of the greatest big men in World histo- ry.
Baumgartner went from 1981-1997 without a loss to an American opponent. During this stretch, he won two Olympic gold medals, three World gold medals and a total of 13 World and Olympic medals. In most of the major events, including the U.S. Open and the World Team Trials, it was Erikson who Baumgartner had to beat in the finals. Erikson has never been the least bitter that he never beat Baumgartner. “I am not mad. Why should I be mad? What was frustrating
about Bruce is that he’s a great guy. I would try to use tech- niques to get fired up about him, to get mad at him. But he is a tremendous person, a stand-up guy. I wanted to see him do well after he beat me. He took me under his wing early in my career. It was nice when after our career, I saw in an interview where Bruce attributed some of his success to me chasing him down.” Tom Erikson has an interesting wrestling tale. From a self- professed troubled background as a youth, sports was some- thing which Tom found rewarding. He played football and wres- tled, and never qualified for the state wrestling meet in Illinois. He started college on the Div. III level, hoping to wrestle and play football, but a knee injury sidelined him. That was when he decided to go to Triton JC and his wrestling career began to blossom. “I wrestled for a phenomenal coach named Art Kraft. I won a
JC national title for him, and wanted to quit after that. I was working and involved in student government. For me, I didn’t think I could top that. I felt I reached the pinnacle. But I did wrestle again. I was the last person to wrestle for Art Kraft and won his final national title. He passed away the next year,” said Erikson. It was after Erikson committed to Oklahoma State that he
began to get interested in freestyle wrestling. Lee Roy Smith and Joe Seay had sold him on going there to wrestle, a different culture than he knew in suburban Chicago. With the Cowboys, he was a two-time All-American, placing fourth in 1986 and third in 1987. What frustrated him was that he had defeated guys who placed ahead of him, including 1987 NCAA champion Carlton Haselrig. He also turned his sights to international wrestling. Erikson
placed third in his first U.S. Open in freestyle in 1985, and in his first year at Oklahoma State, he placed second behind Baumgartner in the 1986 U.S. Open. For the next 10 years, Erikson had a mission to be the man to take Baumgartner’s spot. He lived and trained in Stillwater through 1999, seeking his own personal holy grail. The statistics tell the story. During his career, Erikson was
second at the Olympic Trials three times, second at the World Team Trials six times and second at the U.S. Open 10 times. Most of those finals losses were to Baumgartner.
12 USA Wrestler
Tom Erikson was one of the top heavyweights in the World. During this stretch, Erikson competed overseas numerous
times, wrestling against the best heavyweights in the world. Although he was not beating Baumgartner, he had wins over almost all of the elite heavyweights from the other nations. “I remember taking every international trip that came down
the pike. I took the trips that I earned from the national team. Bruce was coaching at Edinboro, and I took many of his trips also. I was able to get a ton of international matches and wres- tle all the top guys,” said Erikson. Among those who Erikson beat were 1996 Olympic champion Mahmut Demir of Turkey, 1991 World champion Andreas Schroeder of Germany, 2000 Olympic champion David Musulbes of Russia, 1995 World silver medalist Sven Thiele of Germany, 1996 Olympic silver medalist Alexei Medvedev of Belarus, 1998 World champion Alexis Rodriguez of Cuba, 1999 World silver medalist Andrej Shumilin of Russia and others. “It was from 1994-2000 when I felt I could win a World title.
That was the realistic time when I was beating those good inter- national opponents regularly,” said Erikson. But there was that Bruce Baumgartner problem. Erikson
almost beat him in a match at the World Team Trials in Philadelphia where he was ahead late in the match but Baumgartner hit him for a five-point throw to win it. A photo of that throw later became a popular poster. “At the time, you could score an escape point if you got off
the bottom and broke the lock. I had gotten one. Bruce was tired and I was put down. I wanted another escape to seal the deal. Bruce falls back and takes me over the top and of course it was for five. I felt that if I could have beaten him, it would have shaken him. I felt if I beat him once, the floodgates would open up for me,” said Erikson. Some suggested that Erikson switch over to Greco-Roman
and pursue his Olympic dream in that style. “I wrestled in one elite Greco-Roman tournament, the Olympic Festival in Stillwater in 1989 and I placed third. It was
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