BAUGHMAN, Continued from page 33
because of his success in Greco-Roman. They wanted him to help the freestyle wrestlers in some important problem areas. “They said your job is to mainly keep us from getting caution
points and being cautioned out and for our guys not to panic when in upper body tie-ups, because a lot of international wrestlers had wrestled both styles,” he said. Baughman had extensive resistance from some of the ath- letes and coaches in freestyle to his methods. Baughman responded to that, and changed his approach appropriately. At the 1975 Worlds, under his leadership, it was the first time that the U.S. team did not win a World medal and the AAU demand- ed better results.
“I said I had been too democratic, and I was not going to do that anymore. I said I’d take care of it. After that, the athletes cir- culated a petition to get rid of me. I decided to do it the way I should have been doing it all the time. I told the whole Olympic team we were going to do it my way. You may not like it, and if it doesn’t pan out, you can blame me. And if it works, you can give anybody the credit you want. They saw it themselves that we had gotten beaten with the upperbody stuff. We did a lot of upperbody work and changeup work, going from upper body to lower body,” he said.
At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the U.S. men’s freestyle team won six medals. John Peterson won gold, Lloyd Keaser, Ben Peterson and Russ Hellickson won silver, with bronzes from Gene Davis and Stan Dziedzic.
“My biggest satisfaction about the 1976 Olympics is that we did not lose one match by a caution point, we did not get cau- tioned out of a match, and we actually won a couple matches by some upperbody moves. We won six medals, which equaled the number we had in 1972, but not as good with the three golds they won. Before the Olympics started, nobody, not the AAU, the Federation people, none of the sportswriters, gave us a chance of winning any medals. Sports Illustrated gave us a chance at one medal, at 163 pounds, and that assumed Wade Schalles was on the team and he did not make it. It turned out to be a great tournament. I was happy with that, and it was my swan song,” he said.
Baughman was approached by Greco-Roman athletes to serve as their coach, and he agreed after some convincing, coaching the 1980 World Cup and the 1981 World Team. After that, because of the politics of wrestling at the time, and other considerations, he did not continue coaching the major U.S. international teams in either style. In retrospect, he found coaching World and Olympic teams his biggest challenge, much more than competing. “The toughest thing I ever did was coach the World Championship and Olympic teams. You work with elite athletes who have been successful doing things the way they like doing it. That was very difficult for me. I don’t think I was a very sensi- tive person. When you are disliked, almost loathed and hated, for what you are doing, and you believe you are doing what is right, that can be tough. The overall greatest satisfaction was when a lot of those guys that were trying to get me thrown out as coach came back later and said I was right and they appreci- ate what I did. I had people come back to be my friends who were definitely my enemies at the time,” he said. Baughman’s direct way of speaking has both confused and frustrated people over the years, but becomes very interesting when you hear him out. Consider this concept. “I love competition, confrontation, conflict. I loved football and expected to be a football player. But the individual personal sat- isfaction of wrestling had much more appeal to me than the glory and fun of football. I upset a lot of people when I say I
don’t like wrestling and never thought it was fun and never enjoyed it. I also say that I respect wrestling more than any other sport. I got a greater sense of satisfaction and accom- plishment from wrestling. From the first day I stepped on until the last day I stepped off, the terms fun, like and joy don’t con- nect with wrestling. But I think respect is more important than like,” he said. However, Baughman does a good job explaining his respect for his sport. “Wrestling does so many intangible things that are hard to document or verify. The thing that separates wrestling from other sports is the element of making weight. It’s up a level from anything else. I have the utmost respect for wrestling. Wrestlers are my heroes. They are the ultimate athletes. It is the closest thing to battle that people do,” he said. Baughman’s reputation for toughness was legendary and grew when he began doing extreme sports such as ultra run- ning, triathlon and mountain climbing. He finished the Ironman Triathlon, the Pikes Peak Marathon, the Leadville Trail 100-mile run and the Death Valley-Mount Whitney run. Add in climbing all 54 Colorado mountains over 14,000 feet, as well as an ascent of Mount Everest.
“I was always curious what the upper limits of human endurance would be. I grew up on the Kiowa Indian reservation when I was young, where I learned to wrestle and fight. When I burned out on wrestling competition, I knew I needed some incentive to stay in shape. I did all these things as a participant with no delusion or ambition of winning. All I tried to do was fin- ish within whatever the cutoff times were. I got good at not being competitive. In those endurance races, you have to run your own race and not let the other people affect you. When people say I have done all these endurance races and ask what the toughest thing I ever did, I say wrestling by far. I tried those things when I knew my wrestling career was over,” he said. Although it was never his goal to coach the Air Force Academy wrestling team, he ended up serving 27 years as its head coach, serving a stint while he was still enlisted in the mili- tary, and another as a civilian.
“I had great collegiate coaches. I was around some of the best wrestlers and I had a good collegiate background. I believe collegiate wrestling allows more margin for more compensation. There are more ways to score in collegiate wrestling than freestyle and Greco. Because of this, if you are weak in one area, you can compensate in another. I was slow, but I was strong. I could tie them up and slow them to my speed. I didn’t have good balance, but could compensate with position and stance,” he said.
Baughman once turned down an opportunity to coach at Oklahoma, where he would have had elite athletes to mentor. He enjoyed coaching the Air Force wrestlers who were also training to be leaders of the military and society off the mat. “I knew I was dealing with special people, a unique group. They had something way beyond wrestling in their future. When it comes to training potential combat leaders, I believe wrestling has more to offer than any other sport. I had a really good group of guys. Working with the Cadets was special,” he said. Although Baughman may be “retired,” he has not stopped being involved with wrestling. It is not surprising to see Baughman at the annual National Wrestling Hall of Fame week- end, or at a major wrestling event. He still studies wrestling like he did as an athlete and coach. He lives in Colorado Springs, and spends time with USA Wrestling staff and attends events and camps. He remains connected and involved, and still has his ideas about how to make things better. He also is hoping to complete a book he says is about 90 percent complete.
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