Transcend Wrestling

Jeff Blatnick After Winning Olympic Gold in 1984 (http://www.win-magazine.com/2012/06/u-s-olympic-history-american-efforts-affected-by-boycotts-of-1980-and-1984/)

 I know I'm a bit delayed on this, as Jeff Blatnick's time of passing was on October 24th, but a moment of silence was observed on Saturday before the NWCA All-Star Classic (more on that later), which reminded me that I still had to write this post.  I never met Jeff Blatnick, but I knew all about his unlikely road to Olympic Gold and had heard him as the commentator for several televised wrestling events.  Blatnick faced adversity all along the way, first being denied the chance to compete in the 1980 Olympics due to the US boycott, overcoming Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1982, and then confronting the challenge of becoming the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Los Angeles games in 1984.

Blatnick conquered all three, giving an emotional interview post-match (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI4vXfFx_DA), and was elected to be the US flag-bearer at the closing ceremonies.  It was for reasons like this that Blatnick transcended the sport of wrestling.  His story wasn't known just in the wrestling community, but throughout the general population.  Blatnick grew up in Schenectady, New York, not too far from where I went to college.  During a conversation with one of my professors a couple years ago the topic of Blatnick came up and my professor mentioned how much of an inspiration Blatnick was to everyone and how great of a person he was.  Here was an electrical engineering professor who had never wrestled a day in his life, yet he knew all about him.  The gymnasium at Blatnick's alma mater, Niskayuna High School, is named after him, and his legacy lives on through students there.

One anecdote that stood out to me in an article by Gary Abbott (http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=25651), a friend of Blatnick's:

During his comeback, I was at the U.S. Greco-Roman Open, which was being held in his backyard. I can’t remember if it was in Albany or Schenectady, but it was in his home. During the tournament, I was in the middle of a conversation with Jeff Blatnick, when he stopped talking, bent over, and turned over a penny.

I asked Jeff what he was doing. I’ll never forget his answer. It went something like this. “When you pick up a penny that is heads up, it is good luck. When I see a penny and it’s heads, I pick it up. But if it is tails, I turn it over and leave it for the next guy.”

All I could think about was Jeff’s amazing approach about life. This is a man who beat cancer twice and he was looking out for other people. I’ll never forget that moment. I have never looked at a penny the same way since.

What a neat spin on the "find a penny, pick it up..." thing.  The wrestling community, as well as the rest of the world, will miss him.

Transcend wrestling,
Jeff