Dan Gable

Starring in a six movie series, Rocky Balboa touched the hearts of countless Americans through his battles with other fictional boxers. In each successive film, Rocky was presented with life crises’, tough opponents, and his aging body. He came to define the notorious underdog continually drawing strength from previous obstacles to surpass odds and succeed. Rocky’s ability to keep moving forward, regardless of the challenge, is what made him who he is. Although my individual battle may be different, I mirror Rocky’s ability to constantly be persistent especially in regards to school and working out.

“I am a fat boy at heart, so it is challenging going on diets”, the athlete complains to me. I ask what his favorite dishes are, and as he let me know what they are his mouth was nearly watering. His most important conflict or dilemma is that Adrian purposely forfeiting fights. His opponent’s manager or promoter proposes large amounts of money to throw a match. “The money is very tempting and can change my life very much, but my love of boxing takes over temptation”, the pro boxer admits to me. He also said in a chill way that he does not worry about those situations that much any more because he has camaraderie for himself. “It happens to many other boxers like myself all the time so it is something I get used to”, he states. Adrian has not been on the top of his game lately, but he is clairvoyant to his bright future in his career. My personal interview with professional boxer Adrian Dub is just the beginning of why image, family, and money affect boxers that choose to forfeit

Similarly both authors agree it 's not just finding one 's true self, it is finding oneself in society. Jenkins may comfort some by showing them how they could fit into American society, while Gabler reflects on the ones who are unique to society. Both, however, reflect on American individual values and how that represents us as a whole. Jenkins and Gabler split American culture up by categories: social class, morals and emotions. Both authors decided to use American individuals in their essays that are often in the spotlight or their narrative has become a spectacle for all other Americans to see. Wrestlers and celebrities alike live a similar lifestyle. WWF wrestlers fight in melodramatic, morally conflicting intense matches, and

I started wrestling in sixth grade. Even though I didn’t win one of my first seven matches, I developed into a successful wrestler. In high school I won tournaments and beat high-quality wrestlers. During my junior year I was determined to become a great wrestler. I worked harder than ever and didn’t let anyone stop me. That year I lost the Illinois state wrestling tournament championship match by one point. Over the next six months between my junior and senior season I was runner up at AAU national tournament and wrestled at Disney Land in Florida at the Disney Duals with over 50 other teams and only lost 1 of 8 matches. These are a few of my achievements in high school. Now that I am in college there are many

Danny Hupfer is a bold, jittery, thoughtful, and coarse type of person, and he’s also an hot-headed, loud person and shows even more traits later in the book. However he learns how and why he needs to help others, to let himself be heard, to keep going, and to stand up to and for others.

If you aren’t humble in wrestling then you will get cocky and mess up during a match, because you will think that you are better than everyone else in your weight class. This lesson taught me to not be a sore loser or a sore winner, but to be grateful to have the opportunity to go out and do what I love; this will help because later in life if I don’t get a job, I won't go home and cry myself to sleep, I will get back up and start again and again.

Paul Bryant was born on September 11, 1913 in New Edinburg, Arkansas. He was the eleventh of twelve children. He was the son of William Monroe and Ida Bryant. “Paul got the nickname “Bear” after wrestling a muzzled bear at a carnival”. After the death of his father, they moved to Fordyce, Arkansas. Bryant participated in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He also played as an offensive lineman and defensive end in the 1930 Arkansas State high school football champion team (“Paul Bryant”1). Bryant coached at many universities and was a part of many wins and championship titles.

Jordan Burroughs is hailed as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Burroughs holds an impressive list of accomplishments but he wasn’t athletically gifted like many others. He had to put in hours of workouts and practice in order to be successful at the sport and much of his time resulted in trial and error in order for him to be successful.

The documentary, “Unforgivable Blackness” directed by Ken Burns casts light on the extraordinary life story of legendary boxer Jack Johnson. The documentary is about the barriers Jack Johnson had to overcome to satisfy his hunger for becoming the best and living “The American Dream.” Johnson had humble beginnings in Galveston, Texas and it was in those beginnings that glimpses of his bright future were slowly but surely beginning to show. Through out his life, he showed independence, relentlessness, ability to improvise, call attention to himself and get around rules meaning to tie him down. Jack Johnson was a self made man who had the drive to go forward and achieve what he wanted to achieve

Mark Schultz’s progression through the sport was much faster than mine. Starting off his wrestling career as a junior in high school, made it hard for Mark to become a successful wrestler in high school . Although he started late, he had a very good coach named Tim Brown and had a good wrestling team with many future college wrestlers on it. “My coach was Tim Brown, a heavyweight wrestler and football coach.” (Mark Schultz) Because his high school team was very good, he was able to go to a college for wrestling. He became a very good

It also introduces us to and establishes Olympian Jim Thorpe, a multi-sport player once considered the world’s greatest athlete, and legendary coach, Glenn “Pop” Warner.

Later on in the school day when I was in weight training class the teacher, Coach Rice, who was also the wrestling coach called me over to talk because he had seen

Every great thing has its legends. Here are some from this great sport. The first great legend is a man known as Fred "Dr. Squat" Hatfield. Hatfield made history throughout the sport of powerlifting, being known best as the first man to squat over 1,000 pounds in a competition. He achieved 1,014 at a bodyweight of 255 pounds (American Strength Legends 2). He did this at the age of 45, as well. Even more so, he could bench press 573 pounds and deadlift 766 pounds. All through his life, Fred was an athlete, excelling in soccer, track, and gymnastics. He received many degrees associated with fitness and sports training, now owning one of the largest personal training organizations in the world; the International Sports Sciences Association. He has also trained the U.S.A. powerlifting squad and many other world renowned athletes. Some other huge achievements of Dr. Hatfield were winning three world powerlifting championships and setting thirty world and national records in five different weight classes, something never done by any other lifter. Fred competed from the ‘70's to this very day at the age of almost sixty (American Strength Legends 2).

With the removal of wrestling from the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also taking away many dreams for young wrestlers all over the world. Wrestling is a very mentally and physically challenging sport. “More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill, none have wrestled without pride”(Dan Gable).To become successful at it, one must practice regularly and put in a large amount of work. In the United States alone there are over 260,000 wrestlers who have put in this work and dedication. Yet, this is only a small portion of the wrestlers in the world. With this being a small example of the world, it is hard to not think of the multitudes of young Olympic hopefuls whose dreams are being crushed with the removal of wrestling from the Olympics.

Dwayne Douglas Johnson, A.K.A ¨ The People's Champ¨ A.K.A ¨Rocky¨ A.K.A ¨The Great One¨ A.K.A ¨The Most Electrifying Man In All Entertainment¨. He grew all these nicknames from the W.W.E, World Wide Entertainment. He was so good and well known he made the Hall Of Fame, He also had more than millions of fans from the W.W.E. He also informed us that he did everything for is good and his family, including that he went to the gym 6 hours a day for his own good. His first wrestling career started in 1996 with the W.W.F, World Wrestling Federation and continued to the