Wisconsin Coach Credits Father For Hall of Fame Work Ethic

Barry Davis inducted into Hall of Fame in Stillwater Saturday

June 2, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Barry Davis counts Iowa coaching great Dan Gable and a number of workout partners among those who helped him hone his wrestling skills over the years.

But he believes that talent wouldn't have gotten him to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame without the work ethic instilled in him by his father.

Davis, a U.S. Olympic silver medalist who's now the head wrestling coach at Wisconsin, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Stillwater on Saturday along with fellow 1984 silver medalist Greg Gipson, former U.S. Olympic assistant coach Bill Weick and Larry Kristoff, who won college national titles as a wrestler and a coach.

"If you've got no work ethic, you've got nothing," Davis said. "My dad taught me work ethic."

Davis said his father, Elmer, worked two jobs to support his family and still works more than 40 hours per week at age 71.

"You don't just get inducted into the Hall of Fame. That's not done as an individual," said Davis, 45. "I think you need a lot more people to get you there, and I've been around a lot of great people."

Among Davis' influences was Gable, his coach when he was winning NCAA championships at Iowa in 1982, 1983 and 1985. But now he finds himself as a rival of the Hawkeyes. His Badgers beat Iowa this year for the first time in 42 years on their way to a 19-3 record - Davis' most successful of 13 seasons as Wisconsin's coach.

Earlier in the season, the Badgers won a school-record 14 straight dual meets.

"Wisconsin's a great place to be. I love where I'm at. I'm a Badger now through and through," Davis said.

Davis, Gipson and Weick all were part of the 1984 U.S. Olympic wrestling team in different roles. Davis won the silver medal in freestyle at 125.5 pounds while Gipson was the silver medalist at 220 pounds on the Greco-Roman side. Weick was an assistant coach in freestyle for the 1984 Games, one of five straight trips to the Olympics as a U.S. coach.

"He wasn't about talk, he was about business," Davis said.

Weick, a two-time NCAA champion at Northern Iowa, went on to win more than 700 dual meets as a high school coach in Illinois. He was on the U.S. coaching staff for every Olympics from 1972 to 1988.

Kristoff was a Division II national champion twice at Southern Illinois-Carbondale and also led Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to three straight NCAA titles as a coach.

The Hall of Fame also awarded its Order of Merit to Mike Chapman, an author who opened a wrestling museum in Iowa, and its Lifetime Service Award to longtime referee Mike Allen.

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, who wrestled in high school, and Fortress Investment Group co-president Michael E. Novogratz, an NCAA qualifier and team captain for Princeton, were elected to the Hall of Outstanding Americans.

Minnesota assistant coach Joe Russell, who overcame a motorcycle crash in high school to compete for the Gophers, received the Medal of Courage.