Sunday, June 24, 2001
Gardner is guy you can like
The Best Story In Sports sits in the stands at Cintas Center, alone but for his father and a few autograph hounds. “Rulon Gardner, Olympic Champion 2000” he scribbles. “Thanks for coming out,” Gardner said.It's very possible he means it.
The World Team Trials are here this weekend. You might know that, but probably not. Wrestling isn't as fascinating as Junior Griffey's hamstring.
But there he is, Rulon Gardner, conqueror of the great Russian, Alexander Karelin, in Sydney last September. Rulon Gardner, poster boy for plain livin'. When America looks in the mirror, this is who we like to see. He grew up on a dairy farm, for goodness' sake.
Got milk? As a matter of fact ...
“I guess you look at me and see an American story,” he said.
Rooted in reality
His role models are “my family and the Lord.” He says he learns something every day: “If I fail today, I have tomorrow.” His gold medal is in his hotel room downtown. But there is no safe in his room. “It's hidden really well. You don't know which room I'm in, do you?” Gardner asks. After he beat Karelin for the best U.S. memory of the Sydney Games, Gardner thought, “When I get home, I'm going to the lake with my dog.”
Rulon Gardner celebrates in Sydney.
(AP photo)
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He did not understand.
“Letterman, Leno, Rosie, Conan, Oprah, Millionaire, Fox, Today,” Gardner said.The entire American pop-culture video collection, circa 2001. He has done them all.
Did you see him on Nash Bridges? He hauled a 150-pound desk up a flight of stairs. He arm-wrestled a bad guy who called him “doughboy” and, of course, threatened “to tear him limb from limb.” Rulon won.
He is asked his most outrageous experience since Sydney. This stumps him.
“Outrageous experience? I struggle with that one,” he said.
What about the women?
“They all know I'm married,” he said. “We sit and talk.”
His great-grandfather helped build the Mormon Temple. He also had 11 wives and 48 kids. Rulon's father, Reed, is 70. He still works 500 acres of barley and milks 50 to 60 cows twice a day. The day Reed returned from the Olympics, he was harvesting grain. “We just about didn't get our crops in,” Reed said.
All of Reed's eight kids went to college. His proudest moment was not seeing Rulon beat Karelin but seeing Rulon get his degree.
We use a lot of time worshipping the wrong gods.
No noise
The other week, I spent the day at Kentucky Speedway. Reigning Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip was there. He thanked me for coming and asked me if there were anything he could do for me.
What?
Can you imagine? Hi, I'm Barry Bonds. Nice to see you. Thanks for coming. How' bout an autograph for the little man there?
So much junk in sports. So much noise. So many people we could never like.
Rulon Gardner sits in the Cintas stands, alone but for his father and a few autograph hounds. He doesn't make much noise.
“The next few weeks I've got some time off. I want to go to the lake with my dog,” he declared. “I want to enjoy time with my loved ones.”
After awhile, he wanders off between sessions of wrestling. His father stays.
“He's a fine, big-hearted kid,” Reed Gardner said of his youngest child.
E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.
Today's schedule |
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DAUGHERTY: Gardner is guy you can like
