A Wrestling instinct

"After his win Dave was hailed as 'the best.' And it's no wonder. Dave is strong, fast and smart - a combination rarely found in a high school wrestler. He has what you call a wrestling instinct."

-Saratoga Sun, March 24, 1960

***

Dave Edington looked up at a plaque at Saratoga High School holding the names of 31 state wrestling champions. He scratched his grey goatee, and pointed towards a name at the top of the list.

"Yep, there I am," he said

It was him - even if his name was spelled wrong on the plaque. It's spelled 'Edington' not 'Eddington'.

It did not matter all that much to him. He already made a name for himself in the wrestling world, one misspelling would not have an impact on what wrestling did for him.

Or what he has done for wrestling.

Edington's life on the mat was spectacular. He was four-time state champion-the first to accomplish it in the state, the second to do so in the nation and the only in Saratoga High School history.

For four years, he was arguably the best wrestler around.

Wrestling gave Edington countless awards, a career and an education. But most important, he it gave him a wrestling instinct: the drive to succeed, and the expectation to be the best.

Growing up tough

If Dave Edington was not born to be a wrestler, he was certainly bred to be one.

Edington was from a blue-collar family. Everyone was expected to work, like his father, who built fence in the Platte Valley. He was the youngest- raised with his siblings and cousins; all of whom shared the blue-collar work ethic. If you didn't work hard or put everything into what you were doing, you got left behind.

Growing up, Edington lived lived by a simple rule:

"It was either toughen up or get the crap kicked out of you," he said.

And he had his hands full. His cousins, Ron and Norm Perue, were both two-time state champions on the newly-formed Saratoga wrestling program. Many of his other siblings and cousins wrestled as well.

Watching his family wrestle sparked his interest. His wrestling career began in the sixth grade on the living room floor of his cousins' house, trying to figure out the sport of wrestling with his younger cousins.

By the time he was in eighth grade, Edington's athletic ability caught the attention of Saratoga High School head coach Dale Federer and was invited to practice with the team. That year of practice, he said, gave him a large advantage his freshman year of high school.

"By the time I was ready to enter high school, I knew the sport already," Edington said.

He came into his freshman year with no expectations. He joined the team because he wanted to be involved. He wanted to be on a team, and he was too short to play basketball.

But 1957 would be the beginning of an incredible run.

Edington went undefeated and won the 112 pounds state championship and led the Panthers to the first ever team state championship in any sport.

Better yet, Wyoming athletics did not have classifications until 1963 - after Edington graduated. Making any champion truly the best in the state.

"We won it pretty solid," Edington said, recalling the Panthers had three first-place wrestlers and several top finishers. "It was such a big deal for the community."

As Edington grew to 127 pounds his sophomore year, his reputation grew with him. He was expected to win, and he didn't disappoint.

Perhaps the defining moment in his career took place his sophomore year, when he beat a defending state champion in the weight class above him.

"At that point, I think the light bulb came on that I did have some talent and I was able to achieve a lot." he said.

And he did achieve a lot. Edington went undefeated throughout his Wyoming high school career; one of two wrestlers in Wyoming's history to do so. He is also the only four-time champion to win in all classifications.

Edington was the best in the state, but he wanted more. He wanted to be the best in the nation. He was not going to stop until he was number one.

"I developed this attitude that I could beat anybody," he said.

Wrestling with tragedy

After graduation, Edington traveled across the Medicine Bow Mountains to wrestle at the University of Wyoming. He, along with his cousins, were recruited by Wyoming Hall of Fame coach Dr. Everette Lantz.

Edington was supposed to redshirt his first year, but Lantz had other plans. Lantz would retire within the next few years, and Edington said his coach wanted to get as much mileage out of him as he could before Lantz's days were up.

Edington wrestled well for the Pokes. He defeated most of his opponents in the first part of his career, and tied with a two-time defending state champion from Oklahoma.

But his success would take a traumatic twist.

In 1961, Edington and the Cowboys went up to Powell to wrestle a match against the University of Utah. Edington was matched up against preseason All-American Doug Bingham.

In the middle of the match, Edington had a solid lead when Bingham's body went limp.

"I thought he had just given up ... so I stuck him," Edington said.

After pinning him, Edington looked down at his opponent. Bingham's eyes rolled back to the top of his head and he wouldn't get up.

In the middle of the match, Bingham had suffered a blood-clot in his heart. He passed away later that night.

For a 19-year-old Edington, it was a confusing time. He was not emotional about what happened, but everyone around him was. The coach sent him home to stay with his parents for half the week afterwards. When he returned, he was forced to not travel with the team and seek counseling instead.

But he remained emotionless about what happened.

"I started questioning why didn't I have all these emotions they were questioning me about," he said. "Finally I just couldn't handle it anymore."

Edington left UW and the team for a week and went on a road trip. "I had to get away from it," he said.

When he returned, his weight had ballooned. He was out of shape. He decided to sit out nationals that year.

Edington tried coming back from the incident, but he never could. It wasn't the same, he said. He lost his competitive edge. His inner drive, which led him to four state championships, was gone.

He lost his wrestling instinct.

Edington wanted to get away from the sport. So upon graduation, he moved to the small town of Ronan, Mont.

But even 800 miles away from where his career took a tragic twist, he would not escape the wrestler inside him.

Fresh start

"I went up there to get a fresh start," he said. "So I figured I'll try teaching for a little bit."

Ronan is located near the south-end of Flathead Lake on the Flathead Indian Reservation. It's a town similar in size of Saratoga, surrounded by the majestic Mission Mountains of Northwest Montana.

It would be a perfect place to escape from wrestling world, he thought.

After Edington had been teaching woodshop for several years, he was approached by the school principal. There was no wrestling program at Ronan High School, and the principal wanted Edington's help getting one started.

Edington didn't want to coach, so the Principal made him a deal.

"He said 'I'll coach it if you show them what to do.' He said 'I have no clue what to do'," Edington said.

The deal didn't last long - Edington became the head coach of the Ronan wrestling team in the following years.

Ronan quickly became a hot-bed for wrestling under Edington's leadership. Within three years of the program's founding, Ronan took second as a team.

A funny thing happened once Edington started coaching. He started becoming competitive again, taking losses personally. He wanted to be the best, and only the best, for his wrestlers. His passion for wrestling reignited.

"I never really got away from the competitiveness," he said. "I knew what the sport had done for me as a kid ... I just liked that part and I started to see what it could do in kids."

The team would eventually go on to win eight state championships including five consecutive championships from 1978 to 1982. His team won 42 consecutive dual meets from 1972 to 1974, and he coached 32 individuals to state championships.

Edington was named Montana Wrestling Coach of the Year seven times, and was a runner-up for National High School Association Wrestling Coach of the Year twice.

Edington's coaching success was not limited to the Big Sky State. He traveled with the junior national teams as a coach to the former Soviet Union, Turkey and Iran. He said he and his team were at the American Embassy in Iran just months before the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Edington was also a coaching staff member for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and a administration staff member for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

He was instrumental in establishing youth wrestling programs, first in Montana, then across the county. Edington founded one of the first youth wrestling tournaments in the state. He wanted to help grow the sport that grew him.

The Great Equalizer

There are few awards in the wrestling world Edington has not obtained. But, he said there is no greater achievement than being a teacher and a coach.

"I have received a lot of awards over the years, but none of them have ever meant more to me than the relationships I have built with the kids," he said. Every time he sees a former student or athlete grow up and become active members of society, he sees that as his greatest success.

The success of the wrestling program helped bring a new identity to the school. Ronan is an impoverished area with nearly 60 percent of the students on free and reduced lunches. He said with the success of the wrestling program, the community began to find pride in themselves.

"We began to develop an identity," he said. "Everyone knew where Ronan was. The kids began to develop a swagger - it was a big deal back then."

Wrestling gave many of his students a reason to stay in school. It gave something to those who had nothing.

Growing up in an impoverished household himself, he knew the impact wrestling had, and he shared it with his wrestlers.

"Wrestling is the great equalizer," he said "I could go up against the banker's kids or the lawyer's kids and say 'hey I can kick your butt, I'm better than you'."

***

Today, Edington continues to live in Ronan. He's retired now, devoting more than 40 years to Ronan High School as a teacher and a coach.

His wrestling days are long passed, but his passion for the sport still exists. You can hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about the sport.

For Edington, wrestling is more than just a sport. Through wrestling, he experience success, tragedy and every emotion in between. Wrestling is what made him into who he is today. It gave him his wrestling instinct.

If you asked him today, he would say: "I wouldn't have changed my career for anything."