Oklahoma senior Sam Hazewinkel talks with his father and Marion Military coach Dave Hazewinkel at the Lone Star Duals on Saturday in Texas.

Texas dual special for Hazewinkels

By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com

During this past Saturday’s first session at the Cliff Keen Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Texas, Marion Military Institute 125-pounder Cee-Jay Hamilton looked to his corner for advice on how to wrestle his opponent.

Dave and Jim Hazewinkel laughed.

They weren’t laughing at Hamilton, but the twin tandem that co-coach the small Junior College program in Alabama are known for their propensity for laughter.

Laughing for no reason, laughing when asked a question, laughing when coaching. For Dave and Jim, it seems they laugh as much as they breathe.

But Hamilton had asked the right people for two reasons. Dave and Jim Hazewinkel know their stuff as both have represented the United States on two Olympic teams each.

The twin brothers are in their first season at Marion Military and have a wealth of knowledge to instill on their young wrestlers, but there’s another reason why the Hazewinkels were the right people to ask – Hamilton was set to wrestle Oklahoma’s three-time All-American Sam Hazewinkel, Dave’s son and Jim’s nephew.

“We knew we were going to be wrestling Oklahoma and our kids were all excited about it,” said Dave.

Before the match, Hazewinkel said Hamilton was drilling him for information.

“’You have to tell me what Sam likes to do’,” Dave recalled. “I said now listen, this is what he likes to do – he likes to win.”

The end result was a second-period fall in favor of the younger Hazewinkel.

“I love it,” said Sam about his father’s presence in Texas. “He doesn’t get to watch me a lot because he’s coaching his own school and he has to stay with them, but I always enjoy when he gets to watch me wrestle.”

It’s been few and far between for Dave to see his son Sam wrestle, in fact, he’s only gotten to see his son wrestle twice in college and both times were in Texas.

Dave got his first glimpse of the collegiate power the Sam has become at the NWCA All-Star Classic back in November.

“We have another son that lives in Oklahoma and we went to visit him and at the same time we drove down to see Sam wrestle and then came back,” said Dave about his first experience watching his son on a college mat.

But why so few? ESPN.com’s Mike Rand recently penned a piece about a South Dakota State wrestler whose father had never missed a single match. The Hazewinkel scenario couldn’t be more of a polar opposite.

“Every week that the nationals were, the same week they have a bible conference and they always like the faculty there at the bible conference. It happened every single year on the same weekend,” explained Dave.

But this year, Dave will be in Auburn Hills, watching Sam battle for the elusive NCAA championship at 125 pounds.

“When we went to Marion, the commandant down there said, and he knew ahead of time (about the NCAAs), and went ‘I’m going to tell you right now, you’re going to watch Sam at the nationals.’” recalled Dave.

Initially, Dave thought he would be seeing Sam wrestle on his own mats. Dave and Jim coached at Pensacola Christian Academy and Pensacola Christian College and had a rather successful NCWA program.

“When he graduated from high school, I’d never thought that he’d wanted to wrestle Division I and I thought maybe he’d stay there at Pensacola Christian,” said Dave.

One day he said, “Hey dad, I think I’d like to try that Division 1 stuff.”

Always laughing, Dave responded: “Ok, well you know that Coach (Jack) Spates has been calling?”

That Division I “stuff” as Sam called it was taking notice. An impressive high school and freestyle/Greco resume had gotten Sam noticed.

Even while wrestling in the traditional college season, Sam’s Greco-Roman lineage has suited him well, not to mention the knowledge passed on by Dave and Jim.

It’s all genetic, right?

“(They’re influence) was a real big deal,” said Sam. “It helped me out at Fargo and that’s probably what got people seeing me. It’s helped me out a lot in college, you know, its nice when you know nobody really wants to go upper body, so then I know they’re going to shoot.”

“That’s not always true, but it helps for the most part. If I go upper body with somebody, I have good faith I’m going to win that one,” he said.

So right away, Dave and Jim knew their young 125-pounder was overmatched. Sam prepared the same way as always.

“Well, I gotta go for each match like it’s the national championship,” said Sam. “If you go out for matches and you know, ‘I’ve wrestled this guy before’ and when it comes time to wrestle, you don’t know what to do, so coach Spates preaches that, to come in every match like its for the national championship.”

But when on the mat, that familiar voice loomed – from the opposing corner.

“I’m pretty sure I heard them yell a couple times at me in matches before, so it wasn’t nothing new,” said Sam. “I’ve heard him yelling against me before, but maybe not about wrestling.”

If there’s a coach that knows what it’s like to be sitting across the mat from your son, its Sam Hazewinkel’s coach.

Jack Spates found himself on the other side of the mat from his son Jeremy when he was wrestling at Missouri. In 2004, when Jeremy beat then-Sooner Jeff Ecklof to finish fifth at 149 pounds.

Shortly after the match, the elder Spates, who was not in the corner, but standing 15 feet away from the mat, quiet, but not motionless, embraced his son for a job well done.

When asked about the Hazewinkel vs. Hazewinkel, the OU coach had experience to draw from.

“Well you know it’s not quite the same parallel, because I don’t think they (Marion) came in with great expectations,” said Spates. “They wanted to wrestle us and he was just delighted to see his son wrestle. That’s an interesting dynamic.”

While Spates admitted the similarity between coaching against his son in college and Dave Hazewinkel sitting in the chair across the mat from his son were different, the emotional disconnect remains.

“In dual meets, I would not come off the bench, I didn’t think it was fair to our guys,” said Jack. “I would basically sit with my elbows on my knees and my hands in a triangle around most of my face so no emotion would be displayed.”

No emotion? C’mon Jack, not even a little?

“People would notice that in certain situations, my knees would start to shake. So it was a no-fun situation,” explained Jack.

“In tournaments, you have to go to the corner, so our assistant coaches were taught to step up that coaching. No one had a problem with it; they all understood it was a difficult situation.”

As some might know, Jack and Jeremy aren’t across the mat from each other anymore; they’re in the same set of coaching chairs. Jeremy is on staff at Oklahoma.

While Sam won’t compete against his father’s team ever again, Dave, Jim and Sam all relished the experience.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Dave.

“I brought my camera with me,” he said with a laugh.

When asked if Sam could take his pops and uncle in a match, the younger Hazewinkel was quick to snuff out any discussion.

“I only wrestle matches I know I can win,” said Sam … with a laugh.

In all, it wasn’t about the drubbing that OU put on a tiny Junior College, or the presence of two former Olympians in the same corner at Lone Star that made it memorable.

For Sam, the best part of the trip was simple.

“Getting to hear him laugh again, it’s been a while,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I heard him laughing during the match, too.”

InterMat Lead Writer
Jason Bryant