Wrestlers compete with late teammate on minds
For all the times Jacob Curby pulled Pete Kowalczuk aside and offered his unique and direct style of encouragement, keeping Kowalczuk focused on becoming a top performer for USA Wrestling, Kowalczuk figured he owed it to his late friend to wrestle on Saturday.
That wasn’t easy, two days after attending funeral services for Curby in the Chicago area. But Curby’s teammates carried on in the Kit Carson Cup at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, an international dual meet tournament Curby was supposed to participate in.
“I lot of times I’m out there, I’m thinking ‘This is for you Jake,’ ” said Kowalczuk, a heavyweight. “He wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re going to miss him, but we’re out here for him.”
Curby passed away suddenly on Jan. 22 at his home in Boise, Idaho. Many of his teammates attended services on Wednesday and Thursday, and decided to wrestle as scheduled Saturday.
Kowalczuk was part of USA Wrestling’s training program at Northern Michigan University, where many of the wrestlers looked up to Curby. Curby overcame epilepsy and a bout with cancer in high school. Kerry Regner, a wrestler in the 145.5-pound weight class, said he didn’t think many of Curby’s teammates even knew until this past week he suffered from epilepsy, because Curby would never talk about it.
“You never knew how much he had to go through, because he never complained,” Regner said.
Curby wouldn’t let others make excuses either. Kowalczuk said Curby wasn’t the type to berate a teammate publicly. But Kowalczuk said he wasn’t scared to send a message, often discreetly taking a teammate into his room for a straightforward conversation.
“He was really positive all the time, telling me I could do things like national titles, even before I believed it myself,” said Kowalczuk, who won championships at the 2009 University Nationals champion and 2008 FILA Junior Nationals. “He ingrained that in me. There was no reason for him to take me under his wing, but he did.”
National coach Steve Fraser said Curby’s death “devastated” the USA Wrestling community. The wrestlers did their best to honor Curby on the mat Saturday in matches against teams from Bulgaria, China, Japan and Uzbekistan.
A moment of silence was held during the event on Saturday. This week USA Wrestling established the annual Jacob Curby Memorial Award, to be given to one Greco-Roman wrestler at Northern Michigan and another at the training center here who displays strong personal character and commitment.
To USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender, the award is perfectly named because of Curby’s dedication to wrestling and the example he set.
“Our sport is better because of Jake Curby,” Bender said.
