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 Jan.
15, 2008: The Salt Lake Tribune
Prep Wrestling: Grappling With
Tradition
by Chhun Sun
MIDWAY - In the home they built with their
own hands, members of the Smith family have medals,
ribbons and trophies lying everywhere.
Everywhere.
Some hang around the knobs of cabinet
doors like keys. The others are on display in a glass
table in the living room.
Those awards are some of the first things
a visitor sees. But the Smiths don't like to brag about
them.
That wouldn't be the Smith way. Just ask
senior Ethan Smith - who's currently the face of the
family since he's one of five Wasatch wrestlers who will
entertain the crowd at today's All-Star Dual in Orem - or
anyone else in one of the better-known wrestling families
in Utah.
"I'm going to do it again. Why would I
dance now?" said Jordan, a 21-year-old who was a one-time
state champion at Wasatch, in quoting Barry Sanders. "I'm
going to do it again."
So if not for the awards and state
championships, why do the Smiths wrestle?
It's simple, really.
"You never stop, you never quit," Ethan
said. "That's something you can't do. No one had to tell
me. I pretty much knew it was a family thing."
That explains why Corbin, 8, is already
wrestling.
So far, the Smith lineage has won 11 state
championships, with grandpa and coaching legend Jim Porter
bringing home the family's first state title in the
1951-52
season. But wrestling doesn't stop at the high school
level for the Smiths, as Casey, 19, is wrestling at West
Point.
At the same time, Erica - a 15-year-old
cheerleader and family statistician - can't help but feel
left out. She grew up watching her brothers (with parents
Lezlie and Chris and sister Madison, 11) grapple in meets
all over the country. But Erica knows how important
wrestling is to the family, and that the recognition isn't
as important as keeping the tradition alive.
"I don't think they care about the medals
they get," Erica said. "I think they care about the
respect wrestling brings to the family. It's not about the
piece of tin they get."
And that's one reason why relatives who
choose not to wrestle get teased.
"It wasn't a certain event that told me,
'OK, I have to wrestle.' It's just something you do
growing up," Jordan said. "It's like eating an orange. You
don't know any other taste because you grew up with the
orange taste in your mouth. It's like that with wrestling.
"You just knew it was part of the family
tradition."
Therefore, the medals continue to pile up
in the Smith home.
Today at 7 p.m. McKay Events Center in
Orem
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