Wrestler reaches brink of Olympics

By Ken Stephens

June 20, 2000 Web posted at: 1:40 PM EDT (1740 GMT)

DALLAS, Texas (The Dallas Morning News) -- Sammie Henson has dreamed of the Olympics since he was 8. That's when he and his older brothers began wrestling.

"I did whatever they did," Henson said. ". . . I was the youngest, and, of course, I got beat on."

Henson survived the family wars in the St. Louis area and now, 20 years later, stands one step from a trip to the Olympics in Sydney.

As the winner of the 119-pound freestyle division at U.S. Nationals, Henson has a bye into the championship best-of-three series on the last day of the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials on Saturday at Reunion Arena.

But Henson's path to this point has been a winding one.

In 1996, Henson didn't make it to the Trials. He injured a knee in a training bout with his coach. Unable to compete at nationals, he tried to earn a berth in the Trials by wrestling in a regional competition five days later. Still injured and needing surgery, he lost to his longtime nemesis, Zeke Jones.

Jones retired after the 1997 season, and Henson immediately ascended to the top of his class. In 1998, he won the world championship in Iran.

It was only the second time that an American team in any sport had ventured into Iran since the Islamic revolution. Henson's wife didn't want him to go. Henson himself was nervous, unsure what kind of reception the American team would receive.

But they were greeted enthusiastically at the airport. And when he defeated Olympic silver medalist Namik Abdullayev of Azerbaijan for the title, Iranian wrestling fans showered him with flowers and chants of "USA, USA."

"Every adversity I ever went through flashed in my mind in a minisecond," said Henson. "I did it. I did it. And for one moment, it was like freedom, peace."

Henson grew up in a family of 10 children, which meant money was tight. Wrestling gave him a chance to go to college. And it gave him a second chance when he was no longer welcome on the team at the University of Missouri.

"I got into trouble. I was with the wrong group," he said. "I got caught up in some stuff. It was receiving stolen property. It was in my apartment. I knew about it. I was drinking and partying. I was a young kid. Every one of us here, we'd be lying if we said when we were young, we didn't do stupid things.

"I'm a man now, and if somebody comes in my house or something's going on, I tell them to get the heck out."

Henson cleaned up his act, transferred to Clemson and won back-to- back NCAA championships there. After college, he was a wrestling gypsy, spending time back at Missouri completing his degree and at Northern Iowa before settling in Norman, Okla., where he is coached by Joe Seay.

Over the years, Henson has had many top-three finishes in international competition. But the '98 World Championship is his only major international victory.

After the win in Tehran, Henson slipped to No. 4 in the United States after injuring his leg before the 1999 nationals. But he has climbed back to No. 1 by wrestling in numerous tournaments and by winning the 2000 nationals, in which he defeated Eric Akin, who had beaten him in the World Team Trials challenge tournament a year earlier.

Still, Henson feels the need to prove that the '98 world title was not a fluke. Doing things people say he can't do has always been a powerful motivation for Henson.

"I've had critics," Henson said. "But I love critics. I use them to my advantage. I laugh at them because no one knows my heart."

Winning a place on the Olympic team would be one step toward proving his critics wrong. But even that would not be enough.

"I want to be the Olympic champion," said Henson. ". . . Then I'll have peace that no one can ever take away from me."

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