Olympic Medalist Inspires at East Windsor Wrestling Tournament

EAST WINDSOR, CT — When a sporting event is named in someone's honor, nine times out of 10 that honoree has passed away and the event becomes a memorial to that person. Quite the opposite is true in the case of wrestler Rodney Smith, who was in his late 20s when a college teammate decided to start a tournament in his name at East Windsor High School.

Two decades later, Smith and tournament founder Jim Olson were both on hand Saturday as 13 teams from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island took to the mat for a full day of competition in the annual Rodney Smith Classic.

"It's gone on so long, it's taken on its own tradition," said Smith, who won a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and captained the team at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. "I'm very humbled by this whole experience. Being a resident of the area and having a tournament in your honor is an amazing thing."

Olson, a 2007 inductee into the East Windsor Athletic Hall of Fame, said he and Smith became great friends while wrestling together at Western New England College (now University). His admiration for Smith's work ethic and eventual Olympic success prompted him to reach out to his former teammate in the late 1990s, when he started a tournament to raise funds for the Panther wrestling program.

"What Rodney did was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, upsetting a 10-time national champion to make it to the Olympics the first time around," Olson said. "My idea was to have the high school kids meet someone that was just like them, sitting in this gym - a dreamer. If you dream, set goals and work hard, you can do it. That's what Rodney was all about - he dreamed it and always trained hard with commitment and dedication."

A two-time Division III All-American at Western New England, Smith joined the Army after graduating in 1988, winning a military world championship in 1992. He spent 10 years in the Army, encompassing both of his Olympic appearances.

In 1999, Smith was a charter inductee into the Western New England Downes Athletic Hall of Fame. He has helped coach Team USA, and currently works at the Hampden Charter School of Science in Chicopee, Mass. His Hampden Charter team placed second in Saturday's meet.

Smith spent a considerable amount of time Saturday signing autographs and conversing with athletes from all schools. He said working with young wrestlers and seeing many talented athletes in the tournament named for him over the years has given him a wealth of satisfaction.

"We've had a lot of guys wrestle in the NCAA, and a couple kids have made Olympic teams," he said. "I've been overseas watching guys in tournaments or World Championships and seen a Rodney Smith Classic T-shirt on one of the competitors, which made me feel like I've had a global impact on the sport of wrestling."

2018 RODNEY SMITH CLASSIC

Team Results

1. Montville, 201.5
2. Hampden Charter (MA), 164.5
3. Notre Dame-West Haven, 138
4. Suffield, 131.5
5. Northwestern Regional, 131
6. South Windsor, 110.5
7. Holyoke (MA), 88
8. Brookfield, 76
9. Minnechaug (MA), 70
10. East Providence (RI), 47
11. Terryville, 41
12. Windsor Locks, 39.5
13. East Windsor, 25

Individual Winners

• 106 - Jacob Ice, Minnechaug
• 113 - Hunter Sanden, Northwestern Regional
• 120 - Cayleb Leclerc, Terryville
• 126 - Dylan Washburn, Suffield
• 132 - Noah Caskey, Montville
• 138 - Khalil Kasimov, Hampden Charter
• 145 - Hunter Adams, Suffield
• 152 - Sam Kury, Montville
• 160 - Miguel Gonzalez, Windsor Locks
• 170 - Cooper Nodden, South Windsor
• 182 - Ethan Jacobson, Minnechaug
• 195 - Nolan Keane, Holyoke
• 220 - Romelo Medina, Hampden Charter
• 285 - Ahkmet Azizov, Hampden Charter

Local Competitors - 2nd place

• 126 - Mitchell Pardi, South Windsor
• 132 - Dan Sullivan, South Windsor
• 152 - John Nieroda, Suffield

Local Competitors - 3rd place

• 132 - Matthew Raine, Suffield
• 138 - Billy Oulundsen, South Windsor
• 152 - Hunter Nodden, South Windsor

Photo credits: Tim Jensen