(Oakland) Jimmy Rodgers, of Riverside, is heading into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Wrestling Hall of Fame. The 1997 Riverside graduate is among five wrestlers in the Class of 2019 that will be honored at the state tournament on February 16th.
The three time individual state champion helped guide Riverside to the 1996 state championship. He admits it was a special thing going on in the Bulldog wrestling room in those days. “We ended up having a dynasty out there. A lot of kids that came together through other sports and we fed off each other. Coach Mitch Anderson did something that was phenomenal with us. That was to give us a good backbone of what pride and a wrestling team and what a tight knit group should be about. What we had going on in that wrestling room was something that I have never felt in my whole entire life at any level and I wrestled in college as well, but what was going on in our high school wrestling room was pretty extraordinary.”
When it comes to teammates that pushed Rodgers in those high school practices he says he could go on all day. “Mr. Kyle Canoyer, one of my best friends and still a good friend to this day, he was a two time state champ. He was amazing. Jake Havick. Jake Havick pushed me in the room because he was so lightning quick. He was an amazing football star for Oakland Riverside and kept me on the defense with his low ankle shots. Steve Swope, you talk about a guy that was story. I don’t know if he was even varsity as a junior. His senior year might have been his only varsity year where he won a state title. That’s how tough our room was.”
Rodgers also mentioned the likes of Daniel Klindt, Chad Clark, Robert Swope, and the list goes on. He says Jeff Evans and Nathan Calhoon were training partners that made a difference along with Jacob Gardner, Luke Houser, Billy Drake, and Shane Konfrst.
He thanks the cheerleaders who made it very special after weigh ins with food and Gatorade.His mom gets the biggest shoutout for working three jobs at times as a single mother and still getting him to wrestling tournaments on the weekends. Rodgers notes his brother was always in his corner as a youth and his sister deserves credit for her work as the Riverside wrestling manager with an amazing understanding of the sport.
After a 6th place state finish as a freshmen, Rodgers finished atop the podium at state in his final three years. Along the way he avenged some prior losses which is something he takes great pride in. Rodgers recalls his 135 pound title as a junior with a chuckle. He led by one in the final seconds, but decided to turn his opponent loose. Rodgers says he just had a bad feeling that if the match went to overtime it wouldn’t have ended well.
Rodgers, who resides in Omaha, is still heavily involved in wrestling to this day with his Warrior Wrestling Family. He boasts of multiple future superstars in his program and is excited to develop them the way his coaches helped him. “You need the people in your life like the people I had with Keith Massey, Mitch Anderson, Donnie Jones, and Forrest Dalton. You need those people to help you realize what you can really accomplish and do it the right way with the right mentality and heart.”
Rodgers admits he’s never been back to the Iowa High School State Tournament since it moved to Wells Fargo Arena, but is looking forward to going back and celebrating the accomplishment with his family along with current athletes from his wrestling program, and others that helped him get where he did.
