The Wedo Mosquito

Kevin Wedo was two grades ahead of me in high school. He was in my older sister's class.

He was around 5'4" I believe. He wrestled in the lower weights like I did. He wrestled at 98 lbs. during his first three seasons and at 105 lbs. during his senior season. He had small wrists and ankles but had a pretty good build. Grabbing his ankle was like grabbing a pencil but he was extremely powerful.

His favorite takedown was a double leg. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing him do anything but double legs in competition. If you wrestled Kevin, you knew what to expect. And, yet Kevin would do it anyway and get away with it. Perhaps that's the mark of a great wrestler. He can use the same moves in every match and still cannot be stopped.

Kevin didn't seem to care much for riding. If someone did a stand up, Kevin didn't work too hard at trying to bring the guy back to the mat. He'd just let them go and give up an escape point. Then he would take the guy down again.

Kevin's girlfriend was a wrestling cheerleader I believe. So, she would always ride the bus with us wrestlers. Kevin and she would relax on the mat at a tournament waiting for it to get started. He always wrestled well so I guess his girlfriend wasn't a distraction.

When I was a freshman the upperclassmen always wanted us to flush the toilets so the showers would be warmer. We just ignored them for the most part. One night after practice, Kevin ran back and forth between the bathroom and the showers flushing the toilets as he went. I think he just wanted to have some fun. Everyone was cracking up laughing.

Kevin had a pair of drum sticks that he kept in his locker. Sometimes before a home wrestling meet he would take out the drum sticks and pound out a drum solo. He would turn over a plastic pale to use as his main drum. And, the nearby lockers became his cymbals. He would start out slow and then soon his arms would be flailing like mad. We would laugh like crazy. I don't think I've ever seen such an interesting pre match ritual.

I had a history teacher named Mr. O'Hara who was a big fan of wrestling. He was our announcer at home meets I believe. He liked to refer to Kevin Wedo as The Wedo Mosquito. He had a plan for how he would like to introduce Kevin some night. "And now, wrestling for Postville High, wearing the black singlet with the red trim, weighing in at 105 pounds, The Wedo Mosquito!" he would recite. I think he did actually do it one night when Kevin was a senior.

Kevin used to whip my butt every time we wrestled. He would beat on me and dominate. Sometimes the coach would tell him to let me score once in a while. But, Kevin never took it easy on me. But, that's good. No athlete ever wants someone to take it easy on them. I never took Kevin down even once in practice. I'm ready for a rematch Kevin.

In the weight room he was powerful too. He could always lift more than me and I aspired to be that strong one day.

He was seldom beaten and opponents were pretty overjoyed when they actually beat Kevin Wedo.

Kevin qualified for the state tournament his junior year after sitting out most of the season because of a broken collar bone.

Kevin placed 3rd in the state tournament at 105 lbs. his senior year.

Kevin was an inspiration and I looked up to him. Kevin Wedo--King of the double leg takedown. He was really something. And, I still want that rematch.