Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland

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More About This Book

Overview

Somewhere beyond the circle of money, glitz, drugs and controversy that characterizes professional sports in America, there exists the remnants of the ideal. In Iowa, that ideal survives in the form of high school wrestling, a way of transforming the local virtues--modesty, privation, hard work--into sporting glory. To be a wrestling champion in Iowa is to achieve greatness--individual glory where the only back to pat is your own.

For Jay Borschel and Dan LeClere, though, the stakes have been raised. Already three-time state champions in differing weight classes, each boy has a chance in his senior year of high school to do something historic--to become a "four-timer," joining the most elite group in the sport and essentially ensuring his status as an Iowa wrestling deity. For Jay, a ferocious competitor who feeds off criticism and doubt, a victory would mean vindication over the great mass of skeptics waiting for him to fail. Dan, the kid from a farm near the tiny town of Coggon (population 710), carries other burdens. For his community, for the hard-driving coach who doubles as his father, and for his own triumph over his personal demons, another title is the only acceptable outcome.

Editorial Reviews

Richard Sandomir
In their own way, Mr. Kreidler’s portraits are as incisive as those in Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights, which offered a similar look into the world of Texas high-school football.
— The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Sportswriter Kreidler, a columnist for the Sacramento Bee, immerses himself in "the largest event of its kind in the United States," the Iowa State High School Wrestling Tournament, and the result is a deeply insightful look into how young athletes and their families prepare for and participate in a yearly, four-day event where "Fathers and sons, coaches and wrestlers locked in screaming matches are as commonplace as injury timeouts." But this is no expose: Kreidler paints a highly sympathetic portrait of the struggles of two smalltown seniors to become the 15th and 16th four-time state champions in Iowa's history. One is motivated by the doubts raised about his abilities by Iowa wrestling fans, while the other struggles with a family history of depression. In Kreidler's final stunning account of how both teens deal with the "recurring emotional whiplash" of the tournament itself, he more than proves his contention: "The really great ones, deep down, just don't give a damn" about doubts and struggles external to the sport itself. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
School Library Journal

Adult/High School - In most of the country, wrestling is a dying sport. However, in Iowa, thousands still turn out for the State Championships and the sport captures attention, particularly when a chance at greatness presents itself. In 2005, two young men had the opportunity to become only the 15th and 16th wrestlers to be four-time champions in the long history of the state tournament. Jay Borschel and Dan LeClere had known one another since childhood, and as seniors in high school faced similar pressures and roadblocks to establishing their legacies. Kreidler introduces readers to their world, if not their hearts and minds. Wrestling, a sport of deprivation that thrives on an ethos of pain, is a difficult form of athletic prowess to understand, and at times LeClere and Borschel are the embodiment of the difficulty of understanding the passion and commitment that it demands. They are enigmas. But the world of Iowa wrestling and the communities that embrace it are painted both in their glory and in the head-shaking dismay that the sport can induce. Teen wrestlers will appreciate a book that speaks to them and respectfully about them, and sports fans may find a new area to appreciate.-Mary Ann Harlan, Eureka High School, CA

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780060823191
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 1/1/2008
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 288
  • Sales rank: 168,527
  • Lexile: 1180L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 5.34 (w) x 10.60 (h) x 0.73 (d)

Meet the Author

Mark Kreidler is an award-winning journalist and author of the acclaimed Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland. A regular contributor to ESPN television, ESPN.com, and ESPN: The Magazine, he lives in northern California.

Read an Excerpt

Four Days to Glory

Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland
By Mark Kreidler

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2007 Mark Kreidler
All right reserved.

Chapter One

Locating the Enemy

Jay doesn't plan on his headgear ricocheting across the wrestling mat and spiking against one of his teammates' legs, but he won't be racing over to do anything about it, either. You can hear the slap of plastic on skin from across the gym when it makes contact, but since the teammate caught in the crossfire is both an underclassman and a varsity wrestler in the state of Iowa, he does not so much as throw Jay a look. The boy instead sits there in his chair alongside the mat, hunkered down, the hood of his sweat top pulled around his head to shadow his face. He does not move. There is, his posture suggests, no sting from the spiked headgear, no red mark on his leg from the point of contact. Nothing has happened. And Jay need not apologize for--well, for what is essentially nothing.

But Jay means it, of course--not the ricochet, but the rest of it. He wants his disgust fully visible to anyone inside the gym, which is why he yanks off the equipment and fires it downward in the first place. Let there be no question about his mood after another forfeit. He has sat with the rest of the Linn-Mar team on a yellow-and-black school bus for two solid hours while it shuddered and skidded along the icy rural roadways from Marion to Dubuque, and has done it because he desperately wants the moment that now eludes him.He wants to get out there and beat somebody to death. He wants to wrestle. He needs it. There's no sense in pretending anything else.

This quest is impossible without getting in his work, and that's the thing. Jay cannot become a four-time state champion unless he is in the best shape of his life when the time comes to go for it, and now, in January of 2005, that time is barely a month away and Jay cannot get a freaking match. Opponents run from him, even when they're on the mat. Coaches try to wrestle around him. They all know about Jay Borschel. They'd sooner forfeit the weight category than waste one of their decent wrestlers in a match they figure Jay will win easily. And so they run.

From his place in the bleachers above the gymnasium floor, Jay's father, Jim, sees the forfeit signal and suddenly has had all he can take. "Oh, come ON, coach!" he bellows over the heads of the other Linn-Mar parents and fans, his foghorn voice easily carrying the distance across to the Hempstead High coach, Chuck Hass. Hass never moves, never glances up; he keeps his gaze fixed upon the mat itself. He knows what he's doing.

Hass has just finished ducking Jay by moving away from him a good 171-pound wrestler, a boy named Dan Chmelar, who is ranked among the top ten in the state in Class 3A. But 171 is Jay Borschel's weight, or at least his current weight; in the past, Jay has won state titles at 103, 125 and 152 pounds. Jay already defeated Chmelar once this season, and it wasn't close. Sending Chmelar out there again would have been, for Hass, a points sacrifice straight down the line. The smart move was to skip Jay, concede the forfeit at 171, and save Chmelar for a better matchup, even though it would mean asking him to wrestle at a heavier weight.

And that's exactly what Hass has just done. As soon as Linn-Mar coach Doug Streicher made his move to send Jay to the mat, the avoidance plan went into effect. From the Hempstead side came no activity, no one rising from his chair or loosening up or pulling off his sweats. After checking in at the officials' table, Jay had walked out to center mat, popped from side to side on the balls of his toes and cranked his head from shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the opponent who was not coming. After a few seconds, Jay had seen that his pre-match suspicions were realized--that he would stand alone. After a few more seconds of inactivity from Hempstead, the referee had raised Jay's hand to signal the forfeit.

After the match, Chuck Hass says that as soon as he won the coin flip that forced Streicher to send out his wrestler first, he knew he wasn't going to be letting any of his kids face Jay. "Everybody knows Jay's the hammer," Hass says. "He's going to beat whoever you send out there--and we've got a good kid at that weight. I'd rather take my chances that Dan can get me points at 189 than just give them away against Jay.

"I know it frustrates Jay," the coach says. "We've got a kid at 119 pounds who goes through the same thing. In fact, I think Linn-Mar forfeited to him last year. It's just a part of the game."

And it is the right move for Hass's team. Chmelar shifts to 189 pounds, since wrestlers are allowed to move up in weight classes without penalty, and he wins a decision over the Linn-Mar wrestler there. Hempstead's usual 189-pounder, Justin Whitty, subsequently goes up to 215 pounds and wins a major decision. Those two victories are worth a combined 7 points for Hempstead, and the Mustangs ultimately win by 4, 31 to 27. Linn-Mar, meanwhile, gets the same number of points (6) at Jay's weight for the forfeit as it would have received for a pin, but is denied the emotional lift that comes with seeing Jay manhandle someone from the other team. The Lions get the forfeit, but not the blood.

And Jay? He gets no closer. No closer to the dream at all.

"That's awful!" Jim Borschel thunders, turning away from the mat in disgust. Jay's mother, Carol, who isn't apt to sit still under the best of circumstances, is unable to contain herself any longer; she pops up . . .

Continues...
Excerpted from Four Days to Glory by Mark Kreidler Copyright © 2007 by Mark Kreidler. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 22, 2010

    A great novel to read if you are interested in wrestling.

    I truly enjoyed reading Four Days to Glory. It is an enlightening source of entertainment and first hand knowledge on the subject. The book keeps your interest.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 9, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Brutality honest look at wrestling in Middle America

    The author takes an honest look at high school wrestling in the wrestling crazed stae of Iowa and how the personal goals of two high school grapplers attempt to become "four timers" winning four state titles in a row . The author gives a lot of insight into how the young men deal with family pressure , community backing, emotional baggage and depression. Overall, I found this book very enlighting and raw and real because I used to be a wrestler in both high school and college and now I am teaching the sport. This book is equal to Buzz Bissinger's Friday Night Lights!!!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 25, 2008

    One of the Greatest Sports Books Ever

    Every real athlete vying for greatness understands the agony of defeat, the pain of training and the few glorious moments of victory. Kreidler offers an in depth viewing of not only one, but two, of Iowa's high school wrestling gods, Dan LeClere and Jay Borschel, as they leave everything on the mat to win four consecutive state titles. Kreidler's point of view is comparable to Bissinger's Friday Night Lights and carries just as much drama. The book follows both athletes not only in their respective gyms and matches, but also into their family and personal lives. The stress and emotion roused by the sport because of its intensity in Iowa is exposed and the book shows the raw effects of the parental and societal pressure found surrounding the sport. The book follows the trials and tribulations of two very different young adults, both of whom merely share a passion and a talent for wrestling. Both are three time state champions in the beginning, yet are both vying for a fourth title. Winning four titles is considered legendary in Iowa high school wrestling. For one of the boys, Jay Borschel, the stakes are even higher as Jay, a motivated and driven young man, attempts to win a fourth title after moving up a weight class every year. That type of movement among the ranks stirs doubts among the people of the state, which only further fuels the fire within Jay. For the other young man, Dan, the fourth title is more what his father and his town wishes for, than for himself. Dan is Doug LeClere's hope for glory for the LeClere family after Dan's older brother quits the sport, a sacreligious act in the eyes of Doug LeClere. Dan hopes to use the final and definitive win as a gateway to bigger and better things in life. This book is a MUST READ for any current or former athlete who once dreamed of glory. Kreidler's portrayal of Dan and Jay's trek makes you laugh out loud, grit your teeth in frustration and yell in jubilation throughout the book. Kreidler's skill as an author is unquestionable as his writing lays down an understandable storyline of complex emotions and times in an intense sport in an even more intense atmosphere.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 5, 2008

    Must Read!

    If you haven't wrestled, you will find this book interesting because it is about kids growing up and parents and coaches watching it happen. If you have wrestled, don't make any other plans. It is impossible to put down. Mr. Kreidler's writing pulls you from page to page. This book is such an accurate portrayl of the trials and tribulations (and lack thereof) that wrestlers know so well.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 28, 2007

    A reviewer

    this is an amazing book especially if you have wrestled at some point in your life time. it really can hold your attention. i can honestly say this because i am not a big reader and have a hard time paying attention but this book really did it for me.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 30, 2011

    4 days to glory

    The author of "Four Days to Glory" writes of the struggle and endurance of Jay Borschel and Dan LeClere. Both are senior boys who live a rural life yet look to win their consecutive fourth win at state champions; a triumph only fourteen other Iowans had accomplished. Given the boys luck, nerves, injuries and adolescent bodies, this was a nearly impossible achievement. LeClere and Borschel embrace on a journey "right on through hell, an extended stay replete with wind sprints and projectile vomiting and blood and contortionist acts and stinging, salty sweat."
    The "four timers" are an elite group of high school wrestlers who win four consecutive state championships. There are many people who doubt Jay Borschel yet he feeds off of criticism and doubt. A fourth time victory would mean justification that his doubting peers will have been wrong. For Dan on the other hand, the dreams of his stern father and the burdens he carriers from his diminutive farming community, a win is only a necessary outcome.
    Many of the details from the novel are quite familiar to me as I have been wrestling since I was young. The way which the author, Mark Kreidler, creates clear images of the wrestling room, the mentality of the wrestlers and the matches they took part in all were vivid seemed natural to me. Both Jay and Dan have different mentalities to overcoming their triumphs compared to the rest of the team. They both appeared to have difficulty in finding quality sparring partner which I have found to be a challenge for myself. There were countless aspects in Kreidler's writings that I could relate to which made the novel even more inspiring and touching.
    For me, the most interesting part of the book was Jay's and Dan's family lives. Their lives outside of school completely affected their performance as wrestlers. I have never been able to relate to such characters so easily and can understand how their family life does take a toll on their wrestling. Yet, back on the matt the boys dealt with the issues wrestling brought upon their bodies such as a stunted growth due to weight loss and cauliflower ear. As I take wrestling to heart, I appreciated Kreidler's attention in his writing to the effects which wrestling can have on one's life. Cutting weight has always been a difficulty for me yet the mental and physical achievements from the sport push me to do so.
    However, Kreidler tended to have several of his facts wrong within the novel. This became an annoyance to me as I felt he did not do the research he should have in writing a wrestling book. For example, what was especially impressive from Dan's match in the championship was not that he won all of his matches, but that no one had scored against him. His careless mistakes became a distraction to me.
    Although Mark Kreidler made some mistakes within his writings, his novel was overall very relatable and kept me interested page after page. It was refreshing to find a book which I could compare my own sport life to and the effects it has on the wrestler. As I am extremely passionate about my wrestling, I found that Dan and Jay's journey on the way to a state championship became an inspiration to me.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 29, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 23, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 14, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

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