Tony Jameson aims to win fourth state mat title in row

The Fitch senior and Ohio State recruit is seeking to become one of the few four-time state champs.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

The career of Fitch High’s Tony Jameson has been pretty spectacular so far — three Division I state titles, four Hephner championships and four EOWL crowns.

The senior has been nearly unstoppable, losing just five matches in four years. All of those have come against opponents who have placed at state at least once, including two who were champions.

Friday, Jameson will begin the process of becoming one of the few wrestlers to win four state titles.

He’s been the dominant force in his weight class — 103 as a freshman, 119 as a sophomore, 135 as a junior and 145 this year.

How good he could be if he wrestled someone outside his weight class. Could he still win so handily?

Curious to know — and having no shame — I wanted to find out for myself. So I challenged the state’s best wrestler to a match.

“I’m going to come out to practice to interview you for a feature story,” I told Jameson. “And I’ll wear my sweats and we’ll go a period or two on the mat. Remember, I got 15 pounds on you.”

All he could do was shake his head and smile before replying: “You’re crazy, but I like it.”

So after three weeks of strict training — including pizza and Mountain Dew — I was ready to take on the champ. I showed up at Fitch on a Wednesday, right after the team’s hardest practice of the week. My stipulation was simple: Don’t hurt me.

The good news is that I suffered no broken bones. Instead of taking him on, I did what many of Jameson’s opponents probably considered doing — I forfeited. While it would have been interesting to see what I could do against the champ, I think I made a good decision.

Instead, we sat down to talk about wrestling, home life, sports in general and Jameson’s future. For about an hour, the Ohio State recruit spoke candidly. The following is Tony Jameson in his own words:

Q. Why did you choose wrestling?

A. I didn’t choose wrestling — it chose me. I was about 4 and my dad, uncle and his sons were driving around after going out to eat. My dad saw this sign for Biddy wrestling, so he pulled into the parking lot. We went in and saw all these wrestlers practicing. I was a 4-year-old boy and liked to wrestle around. I did pretty well and picked things up through youth wrestling and just kept going. But who knows, if my dad never saw that sign, maybe I never would have gotten started.

Q. What’s the hardest thing about wrestling?

A. Training is the hardest thing. Training your body. Training your eating habits. Training your muscles. In football, you get breaks. In basketball, you get breaks. But in wrestling, you don’t get breaks. You can’t take breaks and then blame someone else. I love it. Practice is hard, but I have to push myself every day because I can’t have any easy days.

Q. Describe your wrestling career so far in a few sentences?

A. It’s been personally rewarding; rewarding for other people, too, but for me, personally rewarding. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything harder in my life than wrestling. I know there will be hard things in my life, but this is one of the hardest. And it’s been so rewarding because when I win, I win. It’s not we win, or they win, it’s I win. If I put the effort into it, I want the personal benefit.

Q. What’s been your favorite tournament?

A. State tournament my freshman year, no doubt. It’s because no one in that arena knew I was going to win it, but me. My family and friends supported me and thought I could win, but I knew I would win. And the crowd there was amazing. I was just on such a high after winning that first title.

Q. Favorite food you have to give up during the season?

A. I’m a cereal hound; I’ll eat three or four bowls if no one stops me. My freshman year, my dad used to drink all the milk at night so that in the morning I couldn’t eat cereal. I think that hurt me mentally. But I still try to eat some sugary cereal when I can.

Q. Why did you pick Ohio State?

A. They picked me. It’s like having a dream and no matter how many sprints you run, you can’t attain it. I mean even if I beat everyone, but if they don’t pick me, then I can’t go. I’m excited because I’ll be able to be a part of The Ohio State University. I feel like I’m not leaving, I’m just going next door to another level next year.

Q. What’s in your iPod on match day?

A. Rap or hip hop music — anything with a beat to it. It kind of just depends on my mood. Anything that helps me get my muscles loose and prepare my body.

Q. What’s something about you people might be surprised to know?

A. I’m still a little kid. I have six brothers ranging from 5 to 16. If I go home and they’re playing action figures, then I’m right there on the floor playing, too. I’ve grown up a lot in the last couple years, but I’m still a kid. If they’re playing mud football, I’m playing mud football; if they’re throwing Cherrios, so am I.

It just helps me get away. I can come home after losing a match on Saturday and on Sunday morning, I’m playing Army men with my brothers and forget about that loss. I’m not the Tony Jameson that isn’t supposed to lose a match or the Tony Jameson that has to win state. I’m just Tony Jameson that’s playing Xbox with his brothers. That time away really helps me a lot.