Archive: Opinions

Most people know the Star is not great at local sports coverage.  We don't have enough staff to cover all the games and still get municipal news, and I am personally sports-impaired, which means that even when I can cover local athletics it's not really very informed coverage.  But even a sports idiot like me can appreciate the amazing triumph Kyle Dake has achieved.

Dake, a Cornell student, is the third wrestler to win four NCAA titles, and the first to do so at four different weights.  He won the 2010 NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championship at 141 pounds on March 20, 2010.  On March 23rd of this year he won his fourth title in the 165 weight class.  As a Lansing High School student in 2007 he became the first Lansing wrestler to win the state championship, and then went on to win it again.  Dake is the Hodge Award recipient for this year.  The Hodge award is awarded to the most outstanding college wrestler each year, chosen by a vote of past Hodge Award winners.

Lansing people I talk to are thrilled by Dake's wins. Here is a native son who has worked hard to be the best at what he does and earned his way into national recognition. Things like that don't happen in a vacuum, and the community should be this proud of his achievements.  Lansing is all about family and community, and it can be argued that contributes to Kyle's success, and the success of all Lansing people who excel in their fields.

Kyle comes from an outstanding family with a wrestling history, and I think it speaks to a kind of closeness that some families dream of that he has followed in his dad's footsteps with his family's help and support.  His dad Doug was a state champion in Ohio in the 1980s as a Westlake High School wrestler, then became an All-American at Kent State.  He coached the Lansing High School team of which Kyle was a part.  His mother Jodi has been proudly supportive, attending key matches all over the country.  His brother Corey is also a wrestler who twice won the Section IV wrestling title.

You don't have to be a sports fan to get this.  There are so many Lansing kids whose successes may not reach this national stature who share the same nurturing support of their own families and the community at large.  Those successes are significant.  But when one of Lansing's own reaches this level of achievement the community can't help but be proud, and it should be.  This is a story of someone who is lucky in his community and very lucky in his family, and who has clearly not let the national attention go to his head, because he has kept focussed and worked harder than everyone else to be the best he can be.

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