Kirk Wallman had one of the best high school wrestling careers in South Dakota history. He won six state championships and held a career record of 201-0. The Wallman family is also one of the best overall wrestling families in the state with Kirk, his two brothers Troy and Cory, and dad Gary winning a combination of 18 state high school wrestling championships.
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Today's guest is a part of the first family of South Dakota High School wrestling. All totaled, 18 state individual titles. Now, include his dad on those titles as well. It's a feat which will never be done again. Gary Wallman was the first South Dakota High School wrestler to win four state titles. He was also an All American at Iowa State, and Gary had three boys, Troy, Kirk and Cory. Troy and Cory, like their father, they won four state wrestling titles, but it was Kirk who won six state wrestling titles for Freeman back in the 1980s, a career record 201 wins, no losses. And Kirk was the first to win six wrestling titles in the state until Logan Storley did it from 2006 to 2011. Kirk joins us today on In Play from Sioux Falls. Kirk, it's been 33 years since that last title. When you think about it and what you did, what's one thing you think about today?
Oh, that was many moons ago. Well, what I think about probably most is just the atmosphere that we had as not only as a team, but as an individual there myself. My father was an amazing man. He made the sport of wrestling fun, not only just for me. I bet there's a lot of people that wrestled for him that would consider him almost a father figure to them, so I think that's what I think of most. What I miss most is being with him on a daily basis.
You started wrestling when you were five, so what influence did your dad have on you in wrestling even before you got to elementary school?
Well, I don't know if it was necessarily as a much of an influence as a requirement. He put us in singlets, put us in shoes and threw us on the mat and shoot, I remember wrestling my brother, Troy. My brother, Troy, is actually a year older than I am. We actually grew up as twins because our birthdays are on the same exact day, July 11th, but yet he's a year older than I, so we've always in our entire life had our birthdays on the same day so we grew up as twins and I remember wrestling him my first time, I was four years old in a tournament in Sisseton, South Dakota, and he beat the snot out of me, but he was a year older than me.
And Cory is what, about six years behind you, then? Five years?
Yep.
Once you got to the varsity level though, wrestling, I mean, you started as a seventh grader, you're on the varsity. I mean, did the influence change from your dad? How did that change once you were really competing on the varsity level for Freeman?
Well, I think just the intensity as far as work ethic may have changed a little bit. I don't think we did anything special compared to other competitors out there. I just think that we worked a little bit harder and with that hard work, came results.
Did you play football at all?
Of course. That was probably my favorite sport.
Oh, it was? What position did you play?
I was halfback and linebacker. Lot of fun, lot of great football memories.
Oh, you missed out on all those championships for Freeman. They came after you were there.
Yeah, I know. I know. They had some awfully good teams. After I had left. We were good too. We just couldn't make it to the final game. We always got beat out in the playoffs.
Who got in the way?
We got beat by the Summit one year, they won it, we got beat by Tripp-Delmont one year, they won it. It seemed like we were always getting beat by the teams that won.
I am thinking you and Troy early on, wrestling in the house, lamps getting knocked over, breaking things in the house, dad yelling at you to calm down. Were you and Troy always wrestling in the house early on?
We had a mat in our basement, so not necessarily wrestling in the house, wrestling in the basement at night. That was our part of our family time, so yeah.
Did Troy make you better?
Obviously, he did. When we were young, he's the person that I looked up to. He was a year older than I so he used to beat the snot out of me on a daily basis. He was special when we were really little.
Did that change, though? The older you guys got?
Well, once we got to high school, I was just a couple weights above him. I was just a little bit bigger than him.
Yeah. What was the training like? Let's start as a seventh grader. What kind of training were you going through? Because I'm sure you had the deer in the headlight look. Seventh grader, you're on the varsity, you're with all these upper graders. What was it like and what kind of training were you at that young age?
Well, it really wasn't deer in the headlights for me, because my dad was coaching still the high school program there. As he probably started coaching there when I was probably in fourth grade, so I was in the wrestling room from way before my seventh grade year all the way up, so as far as any sort of deer in the headlights, there wasn't anything like that involved with me because I'd already been in the wrestling room for two, three years prior to that.
What was your attitude as a wrestler as a seventh grader, on the mat?
My main attitude was probably just to try to get the match over as quick as possible.
Was there fear?
No fear. Nope, no fear. I really was never nervous or anything like that. I just knew that I put in the time, put in the effort more so than my opponent, and I really never got nervous or any sort of anxiety before a match or anything like that. I just knew I put in the time to deserve the win.
State finals were in Watertown that year. 98 pound division. You take on Brad Henrick of Arlington. What do you remember by match?
He's a great friend now. I love the guy. Well, at that time, I probably never wrestled in front of a crowd that big. It was loud, crazy. Of course, we went into overtime. It's kind of weird. I went into over ... Overtime's a little bit different now that it was back and back in my day. Back in my day, we went three additional periods, one minute a piece versus now they do a little bit different, but kind of ironic that I won my first state title and my last state title, both in overtime matches, both with the score of five to zero in overtime, and weird.
Eighth grade, 1985. You haven't lost a match. You're in the finals, it's in Sioux Falls and you're wrestling Craig Brooks of Phillip. Had you faced Craig during the season?
I hadn't, no. I was the first time I wrestled him. Phillip has always had good program, so anytime you're wrestling anybody West River, they all have cowboy strength. So they're just tough. They're just tough, tough kids out there.
We go to ninth grade, 1986. You still haven't lost a match. You're now wrestling at the 126. The finals were in Huron, and it's you and Steve Hoffman of Stanley County. Was it a tough match?
Yes. I caught him. I caught him early. He shot in, I did a little cross face headlock. That was a pretty quick my match. If I recall, that was a relatively quick pin, but he was tough. I just caught him in a quick throw and ended the match relatively quickly.
So you haven't lost a match, seventh grade, you're a 98 pound division. You're a 126, so almost a 30 pound difference. How were you able to take care of adding that weight and moving to a new division during your high school career?
Well, we lifted a lot of weights in high school. It's something that we did as a team and tried to do it every morning at the beginning of the season, throughout the season, and once we got later in the season and turned those weight room time into a lot of roadwork.
You talked about you and Troy, very close in weight. Troy, by the way, was 138 and two in his career in four state titles. I'm assuming you talked a little bit about which weight who was going to go where, weren't you? And Troy was a year older, what kind of discussions did you have?
We really, we didn't have to discuss anything. He was a year older than I but yet, he was typically about two to three weights below me, so we really didn't have to discuss any sort of being stuck wrestling each other because I was just 20 to 30 pounds heavier than him. So didn't really have to worry about that at all.
How about Cory? Cory comes along again, he's what, five or six years behind you. You're almost getting to be a sophomore in high school. What about Cory's development? Because after you had graduated, he comes and wins four state title in a row, but I'm assuming Cory was also there in the wrestling room at an early age.
He absolutely was, but when I was a senior, he was still in sixth grade, so he hadn't hit the varsity mat yet until I was already gone. So once I got out of high school, then he started up so dad had to start all over again developing him. My father didn't get a break at all.
Sophomore year, 1987. You still haven't lost a match in high school. The finals were in Watertown and you take on Steve Stone of Wagner. Was there pressure building knowing that he hadn't lost a match yet in your career at that time?
I don't think I really heard the people talk about it until later in my career. Maybe I'm starting my junior year and obviously a lot my senior year, so at that time, I know I didn't really feel any sort of pressure regarding that at all.
What kind of match did Steve Stone of Wagner give you for the championship?
That one's tough to remember. We wrestled Wagner so many times because obviously, Wagner's relatively close to Freeman. We would see Wagner five, six times throughout the year. I wrestled so many kids from Wagner, hard to remember that match.
Junior year, 1988, still haven't lost a match. The finals were in Watertown again and it's Craig Heien of Sully Buttes. What do you remember about that junior season, that championship match?
He was a man. That guy was a man, very strong individual. That was one of my tougher matches probably that I ever in high school. I believe he just had a lot of power and very good wrestler.
Is there a match that you almost lost in the last seconds, but were able to hold on? Were there a few of those matches during your career?
Not really. I had a couple close matches throughout my high school career. A lot of the times throughout high school, sometimes, you're forced to compete when you're not feeling the best, when you're sick and when you're ill. I remember one state tournament which was at Huron, I was sick during that state tournament.
That may have been your freshman year. Your freshman year?
That sounds probably about right. Yeah. I was sick during that state tournament, so I had some tough matches like in the quarters, in the semis, because I was not feeling the best, but we still prevailed.
Did you have to cut weight a lot or did you work it out where you were able to eat like someone normal? We know wrestlers, what great devotion they have to their weight.
We didn't really cut a lot of weight. You have to cut a little weight to be competitive. We didn't cut a lot of weight. My father kind of had the philosophy, he worked the weight off so he put in some road work and things like that.
What were your summers like between seventh grade and your senior season?
My summers were fun. I played baseball and walked a lot of beams, picked a lot of rocks. All my high school buddies were all farm kids so hung out on their farms and did a lot of chores.
You were able to watch your brother, Troy, win four state titles while you were on the varsity. He normally wrestled in matches, I think, right before you, right before you were getting ready to wrestle. Were you able to enjoy watching him right before you hit the mat?
Oh yeah. Typically, there is a couple in between matches so yeah, I got to enjoy everything that he did. Absolutely.
1989, senior season. You still haven't lost a match. The state finals were in Sioux Falls. You hit career win number 200 in the semi-finals, so one final match and it's against Tri Valley's Chad Lamer, who would go on to win back to back titles in 1990 and '91, but you had him for your final match, your last high school match, your 200 and zero against Lamer. What were you feeling before that championship match?
Well, I felt like half the town of Freeman was there, which was pretty awesome. Yep. It was a big crowd. I believe we had the As and the Bs together, so there was a mix in the crowd of both. Typically, they didn't do it, As and Bs together back in my day, so that was kind of a special year to have both classes, so they had two final matches going on at the same time.
Chad was not an easy wrestler for you.
No, he wasn't. I had wrestled Chad earlier in the year, actually, at the Freeman Tournament and I had wrestled Chad in the finals at the Freeman Tournament earlier in the year. I believe that match was eight, zero and definitely tough. A different Chad showed up in the final throw that year at the state tournament.
Was there a sense of relief after finishing your high school career undefeated?
Yep, absolutely. Yeah. I believe I can probably honestly say once I went undefeated in my seventh grade year, that became the goal to go to a whole high school career undefeated. Obviously, that would become the goal and that's what we were able to achieve. That's what happened.
Did someone have to psych you up before every match or were you able to do it on your own?
No. No one had to psych me up. It just became natural. Once it's ingrained in you, you learn it from a young age and it's not hard to get psyched up for a match.
Your dad wrestled at Iowa State, but you chose Minnesota for a year before he transferred to Iowa State. What happened in college?
Well, I didn't really enjoy wrestling in college, to be honest with you. My first year of college, I obviously went to Minnesota. Went from a small town of 1400 people to a huge city of Minneapolis and didn't like living in Minneapolis. It was too big. Didn't like the big city life, and then after my first year, obviously, I red shirted there my first year of college in Minnesota. And then I decided to transfer to Iowa State and they didn't release me. A little bit different than it is now where everybody enters the transfer portal.
That didn't exist back in those days, so they did not release me so I lost another year of eligibility because I transferred to Iowa State, so I didn't even get to wrestle my first two years of college. And then my third year of college came around, still at Iowa State. I wasn't around my father. I was around my father while involved in wrestling since I was four year years old and it didn't seem the same to me. I didn't enjoy it as much. I didn't take it as serious, didn't enjoy it as much. Wasn't fun for me.
Getting that burned out feeling?
Yes, exactly. That's exactly what happened.
You had no problem hanging up the singlet?
No problem at all. But then I came home to South Dakota, came back and got married to my wife, Shelly, and had a couple boys and when my boys were little, I'd say they were three years old, five years old, maybe. Well, I decided to try out for the Greco-Roman team, so I got a sponsorship to do it full time and did have to work. Got a full-time sponsor, Dr. Duane Pankratz sponsored me. He owns Rushmore Borglum Story in Keystone, South Dakota. He was my sponsor. He took care of all the bills and me and my dad got to train for a full year to try to make the Greco-Roman team, and that was probably the most enjoyable time I had in my lifetime in wrestling, that one year. It was just me and him every day, and we did it for a full year. That was a lot of fun.
What made you decide to retire from the sport?
I got injured when I was at an Olympic qualifying tournament down in Oklahoma and well, Greco was obviously, it's all upper body and so it's a little different type of style of wrestling, and I was throwing this kid and I tore all the cartilage in my right rib cage. It was probably the worst injury I had in my lifetime, and once that happened, I knew my wrestling career was over so I was forced to.
It was a big sign, big sign. Wrestling is a very competitive sport. I know wrestlers are always competitive. Now, I'm not talking wrestling here on this question, Kirk, but are you still competitive today? Do you have to beat your kids at board games or in intramural sports? Things like that?
I believe I am very, very competitive. I believe I would go crazy if I didn't have some sort of competition. I don't watch wrestling. I don't really follow it anymore because I believe I still have the competitive juices in me and I have to do what I'm interested in now, as far as feeding that competitiveness. Kind of weird, but I've taken it to the golf course. That's where I get all my competitive juices out.
I believe high school wrestling in South Dakota has been really, really good for a long, long time. I think we've had so many great wrestlers go on to do great things. Huge college careers to mixed martial arts, to coaching in the college ranks. Logan Storley who won six in a row, he's doing the mixed martial arts thing. Could you have done that if you had MMA back then?
Yeah, that would've been a lot of fun. I used to work out with Kevin Jackson at Iowa State and after I had left Iowa State, a couple years later, he was probably the third or fourth champion ever at UFC, so UFC had really not even come into existence yet by the time I was done. So yeah, that would've been fun.
And it's year two for girls' sanction wrestling in South Dakota. You surprised where the girls are coming now in high school wrestling in the state?
Well, it's been around a while, so it's good that we finally got it here. Yes.
Yeah, but you don't follow high school wrestling too much today?
Not really. I might look at some results here and there, check who's won the state tournament, things like that but as far as really following it, no, not really.
What do you do today?
I'm a finance director at Frankman Motor Company. Been there for a little over 20 years and really enjoy that, so I arrange loans for people that are looking to purchase vehicles, things like that. I've been doing that a long time.
Your two boys, are they going to wrestle or have decided to do something else?
No. Neither one of them wrestle. They play a lot of baseball, so they're both in their early twenties, so they're both on the work porch right now too, so yeah.
But they didn't wrestle, then?
Neither one of them. No.
Are you surprised that they didn't wrestle like their dad?
No. I'm not surprised they didn't. It's a tough sport.
What's the biggest thing the sport of wrestling has brought to you, Kirk?
I think wrestling's a really family orientated sport. It brings, you're with your teammates, you're rolling around on the mat together. It's a family sport. It brings people together. That's what wrestling does the most, I believe.
Real quick, Cory, your brother, he's involved with wrestling still, right? Is he in the recruiting business yet? What's up with Cory?
Yeah, he works for a recruiting company, so he works with a company that helps kids get recruited to college. All sports.
All sports, not just wrestling?
That's correct. Yeah.
How about Troy? What's Troy doing?
Troy works for an insurance company. Sells a lot of life insurance and things like that.
So when the family gets together, does dad still see Kirk using the single leg on his brother in the living room? Still got that mat in the basement? Still have it?
We don't do a lot of hugs in our family. It's more of a put the guy in an under hook. That's our hug in our family, so a little bit different.
And tell me about Gary, your dad, Smokey Wallman. Boy, I tell you what, between Gary and you boys, 18 in individual state championships. What is Gary doing?
My dad runs a little animal health vaccine company out of the basement of his house, so he deals a lot with the colonies and hog bosses at colonies and whatnot, selling them animal health vaccines, so he's been doing that for a time. He did that in Freeman, and now he's got his own medical website business doing the same.
What is the one piece of paraphernalia from your high school career that you still have? Do you have all six of your medals yet? Where are they?
I have no clue where they're at. They're probably at mom and dad's house. I don't have anything in my possession.
