Wyatt Hendrickson did what just about no one thought he could Saturday night and pulled off the win against Gable Stevenson in their heavyweight wrestling title match in Philadelphia.
In fact, Hendrickson’s win was quickly labeled as the greatest upset in NCAA wrestling history. And that alone would have made headlines and had folks talking about Hendrickson for a long time to come.
But the Oklahoma State star also created a buzz across the media world for his actions following the big win. Turns out, Hendrickson began his career at Air Force before transferring to Oklahoma State, and he is currently a second lieutenant in the Air Force as well. So, upon winning, Hendrickson turned, pointed to and then saluted President Donald Trump, who was in attendance in the Wells Fargo Center.
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Hendrickson then, draped in the American flag, made his way over to Trump, shook his hand and the two embraced. Trump reportedly told Hendrickson, “I’m very proud of you.”
Hendrickson told Fox he was part of the World Class Athlete Program, which allowed him to wrestle this year.
“From the very beginning I knew I wanted to make the military my career, which was obviously why I chose the Air Force Academy, I was looking at more than wrestling, I was looking at my career goals, life goals,” he said. “I could accomplish all those at the Air Force Academy, wrestle in the Big 12, get a world-class education, being part of something bigger than myself.
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“I’ll wrestler for three more and then I’ll do my — I plan on staying for 20,” he said. “Yes, I’m planning on making a career out of it. As soon as I’m doing wrestling, doing my required, but it will be about nine years. I plan on, if it’s not broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed.”