Wrestling prepares you for extreme situations

by Kyle Klingman Column from June 9, 2006 WIN magazine

After walking out of the theater at the conclusion of "United 93", a film about the men and women who overtook terrorists to save the U.S. Capitol building on September 11, 2001, questions about my own ability to respond entered my head.

Could I have done what they did? Would I be willing to sacrifice myself like Mark Bingham, Jeremy Glick (a former wrestler), Todd Beamer and Tom Burnett did? Would I have reacted in a similar fashion? I hoped the answer was yes.

"You never know what you'll do," said Ken Leuer, a retired major general who was an NCAA wrestling champion for Iowa in 1956. "It's like asking what you would have done in combat. Sometimes you can sit and say I would have done this, this and this but when you're in the actual situation, when you think about it the next day or after it's over, you don't even recall why you make the decisions you make. It isn't like sitting there and calculating a long geometry problem."

Unplanned combat is usually a reactionary process. But I also began thinking about which people I'd want with me if I was forced to make that tough decision. Who would I want on my side if I found myself in a pinch? Who are the individuals I would want with me in a fox hole?

I mentally made my own list of people I'd want next to me if I were aboard flight 93. My friend Jeff Law, my brother Kevin, either of the Brands twins, Dan Hodge (he'd be crushing more than apples) and Wayne Baughman were all logical choices.

Yet, it was a former wrestler who I've never met or seen before that may be No. 1 on my list. His name is Dean Lahr and he's quite possibly the toughest dude on the planet.

As far as wrestlers are concerned, Lahr was amongst the finest. Wrestling for Colorado Univ., he was a three-time finalist and a two-time NCAA champ; winning titles in 1963 and 1964 at 177 pounds. He also made two World teams, placing fourth in 1963 and fifth in 1966.

However, it was Dean Lahr's unexpected victory on February 10, 1987, that is far more impressive than any world or Olympic gold medal.

In late 1986, Dean Lahr was having some difficulties with his Honduran business associate. Because Lahr was in the wood industry and most of his business was located in Honduras, by law, he was required to have a local partner who had over 50 percent ownership. Lahr's partner was a working partner, meaning he owned 51 percent of the stock in the company but never invested any money in the business.

"We had some, shall we say, unfriendly discussions with this person late in the year," said Lahr. "Prior to that time we had some difficulties with him. He had asked the government auditors to come in and audit the statements, which they didn't find anything wrong. He was doing things that weren't completely rational. Why would he want the government to come in and audit our statements so that we'd have to pay taxes? It doesn't make too much sense. Nevertheless, he did several things like that and everything was okay. We didn't get stuck with any fines."

Unhappy with his financial situation in the business, Lahr's partner decided that eliminating half of the ownership would be the quickest and easiest way to take control of the company. On that February day nearly 20 years ago, the time had come to do just that.

Planning to visit some wood mills along the eastern part of the country, Lahr stayed in a local hotel on the night of February 9. He had communicated with his partner about the trip and told him exactly where he was going and what his plans were. The former wrestling champion had no idea what lied ahead.

Leaving at approximately 3:15 in the morning, Lahr began driving down a lonely road outside of town. Suddenly, a set of headlights were directly behind him. A car had sped up to catch him.

Lahr slowed to let them pass. They wouldn't pass. Lahr sped up to get away. They stayed with him. After slowing down for a second time, shots were fired at Lahr's vehicle.

"One of the shots went through the lower part of the door and hit me in the right foot," said Lahr. "It didn't break any bones or anything. It just penetrated between the skin and the flesh of the lower right foot just below the heel and exited underneath the metatarsal arch and mid-toe and lodged in my shoe.

"When that happened, I stopped the car and several other shots were fired, a couple of windows were shot out and I was lucky I wasn't hit any place else. I was driving a Toyota Starlet and, unbeknownst to me, they were driving my partner's Datsun station wagon. These two guys were hired killers. They both had guns and I didn't have any gun or pistol or anything. I was empty-handed"

With both cars parked, Lahr slid out the passenger side door and crouched down behind the right rear wheel of his car. When one of the men approached the back end of the car, Lahr nailed him with a punch and threw him down to the ground.

While Lahr was controlling the situation with the passenger, the driver followed his partner around the back side of the car. Because it was nighttime, Lahr was able to utilize the pitch black setting to his only advantage. None of the three could see anything, so the driver was uncertain of who was who in the struggle.

This gave Lahr enough time to get up from the ground and jump the man coming toward him. Lahr grabbed the driver and kept him between himself and the man who was already on the ground.

"They were both trying to hit me with their pistols and they were hitting me on the head and the upper body and things like that. I was fending them both off and I got them both down on the ground. I was holding their hands that held the guns and I got a hold of one of the guns. I shot the one guy in the head and shot the other guy in the temple but he turned his head and it blew his eye out as far as I understand. One of them was dead and the other guy ended up being in prison for several years but I guess he did get out eventually."

Bloodied and battered, Lahr grabbed the guns and put them in his bag. Since the left front tire was shot out he was forced to drive on the rim for several miles before stopping to change the tire. He went straight back to his hotel, cleaned up a bit and finally called a lawyer. Lahr then took a cab to the hospital, got patched up and waited for the lawyer to arrive later that morning.

Eventually, Lahr's partner was sentenced to jail time but within three years he was let out. Lahr has seen his "associate" two or three times face-to-face since the incident and he acted like they were long lost friends. (Can you blame him?)

So did Dean Lahr's wrestling background help him in this particular incident?

"I'd say wrestling was everything in that situation," said Lahr. "First of all, one of the things we spent a lot of time on was hand control. I was controlling a lot of hands for a short period of time in an attempt to keep people from being able to do what they wanted to do.

"Also, we were in a position where when I got the two guys down and I was on top of them, I was using my legs and everything else to control the situation just like I used to do in the wrestling room. We were always horsing around in practice. A lot of times we would get several people in a free-for-all where we were tumbling around. So I'd say yes, wrestling was definitely a positive contribution. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be here today to tell you about it."

Dean Lahr proves that wrestling isn't for everyone...but it should be.

Kyle Klingman is the associate director at the International Wrestling Institute and Museum. He can be contacted via e-mail at kyle@wrestlingmuseum.org