the Cafe
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Former State Champ Focuses
on the Present, Not His Past
This story appeared in the Jan. 21, 1999 TV Times
By DAVID MAULL, TV Times
Kurt Howell believes dwelling on one's past accomplishments is a recipe for complacency, which explains why he is uncomfortable talking about a glorious wrestling career that has brought him more accolades than the average person could ever hope to enjoy.
At this point in his life, Howell prefers to be known simply as a high school history teacher and wrestling coach. Nothing more.
His status as a four-time Delaware state wrestling champion, collegiate All-American and member of the U.S. national team is of little consequence as he tries to mold a group of young Indian River High School wrestlers into a future Henlopen Conference power.
"I'm in to other things now," Howell said. "It's not the same thing (as wrestling). You have to work just as hard. I don't like to talk about myself and my past and build myself up."
Howell took over as Indian River's wrestling coach this season after two years at Selbyville Middle School. He brings with him an impressive resume and the respect of the state and national wrestling communities.
A large portion of his life has been dedicated to the sport and he attacks this new venture with the same vigor as when he battled opponents on the mat.
"It's now a lot more work, but it's stuff I just enjoy doing," he said. "I think the reason I started wrestling is because it was the sport that had the greatest challenges."
Howell comes from a wrestling family.
Two of his brothers are also high school coaches and his father is the former publisher of a prep wrestling magazine.
The sport got to the Howell boys at an early age.
"It got to the point where we wrestled so much in the house my mom stopped getting furniture," Howell recalled. "We had to watch TV sitting on mats."
Howell wrestled at Newark High, where he became one of the best wrestlers Delaware has ever seen. Howell never lost a match in high school, going 108-0 and becoming one of only six wrestlers in state history to win four consecutive individual state titles. The last came in 1986.
"It's not something I think a whole lot about," he said. "Back then, I was real happy about it."
Howell went on to Clemson University, where he was an All-American wrestler in 1991, his senior year. He was also a member of the U.S. national Greco Roman team his last two years of college and competed in Cuba, China, Finland, Sweden and France.
Shortly before his graduation from college, however, Howell lost his spot on the national team upon dropping out of the top three in his weight class. He would spend the next year training with a wrestling club in Albany, N.Y. in an attempt to win back that spot.
Included in that quest was a drop in weight classes from 125 pounds to 114.
"I did it right," Howell said, noting he consulted trainers and nutritionists during the weight-loss process. "For the most part, I did it by the book."
Howell qualified for the 1992 Olympic trials by finishing fourth in the 114-pound division at a national preliminary tournament. But he injured his knee in the process and the subsequent inactivity made it impossible for him to keep his weight down.
For the Olympic trials, Howell petitioned to wrestle as a 125-pounder and surprised everyone by nearly winning the division. Only an overtime loss in the 125-pound final kept him from earning a spot on the Olympic team for the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain.
Howell did get a consolation prize, however. When the top 125-pound wrestler retired after the Olympics, Howell took his place at the 1992 World Cup competition. It would be his last competitive event.
After years of competitive wrestling and multiple knee surgeries, Howell decided to retire in 1992 to pursue other interests.
"I figured I had to get my body healed up," he said.
He attended graduate school for three years at St. Cloud State in Minnesota, where he served as a graduate assistant for the wrestling team.
He then returned to Delaware, where he got his teaching degree from Delaware State University and student taught at Smyrna High School.
"I always had wanted to come back to Delaware. My whole family was back here," he said.
He eventually landed a teaching job at Selbyville Middle School and became the school's wrestling coach. It was also where he met his future wife, Jana, whom he married last April.
This year, he took over the coaching job at Indian River and is attempting to rebuild a struggling program.
In addition to his duties at the high school, Howell also runs a pee-wee wrestling program for children in grades one through six and hosts his own wrestling camp in Newark every summer.
"He has worked so hard. He's a gym rat," IR Athletic Director Dale Steele said. "In the long run, it's going to pay off for us. He's a dedicated man to his profession."
Added Howell: "I like to think I have to do what I do best. I love to help people and I feel the way to do that best is through wrestling.The most exciting thing for me is seeing somebody use something I taught them."
One success case is 135-pound IR wrestler Will Carroll.
Howell was Carroll's personal coach for two years before taking the IR job and last summer helped his prized pupil enter national tournaments in Orlando, Fla. and Fargo, N.D. The instruction has paid off, as Carroll is 13-1 this season and a strong contender for a state title.
"I owe a lot of gratitude to him," Carroll said. "He even takes me to all these tournaments."
Making Howell's job more interesting is the fact that his older brother Dickie, also a state champion at Newark High, is the head wrestling coach at Caesar Rodney. The two coached against each other for the first time Dec. 23.
Howell's younger brother Brad is the wrestling coach at Oakland Mills High School in Maryland. Howell gives much of the credit for his success to his father, Dick, who is the former publisher of Mat Tournament Calendar, a magazine that listed the results of various wrestling tournaments across the country.
While in high school, Howell was a proofreader for the magazine and got a first-hand look at how his father worked.
"I think I took a lot of traits from him. When I do something, I get very involved," he said. "My dad was like that."
That type of work ethic is what made Howell a force on the mat and what could help turn Indian River into a wrestling power.
And that's the task Howell chooses to focus on at the present time.
"I always knew I wanted to coach," he said. "I found it as a calling. You realize it takes a lot of work, just like getting good at anything."
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