Porter named to Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Athletes sometimes discover that dreams and ambitions must be replaced by logic and reality.
Brett Porter learned that lesson prior to enrolling at Mahomet-Seymour High School.
He played a year of youth football as a seventh-grader.
More accurately, Porter was a member of a youth football team.
“I never touched the ball,” he said.
Basketball didn’t seem like a great option, either.
“I was tied for being the smallest kid in my class,” the 5-foot-4 Porter said.
There were other choices. One sport in particular paired athletes based on their weights.
Wrestling wasn’t a foreign sport in the Porter household.
His father, Tom, coached back-to-back IHSA wrestling state championship teams at Arlington Heights Hersey in 1971-72 and was elected to the state Hall of Fame in 1983 when Brett was a teen-ager.
“I’d been around it since I could walk,” Brett Porter said.
His entrance into the sport even pre-dated the development of a youth program in the M-S district.
Brett Porter got his start at home with his brother, Rob, who was three years older and active in wrestling.
“We were competitive and sparred a lot,” Brett said. “I wanted to get the upper hand on my brother.
“It was anywhere and everywhere. We grew up next to a small lake (at Spring Lake) and would wrestle on the dock, and throw each other off the dock.”
Eventually, he attended a camp at the University of Illinois, where his dad had served as the head coach after leaving Hersey.
In his first camp match, Brett Porter knew one way to be the aggressor.
“I went and acted like he (the opponent) was my brother,” he said. “I was probably 5 or 6.
“I won because I punched him and made him cry.”
Though he acknowledged, “a 5-year-old can’t punch hard,” he was immediately set straight about his tactics.
“Dad said I shouldn’t do that,” Brett Porter said.
From then on, he relied on his skills, strengths and knowledge of the sport to achieve at a high level.
In April, Brett Porter will be the 14th person with Mahomet-Seymour connections to be inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame.
***
This isn’t the typical story of a person beginning a sport at an early age and following it to a glorious conclusion some years later.
After getting his start early in elementary school, Brett Porter sought other avenues for his adventurous side.
“I was an outdoor kid, barefoot and riding my bike,” Porter said. “I wanted to be a free spirit, not confined to a sport.”
After participating in the Urbana Kids’ Club wrestling group as a first-grader — because no similar program yet existed in Mahomet — Porter took a break from wrestling.
“I told my mom I didn’t want to wrestle,” Brett Porter said. “It’s a hard sport. I wanted to try different things.”
He did some Little League baseball and an assortment of other activities.
At home, there was plenty of time to wrestle and scrap with his brother.
“We’d wrestle in the living room or the spare bedroom, where we had a mat,” Brett Porter said. “I was always trying to catch up to him.
“I didn’t want to be on the bottom of the pecking order.”
By junior high, Brett Porter was starting to feel secure in his athletic identity.
As a seventh-grader, he was the Illinois Elementary School Association state runner-up at 70 pounds.
A year later, he placed sixth in the IESA state tournament at 80 pounds.
“The bug had hit me,” Brett Porter said. “I was part of the team and realized it was something I could do and be successful at.
”I started dedicating myself.”
***
By the time Brett Porter graduated from M-S High School in 1987, he had surpassed his brother in some respects.
He was a three-time state medalist, beating Rob’s total by one.
He also had 134 career victories, which tied him for second at the time on the school’s list of career leaders.
Brett Porter’s prep career, however, started in an auspicious manner.
He had an 18-3 regular-season record as a freshman when he was challenged for a wrestleoff by classmate John Rusk prior to the regional.
Rusk won and went on to capture a sectional title and qualify for state. Porter was inactive throughout the entire tournament series.
“And my brother was a high school champion that year,” Brett Porter said. “I knew I could step away or dedicate myself more.
“That drove me. I put myself full throttle. I had something to shoot for.”
He didn’t just give lip service to the aspect of dedication.
As both a junior and senior, Brett Porter was recognized as a team Ironman Award winner, an honor that is bestowed upon M-S wrestlers who miss no practices or meets during the season.
More than three decades after his graduation, Brett Porter’s name is still prominent on the school’s all-time leaders’ lists:
—he is now tied for ninth in career wins (134);
—he is eighth in winning percentage (88.7 percent);
—he is ninth in career takedowns (398);
—and he is just outside the top 10 in career pins (62).
***
When it came time to pick a college, Brett Porter selected the same one where brother Rob was wrestling: Edinboro (Pa.) University.
“It was not because my brother was there,” Brett Porter said. “It was because they were a top 10 team (nationally) and Bruce Baumgartner (head coach and former Olympic champion) called me every day for two weeks and sold me.”
His first two years at Edinboro, the team place seventh and ninth, respectively, in the NCAA DIvision I meets.
Brett Porter earned a varsity spot as a true freshman, but redshirted his second year before settling in as a regular the next three years.
“My first match (against Villanova) was surreal,” Brett Porter said. “It was in front of 3,000 or 4,000 people.”
Porter lost by decision, 7-4.
The remainder of his collegiate career was a resounding hit. He qualified for the NCAA meet as both a junior and a senior, earning All-American honors (after placing eighth) in his final season.
There was, he said, a secret to his success.
“I put in a lot of time and effort, but for me, the only way to find success was to choose the best kid to practice with,” Brett Porter said.
“At home, it was my brother. In high school, it was Brett Camden (a three-time IHSA state champion) and in college, it was Lou Rosselli (a 1996 Olympian).”
***
Brett Porter’s competitive career ended after he graduated from Edinboro in 1992, but he couldn’t leave the sport behind.
He entered the coaching profession first by spending a year as a graduate assistant at Ohio University.
His family influence was showing.
“I came from a family of teachers,” Brett Porter said. “Mom (grade school teacher Pat Porter) was my biggest influence.
“I started (at Edinboro) in elementary education. At Ohio U, I made the transition to teaching P.E. at the middle school.”
Porter, who has more than 200 career dual-meet wins, has coached high school wrestling in three states, starting with a two-year stint as an assistant at Massillon, Ohio.
He relocated to Coal City, where his 1997-98 team placed second at state. After five years there, he moved to Oshkosh, Wisc., for a year.
That was followed by three years as the head coach at Mount Zion.
After the birth of his son, Nick, Brett Porter stepped away from coaching for two years.
“I was an IHSA official,” he said. “I enjoy the sport, and it kept me into it, but what got me is that I wasn’t invested in anything other than the match going on in front of me. It’s difficult.”
He was assigned regional tournaments both seasons as an official.
And then, he was pulled back to the sidelines.
“Shelbyville wanted to build a program,” Porter said.
He was the selection and guided the school to a 36-16 dual-meet record in three seasons as the Rams’ head coach.
Thereafter, in time for the 2009-10 school year, he made his final career move and went to Mattoon.
Brett Porter is now in his 10th year as the Green Wave head coach. Mattoon is 7-7 in dual meets this season and, in February, will seek a third consecutive regional championship.
One of his squad members is 120-pound freshman, Nick Porter.
“He is splitting time on varsity,” Brett Porter said.
The veteran coach will direct his team against his alma mater in a Jan. 22 dual meet at a neutral site. Mattoon and M-S will compete in a series of duals at Mount Zion.
“I can see me continuing (coaching) on maybe until I retire,” Brett Porter said.
He will soon be more than just coach. He will also be a Hall-of-Famer.
GRAPHIC INFORMATION
IWCOA Hall-of-Famers
With Mahomet-Seymour connections
NAME YEAR
Ryan Berger 2018
Brett Camden 2006
Steve Combs 1975
Bob Handlin 2005
Jerry Kelly 1999
Mary Kelly 2019
Rob Ledin 2011
John Lockhart 2008
Jim Moxley 2017
Brett Porter 2019
Rob Porter 2011
Tom Porter 1983
Jim Risley 2018
Marty Williams 1992
