UPDATED: Former Wrestler Hopes To Fulfill 20-Year Old Quest

UPDATE: Chogolla returned from the Freestyle Wrestling World Championships in Ankara, Turkey. He brought home the Silver medal for the United States, losing in double overtime in the finals against Iran.

Former Northern Arizona wrestler Sam Chagolla last hit the mat as a competitor more than 20 years ago when his dream to represent the United States ended at the Olympic Trials in Las Vegas with a fourth-place finish. Next month he will realize his dream but not without a little help.

Chagolla was a four-time Peoria Invitational finalist and four-time Arizona state wrestling champion, posting a 128-5-1 high school record. He came to Flagstaff to wrestle for NAU in 1983. He was a two-time conference placer and team captain, recording a 19-6 record with 66 takedowns as a junior. He even appeared on the cover of a Wheaties box in 1989 as a national winner in their Search for Champions contest.

After finishing fourth at the West Region of the Olympic Trials in 1988, one spot out the final competition for a wrestle off, Chagolla was upset. He had wrestled at a higher weight class than during his Lumberjack career and failed.

“It devastated me,” recalls Chagolla, who is currently an assistant principal at Ira A. Murphy Elementary School in the Peoria Unified School District. “It was an opportunity of a lifetime. It just was not in the plan. It did not happen. I did not make the final wrestle off. I came home pretty depressed.”

Then he did something that would change his life, just not at that moment. He wrote five letters to himself and asked his mother to hide them so he might find them later in life. Fast forward to 2008 and with his mother deceased, the memory of the letters and their whereabouts had vanished.

Eleven months ago on July 19, 2008, his wife found one of the letters.

Over the previous 20 years, Chagolla has been a teacher in the Peoria School District, teaching social studies. He had stayed involved in the sport of wrestling, earning recognition as the 4A Arizona Coach of the Year in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. He is the only 4-time high school state wrestling champion in the United States to also coach four consecutive state championship teams as a coach. He was an assistant coach for Show Low High School in 2002 and 2003 where he helped them win two state championships (2002 and 2003). He was also named the Veterans of Foreign War Teacher of the Year in 2004. He had in his mind paid it forward to another generation of wrestlers.

Addressed To myself, the 780-word letter was part self pity about his Trials failure, part master plan to be successful in life. In the second to last paragraph, he makes a pledge to his future self to give wrestling another shot.

If I’m healthy at the age of 45, I will train to wrestle in a big national wrestling tournament. Maybe if I’m healthy and daring, I can just enjoy the battle of the sport of wrestling. I don’t know if this will happen, but I’m a dreamer. I hope someday my nephews and my wife will support me in this endeavor.

“When my wife read that letter to me on July 19 last year, it was something that was very unexpected and it was a shock to both of us,” said Chagolla. “She knows when I say something I mean it, especially if I write down a goal.”

He started training that night with a run. After getting clearance from his doctors, he continued his pursuit and set his sights on the Veterans National Wrestling Championships to be held in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center in April, 2009.

“Life is way too short,” said Chagolla. “If you are given the opportunity, you need to take it. I am taking the opportunity and I am enjoying this opportunity with my wife. I am enjoying the battle of wrestling again. I want to do my state, my college and my high school proud.”

Chagolla placed second in both Greco Roman and Freestyle at the Veterans National Tournament, qualifying to represent the United States for the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Ankara, Turkey, August 14-16, 2009.

“Everything is possible if you believe,” said Chagolla, who has dropped his weight from 178.5 to his competitive collegiate weight. “I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be wrestling 138.5 at the age of 45. It was not even a remote possibility in my mind after I finished wrestling in 1988.”

Chagolla’s quest has been inspirational to his family and friends, as well as former athletes and students.

“It has been a long journey but the people around me have been supporting me. They are telling me ‘you are doing what we have always dreamed about doing. You are doing it, you are living it.’ That for me is the biggest compliment. If I can motivate one person to believe in themselves again that anything is possible, then I have done the right thing.”

Chagolla is proud of his NAU connection and says the Mountain campus helped him “become who I am today.”

Chagolla is in need of financial assistance from individuals, businesses and community groups to help his dream come to fulfillment. Donations will be used for airfare, hotel expenses and wrestling equipment with any extra given to a scholarship fund for students that are in need of assistance. He is always paying it forward.

For Lumberjack alumni and fans who are interested in helping Chagolla, an account has been set up at Chase Bank to facilitate your donations. The account number is 822356655. For more information, contact him at 623-341-0692.

Sam Chagolla’s Website – The Letter

Sam Chagolla’s Website – Help Donate