What Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs’ commitment to Penn RTC means for wrestling in Philly
Another World and Olympic champion wrestler is headed back home to the East Coast. This time, it’s one of the most decorated and well-known athletes in the sport — Jordan Burroughs, who announced Wednesday his commitment to the Penn Regional Training Center in Philadelphia as a resident athlete.
Originally from Sicklerville, New Jersey, Burroughs wrestled at Nebraska in college from 2006-11, where he became a three-time All-American and two-time undefeated NCAA champ. He continued his wrestling career with the Nebraska RTC, and went on to win a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and World titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. He also won bronze medals at the 2014 and 2018 World Championships.
Burroughs and his wife, Lauren, and their three children will be making the move from Nebraska next fall, after he hopes to compete for another Olympic medal with his Nebraska RTC coaches Mark Manning and Bryan Snyder in Tokyo.
“I’m going home,” the 32-year-old said in a message posted on his personal blog, where he also announced his plans to continue wrestling through the 2024 Olympic cycle.
World and Olympic champion Kyle Snyder, who grew up outside of Baltimore, left his alma mater Ohio State last fall to train at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club in State College. Snyder and Burroughs mark two of the biggest senior-level RTC movements in the past year, along with World champion and Olympic bronze medalist J’Den Cox’s commitment to the Ohio RTC in December.
“It’s been a really big year for us,” said Roger Reina, head wrestling coach at the University of Pennsylvania. The PRTC leverages resources from both Penn and Drexel universities, as well as the greater Philadelphia wrestling community, and is run by Penn wrestling alum and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Brandon Slay.
Burroughs and Slay also trained together at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where Slay served as an assistant national coach for USA Wrestling for eight years.
This summer, the PRTC also gained a commitment from former Penn State national champion and three-time All-American Mark Hall, who’s set to make the move down to Philly in January. Other notable recent additions are former All-Americans and age-level World Team members Joey McKenna, of Ohio State, and David McFadden, of Virginia Tech, as well as All-American and 2019 U.S. Open finalist Ben Honis, of Cornell.
While Reina acknowledged the impact that having Burroughs and other high-level athletes training at the PRTC has on the two collegiate programs involved, it’s another program connected with the regional training center — Beat the Streets Philadelphia — that Reina told the Centre Daily Times he’s most excited to see benefit from Burroughs’ influence.
“I think Jordan will provide great inspiration almost as a kind of a player-coach role in some ways, and not only to the college programs here in Pennsylvania RTC, but also to Beat the Streets Philadelphia,” Reina said. “I think Jordan coming in to inspire those Beat the Streets kids and coaches throughout the Philadelphia region is a really a big deal.”
Beat the Streets Philadelphia was founded by Penn wrestling alums Clinton and Brett Matter, sons of Penn State wrestling legend Andy Matter. The program’s mission is to foster the growth of youth athletes living in at-risk under-served communities through wrestling. Burroughs has been an active supporter of the national Beat the Streets program and its various chapters across the country.
In his personal announcement, Burroughs also alluded to using this move as an opportunity to give back to the region where he first learned to wrestle.
“I’m a true believer that the greatest work I will ever do will not be on the wrestling mat,” he wrote. “An athlete’s legacy extends far beyond what they’re able to accomplish on the field of play. I have the ability and the voice to empower and lead the young men and women of the next generation, and I want to do that in the same place that I began.”
With the recent assurance from Athletic Director M. Grace Calhoun that sports will not be cut at Penn amid the coronavirus pandemic, Reina is confident his history-rich program will weather the storm. But he acknowledged the role that building up regional training centers to provide more opportunities for youth and college-level athletes, as well as Olympic hopefuls, to train has in preserving the sport.
Among the 11 reasons Stanford listed for cutting 11 varsity programs — including wrestling — last week was “national youth and postgraduate participation in the sport.”
“I think it’s really important for this sport,” Reina said. “We’re at every level working hard to grow the sport. And Penn wrestling is very well supported by our administration, as well as by our alumni. We stand strong behind the sport here at Penn and here in Philadelphia.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 10:33 AM.
