This is the Truth Network. Nakita, destroy, crash, demolish all competitions. Does he want it? Here it is! Yeah, Mr.
Koloff once again made his feelings very, very apparent. It's been a long time, but the wave is over. That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man. No, that's a bad man.
It's time to man up with Satan's nightmare, Nakia Koloff. With me today Someone from the NWHOF, that's National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Mark Harris. Mark, welcome to It's Time to Man Up. Hey, thank you for having me.
Well, it's great to have you here. You know, so if you're wondering what I meant by that, of course, we had, and we'll dive into. Like all that, what you've done, both on the amateur side as a wrestler, as a coach. You got quite a storied story that I want people to hear and share with our audience. But, you know, there were guys in our.
In our in my world, in the professional world, guys like like uh in fact from The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
So let's pause for a moment before we dive into your whole wrestling career. Um. We got you calling in today from North Carolina, correct? That is correct. I am in Asheville, North Carolina, which is in the Western North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains.
Asheville, North Carolina. How you you've now, were you born and raised there or just end up there? Yeah, yeah. I I was born uh in Asheville and uh I teach currently at the high school I graduated from.
So I have really I've s I've been in this area a long time. Yeah. Wow.
So so what's the ex that experience like teaching at the same school you were taught? It's really interesting. I did teach for six years. In a different system in the Raleigh area. I went to North Carolina State, that's where I wrestled.
Collegiately, so I taught in the Wake County system for about six years.
So I came here back to Inca High School where I currently teach. That was in 2002. And at that stage, it was. you went to school with my aunt or my uh cousin or someone who uh who knew me and then that over time turned into, you know, you went to school with my mom or dad. And I'm now.
In the stage of you coached or taught my mom or dad. Yeah, and I have a rule, and the first child that walks in my door and says, You taught my grandma, I'm out. That's it. You're done. You're done.
That's going to be the sign I need. Stick a fork at me, I'm done.
Well, and again, in a few moments, we'll do a little bit more of a deep dive into your storied 30-year, at least 30-year concept. Coaching career uh or Not not to mention your wrestling career. Let let let me ask you, you mentioned NC State. How did you choose NC State uh over all the other schools available? Um Probably not for the.
Best reason. I went on different visits. I went to Virginia Tech, I went to UNC Chapel Hill. And the guys that hosted us We were complete nuts at NC State. And we had a blast.
I mean, just the whole weekend was insane. And, you know, looking back at this, you know, my parents. Let me take the car and my high school teammate, and we drove ourselves, you know, four hours to Raleigh. um to do a recruiting visit. You know, we didn't have cell phones or GPS or anything.
We just, you know, we figured this trip out on our own. I was 17 years old. Wow.
You know, so I was trying, you know, and I later met up with my. My old roommate, we were reliving that, and I'm like, Would you have sent your kids in a car halfway across the state to go to meathead wrestlers? And he's like, No.
So, um, wow, you have Mark, you have some real trusting parents. I'm just saying. They really did, they really were trusting, and we made it back. We had a blast. The coach, his name is Bob Guzzo, just an absolute character.
And for me, I was like, you know what, this is in state. In state schools at the time and still now are very reasonable financially. And that's where I went to school, and no regrets. It was awesome.
So you had. Wow.
So at at what age did you start start wrestling? Uh eighth grade. Eighth grade. Yeah, they started a middle school team. It was the first ever middle school team.
in our school district and um I got cut from the basketball team, which I should have. Uh, they should not have kept me at um five four and eighty-six pounds, or however, however much I was at the time. And so, I immediately, as soon as I heard they were starting a wrestling team, um, I jumped in and it was. literally just love it first sight. I just I I was like, this is This is my sport.
And it still is. I mean, I've never missed a wrestling season since 1986. Wow, still going. Yeah, it is. Pause right there.
That's so 1986.
So, a couple quick funny stories. You know, you mentioned basketball. Like, for whatever reason, I consider myself to be a pretty decent athlete. I know you totally are in looking at your bio. But when it came to basketball, like, I could not, unless I was looking at the ball, I just could not dribble that sucker.
Like, if I took my eyes off it and looked up, I'm like, where'd that sucker go? Like, where'd the ball go? And so I'm like, okay, that ain't it. And then a wrestling story.
So in high school You know, I was a football guy, right? That was my passion, my love. But in high school, the wrestling coach, he was also my PE teacher. And his name, I'll never forget. His name was Pete Gregelko.
Just sounds like a wrestling name, right? Pete Grigelco.
Well, he wanted me to go off of wrestling. And some of my football teammates, you know, Matt Johnson, who played offensive, defensive line for us, wrestled heavyweight. You know, some of the other guys, Mike Houck, played fullback for us, who went on to actually win a world championship in the Greco-Roman in 1987. You know that name? Wow.
Mike Houk? I did, yes. Are you kidding me? And I got to tell you a little side note then, Mark. He and I reconnected last year for the first time in forty seven years.
Oh wow. We we and this is crazy to me too. We we When we reunited the night before, he sent me a couple of pictures.
Well, one of them was uh like from elementary school, and I'm like. Is that me standing next to you in the picture? Like, I didn't even recognize myself. He goes, He goes, uh-huh. I'm like, oh my gosh.
So we went all the way back to fifth grade. I had no idea. And then he sent me a football pick. I'll go, what year was that? He goes, that was ninth grade.
And I'm like, man, then we saw each other at a men's, you know, speaking at a men's breakfast the next day. He came, we spent two and a half hours just reminiscing of history, right? And the old days. Then from high school, he went and played junior college ball. Mark, I had no idea he got into wrestling.
I knew he wrestled in high school, but I had no idea that he went on to and ironically beat a Russian in 1987 at all things for a world championship. Which is crazy. Crazy.
Well, and the last part, the last piece of that story is: I'm at the Waterloo Hall of Fame, Dan Gables Hall of Fame, right? Being inducted. a number of years ago into their Hall of Fame. And I'm I'm walking around, I'm looking I'm like Mike Hauck, I see his name on the b I'm like It can't be this, but it's got to be the same guy. Like, who all has a name like Mike Hauck?
You know, and sure enough, you know, he won that World Championship in 1987. Incredible story. I've interviewed him on the show. If, for our listeners out there, you do want to go listen to that story. But anyway, so 1986, you start.
So that's about. you were about fourteen years old, I guess. Yeah, yeah, it was eighth grade, yeah. Yeah, and so so you you you apparently just fell in love with wrestling. I did.
I just um I had played I'd I was I'd played sports my whole life growing up and I loved every sport. Uh but this was different, you know, um and being a being a smaller guy, And the opportunity. to excel against people who are only your size. Was just wonderful, you know, and um, uh, that uh, that was a part of it, and um, never looked back.
So, the motivation, so I'm guessing because I never did it. I mean, I did it on a professional level, but that's quite a bit different than what you did. But I'm just thinking in my mind, because you know, again, I'm a football guy, right? Team, right? Team together, everyone achieves more, right?
And you know, you got a quarterback and a running back, and you know, offensive line, and the whole deal, but you know. You're out there and it's just it's just one-on-one, right? You against the other guy. It is just you, and that that is Something that wrestlers appreciate. You get all the credit, you take all the blame, but it's you either way.
But what a lot of people don't realize is just how team-oriented uh wrestling can be. And for me as a coach, I preach and teach, and we build a team knowing that the better this team does, the better you do. Like you have a stake in this. If if our team is is one of the top teams in our region or in our state. and we're competing for the biggest prizes on the stage All of you are going to give more effort every day, and you're going to push each other harder, and you're going to be behind each other.
And so the team element really. Is important. In the moment of competing, you're out there alone, but there's a team behind you. uh that you train with. that you travel with, that you um that are that are cheering for you.
And and and that piece of it, um A lot of people don't realize it, but it's it's a very important Part of what we do.
Well, it is interesting to think about, you know, for those who are not that familiar with amateur wrestling, that it is a one-on-one competition out there on the mat, but at the end of the day, you are part of a team, right? And Mark, I'm looking at your list of accomplishments here. And, you know, so if we consider you started wrestling yourself in 1986, and fast forward 10 years later, post-college, you start teaching in 1986. 96 and working for only two schools up there, thirty seasons. Folks, just listen to this now.
30 seasons as a high school wrestling coach, 27 as a head coach, and in regard to team. Seven team state championships that Mark has coached, five tournament. Wins. And I mean, my gosh, coached 164 state tournament. Qualifiers, 22 conference championships, 79 state place winners, 15 state champions.
I mean, the list goes on and on. My goodness, wow, Mark. What do you attribute What do you attribute that success to? Mm.
Well I think there's a lot a lot of factors involved. Wherever I've been, the two schools I've worked at, I have had very strong support From the community and the parents and the kids. You know, something that we all bought into together. We're going to put our best effort into this and we're going to try to excel at it. And that's a key part.
You know, even if the coach has a lot of knowledge or a lot of expertise or the best game plan in the world to train. and the right schedule. None of that works. Unless there are People working with you. to that end.
And when I came back to my alma mater in 2002, Um the program was Uh declining. And Had an opportunity to bring it back up. And by doing so, I think brought this community in. We have a long tradition at this school. The program started in 1970.
And we've only had. Uh basically five head coaches in program history and out of that history. One coach was 30 years, and I'm at 27.
So we were most of the years, just two of us. But we, you know, the community has been amazing in their support and in just recognizing that hey, here's a program that your kid's going to be taking care of and they're going to be challenged to the to the limits that they can go to, and this is a good experience for them. You know, it's going to help prepare them for life and it's going to open doors. And you know, you get you get that kind of, I guess, The buy-in and the respect from your school and your community and the people who live here. And kids want to be a part of it, and their parents support it.
And, you know, it is a big commitment. It's, you know, it's a time commitment and sometimes a financial commitment, but people understand that it's worth it. And that's the biggest blessing of all, I think, to be able to achieve. It's just a. Do it as a group.
Yeah. So it sounds like, you know, it sounds to me like, and I have. Another coach I can relate this to, that it's more than just about wins and losses. You you're really trying to prepare these these young men and women for for success in life and just using wrestling, if you if you want to say, as kind of the catalyst uh to help with that, right? And, you know, we've had Wrestlers go on to compete in college and done well.
I've had kids that have wrestled collegiately and qualified for the national tournament. I've had high school Americans, and we've had that high-level kid. But we've also had a lot of kids who have wrestled here, they've done well, they go into the military, they go and just excel. in law enforcement or whatever career path they end up going in, And there's those living examples of wow, you know, we're a pretty small community here. I've had two kids in the past.
five years that have graduated from Service Academies. We've got one West Point grad, um, he's flying Apache helicopters now and another one that just finished up at Annapolis. You know, and so um that kind of work I'm more proud of than just guys who are bringing home medals at the state tournament. You can go get into a service academy like West Point and thrive. Say no more.
That's harder to get into than Harvard. You don't have to have a letter from your senator to go to Harvard anyway. It's just that that really is the most gratifying piece, I think, of what we're trying to do here. That's pretty amazing.
So, not only great athletes, but smart guys, smart guys.
Well, I want to touch on something too, something not off topic, actually, kind of on topic. But we know each other through a mutual friend, Bill Murdoch, that I have known for 30 plus years. And you've been a part of something he launched 10 years ago called Headlock on Hunger. Speaking of wrestling, a good wrestling move, a headlock, right? Headlock on Hunger.
I know you've been a part of that. And in fact, you've had tournaments right there at Inca High School. And for the record, so people know, it's E-N-K-A. That's how you spell Enka, Enka High School. And in those tournaments, Mark, and I know I've been up there for what I think I came up for one year and handed out the, I think, a championship belt that Bill had made to the tournament winner.
But to enter or to participate in those big tournaments, they have to bring food, right? Donate food? Yeah, and it's and Bill's amazing. He's so smart with. how we have structured Headlock to get people on board with the food drive, we make it a competition, right?
So the winning team Gets that belt. And it's not just any belt. It is the current version of it. It's a Briscoe belt. It is custom-made.
It is the real thing. It's so the teams They go wild. They want the belt. I mean, it is a battle for the belt. It is not an exaggeration.
And I've had coaches tell me, How many pounds of food won the food drive last year? I'm young, but they know like last year was 13,000 pounds, and they were like. Oh, don't you worry. I'm bringing my trailer. Like, we're winning that belt.
And I'm like, come on. Come on.
Well, go ahead.
Now, finish your thoughts. I was just going to say, it's just funny. It's not funny, but it's just really interesting how it's more than just, you know, there's the charitable piece. Hey, we're doing a good thing. We're bringing food.
It's going to stock the food pantries here in our, you know, our schools in our community. But they want the belt. I mean, they really compete for that. Yeah, it's pretty big. And for those who don't know, you know, you may not have caught what he said, the Briscoe belt.
And for those who, if you're a wrestling historian, you may know. If you're not an avid wrestling fan, you may not know. But two famous brothers, again, amateur wrestlers from the state of Oklahoma. Is Jack and Jerry Briscoe, and they became NWA world champions, and so Bill had a replica. I mean, it's, but it's beautiful.
It's, it's not like he, as Mark said, it's not just some cheap little belt. It's a beautiful replica of Briscoe's belt. And so that's a pretty cool story, man. That really is.
So, well, and Headlock on Hunger. I should have been prepared and had the website for that, Mark. I don't know if you know it off the top of your head or not, but I don't. Yeah, I should have been better prepared. But doing an incredible work up there in Asheville.
North Carolina, and may I'll figure that out and maybe we'll be able to get that information out to the audience. Let's do this in just a few minutes remaining here. Um, I do want to just talk about you've been married for 27 years. Uh, were you and Esther high school sweethearts, or how how did you guys meet? We met we went to rival high schools.
She went to Asheville High School. I went to Inca High School. Her family moved here. uh when she was a senior in high school.
So she's Um she's local, but um we we didn't know each other. uh in high school. But I took a job as a lifeguard at one of the local pools. And she worked there in the evenings doing a lifeguard shift.
So we literally met by the pool. Um and um it's it's just one of those uh serendipitous events where two people meet and um we um uh and what a What a blessing, what a wonderful experience to have gone through this journey with her. And we've got some great kids. Man, she's Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, I guess.
Well, in fact, you said three rock star sons, right? Levi, Grayson, and Asa, right? That is right. And speaking of being smart, master's degree in computer science, that's way over my head. Grayson wrestled at Hofstra University and eventually transferred to Chapel Hill.
And then you've got Asa, political science major. He followed in your footsteps, he went to NC State. That's right. I'm outnumbered three to two. Esther is a UNC Chapel Hill law grad.
Levi got his undergraduate and his master's at Carolina. And then Grayson just transferred in this year. And he is in his fourth year at his fourth year of college, but he's at Chapel Hill.
So ASA, by going to NC State, is three to two in the House.
So it changes the numbers. We're still losing, but it's better than it was. It's a closer ratio anyway, right?
So and do I understand your bride, Esther, has been mayor of Asheville since 2013 and running for like a fourth term or something? Yeah, yeah, so she's running now. If if elected, this would be Term number four. Uh and so um she She's a a lawyer. Full-time.
The mayor. It's not a strong mayor like you see in some big cities like New York, Chicago. North Carolina has a council mayor or a council manager system, but she still spends a lot of time locally. In fact, they have city council tonight. In fact, they'll be doing that this evening.
But yeah, she has been in local politics since 2009 when she was first elected to council and has been the city's mayor since 2013. And anyway, that's been pretty amazing too to be a part of and get to kind of experience that in our lives too.
Well, and you noted that she was instrumental in leading Asheville through the The tragic Hurricane Helene just not so long ago.
Well, that's pretty amazing.
Now, I did figure out, I did find out and/or figure out that so Headlock on Hunger doesn't have a specific website.
However, you can find Headlock on Hunger on Facebook, Headlock on Hunger on Facebook. In fact, if you find it, I'll tell you how you find it. Just look for my mug. Look for me. When you pull it up, you're going to see a snapshot of me there as part of the.
I'm a big supporter. I've been supporting Bill. In fact, there's some incredible pictures. I'm just scrolling through it right now. And in fact, In fact, Mark, there's a picture of that very belt that you referenced, the Briscoe belt that the team can win right there on the website, the Facebook website for Headlock on Hunger.
And you're going to see a lot of incredible stories about what these guys are. Oh, Adam Edge Copeland. I know that name.
So if you're a WWF wrestling fan, you remember Edge.
Well, he actually lives in Asheville, and Adam Copeland is his real name. And he is a major supporter of Headlock on Hunger as well.
So if you want to check out more about that, if you're interested, I'm just going to say it'd be a great cause, a great cause to contribute to, even if you don't live in Western Carolina, right, Mark? That is correct, yeah. And that is there is another charity that Bill is involved with here that is closely connected with Headlock on Hunger, and that is Beyond All Borders. And they have done a tremendous amount of work. in the aftermath of of Hurricane Helene.
They have done so much. Those guys are just just amazing. Funny story. You came to our school uh and talk to our coaches. at one of our one of our inaugural events here with the Jet Invitational, which is a partner with Headlock on Hunger.
And we had an amazing tournament, amazing food drive. I think we won the tournament, had four champions. It just everything kind of fell together. But at work on Monday, what everybody wanted to talk about was that Was it true that Nikita Koloff was there? Right?
Uh, they were that was the headline event. It was, and then uh, I just remember being like, you know, we did we did win the tournament. They're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you're telling me the Nikita Koloff was there. Like, yes, that's crazy. That's so anyway, it was a uh just a memorable event, and um.
In the last two years in our tournament, we've brought in over 20,000 pounds of food in two years. In two days, actually. Incredible. Incredible. Well, Hall of Famer, Mark Harris, thank you for being a part of the show today.
It's an honor to have you on, Mark. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And to all you out there, I challenge you today to go out and have a God-filled and live a God-blessed day. Until next time.
Nikita Koloff here, and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement?
Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Koloff Fans, and like it. And follow today. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs: Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book, Wrestling with Success.
And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption. Go to www.koloff.net and donate today. Yeah.
