Coach Credits Father For Hall Of Fame Work Ethic

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Barry Davis counts Iowa coaching great Dan Gable and a number of workout partners among those who helped him hone his wrestling skills over the years. But he believes that talent

Saturday, June 2nd 2007, 5:54 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Barry Davis counts Iowa coaching great Dan Gable and a number of workout partners among those who helped him hone his wrestling skills over the years. But he believes that talent wouldn't have gotten him to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame without the work ethic instilled in him by his father.

Davis, a U.S. Olympic silver medalist who's now the head wrestling coach at Wisconsin, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Stillwater Saturday. Also inducted were fellow 1984 silver medalist Greg Gipson, former U.S. Olympic assistant coach Bill Weick and Larry Kristoff, who won college national titles as a wrestler and a coach.

Among Davis' influences was Gable, his coach when he was winning NCAA championships at Iowa in 1982, 1983 and 1985. But now Davis finds himself as a rival of the Hawkeyes.

His Badgers beat Iowa this year for the first time in 42 years on their way to a 19-3 record -- Davis' most successful of 13 seasons as Wisconsin's coach.