The Hig is the nickname of an old friend and junior high wrestling coach now, Wayne Higginbotham being his formal name.

I thought of him today when reading the Birmingham News sports section in the McDonald's having some warm food on a rather cold, wet, dreary Alabama day.

The headline in the sports section read "Warriors on brink of title," and the Thompson High School kid Nick Hall instantly brought back memories of what Hig was the first to do at Mtn. Brook High School; win the state wrestling title.

I wrestled as an adult in PA, and got to meet someone who won a division III national title and someone from the Iranian national team, neither of which of course was a whole lot of fun, if I didn't get pinned by the Rider guy.

Hig and I wrestled well before formal wrestling started, since he attacked me to try to beat the crap out of me every time I came over to his house, since I was a geek.

He was Cato to my Clousseau,  and good practice in life for a lot of things, along with something Coach Morrow said: "If you got pinned, you just quit."

Unless the wrestler from the Iranian national team sees that in the par terre position you don't understand the situation very well, and does a handstand on your head to turn you, but that's another story.

In any event, it was really nice to see the wrestler from Thompson get some press coverage, as of course in winter, basketball gets way more press coverage, and in high school of course, more girls.

I think the wrestlers slogan, "It is better to have wrestled and lost than to have ever played basketball," is about certain resentments wrestlers have as to who gets the props in life, especially since if you see basketball players lift weights, you know who would win a fight nine times out of ten.

In any event, the 145 pound Thompson Alabama kid in 2012 had won his match by major decision, not quite a mercy rule, but close, 11-1.

The reporter described him as being so stoic as he said, "I'm trying to prove something to everyone. I have to prove to everyone that I'm the best."

It brought back such a fond memory of watching the Hig rise to do something no one had ever done from our high school: win a state title.

The mentality for some things is always the same, including the heart of a warrior.

I started formally wrestling in eighth grade, and I was ok at it, if mainly because Morrow drilled in our head one slogan: "If you got pinned, you just quit."

Personally, not being very technically profficient, unlike Wayne, I mainly just hung around a long time, very often for the third period killing headlock of some form or another.

If you've never wrestled before, its a pretty brutal sport, save only for MMA or boxing, and its worth noting that in MMA, the wrestlers do well, and knowing wrestling is mandatory for survival in MMA.

MMA warmed the hearts of a lot of wrestlers I think, as a form of validation: "Hey, it was kind of a semi-odd sport in high school compared to basketball, but, look at MMA."

Maybe its the uniforms and headgear, the latter necessary so your ear doesn't look like a dog toy.

So, in any event, I took a break after two years in high school, and wrestled senior year, partly to see if Hig could win a title.

He had some so close the year before, 28-2 was his record, losing twice to the same kid from Gardendale I believe, or Fultondale.

It wasn't really a lot of fun at first as to how demanding practices were after a two year layoff, although it was a big help later on in life too, as to not quitting too easily on things, generally speaking.

Wayne's matches had an inevitability to them, even the kid from the year before, in which the title match was so much the mentality of the kid in the same weight class this year, twenty plus years later.

Wayne won easily, 7-1, and now 30-0 for the year, but was really reserved at the party to celebrate the aftermath, which was puzzling to me.

Brian Groak asked him, "Dude, what's up? You won a title man, live a little."

So stoically, heart of a warrior, Wayne just shook his head a little bit, and said, "Yea, but I wanted to dominate him, to wipe the mat with him."

That's what it takes to be a warrior, and it was nice to see that's still alive in that kid from Thompson Nick Hall, even in the Hig's old weight class.

finis