T.J. Jaworsky Looks Back At His Storied Career

Note: T.J. Jaworsky will be inducted into the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Sunday May 18.

A three-time NCAA champion in perhaps the most physically grueling individual sport there is. Most Outstanding Wrestler in the NCAA Tournament. National Wrestler of the Year. Undefeated senior season.

Given that lofty list of accomplishments, it is undeniably fair to include T.J. Jaworsky, even 30 years after his final collegiate match, as one of the finest to ever compete in any sport at the University of North Carolina.

The state of Oklahoma doesn't have much of a pipeline to the Tar Heel State and Carolina athletics, but legendary former wrestling coach Bill Lam, basketball standouts Steve Hale and Brady Manek, two-time national champion assistant basketball coach Joe Holladay and Jaworsky, one of the most successful college wrestlers ever, have made the connection rich in history.

Jaworsky began wrestling at age 5 in Enid, moved to Edmond in the sixth grade, won four state high school titles and eventually competed for two years (one as a red-shirt) at Oklahoma State, one of the sport's historic programs. But Jaworsky needed a change after suffering an upset loss in the 1992 NCAA Tournament and looked east to find a program where he could fulfill his dream of becoming a multi-time national champion.

"I called NC State but Coach (Bob) Guzzo said he had the ACC champion at my weight coming back, Duke said I was too much of a wrestler for them, and everyone in Oklahoma knows about Coach Lam, so Carolina was a great situation for me," says Jaworsky, who lives in California now, where he co-owns a stone quarry with his step-father.

"In Oklahoma, wrestling is like basketball is in North Carolina. It's a big sport. Coach Lam's reputation followed him to UNC, he had a good recruiting class and I had weekly and monthly goals to win championships. He thought those were lofty goals, and I said, 'Exactly, that's what I want to do.'"

Jaworsky not only met those goals, but he also likely exceeded them, winning three ACC championships, earning two ACC Tournament MVPs and a spot on the ACC's 50^th Anniversary team, leading Carolina to a pair of top-10 finishes in the NCAA Championships (sixth in 1994 and eighth in 1995) and winning 110 of 115 matches as a Tar Heel.

Three decades later, Jaworsky remains Carolina's all-time leader in career winning percentage (.957) and wins by fall (50), single-season pins (24) and the single-season record for most wins in a perfect season (38-0-0 in 1994-95).

For those achievements and others, Jaworsky is being inducted in the North Carolina chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

"T.J. had the three characteristics of what it takes to be a champion – heart, talent and work ethic, with heart being the most important," says Lam. "T.J. had the most unbelievably competitive heart, which made him one of the best collegiate wrestlers ever. If he didn't injure his knee, he would have made the U.S. Olympic Team, which is the only reason his legacy isn't even greater than it is."

In his two years at Oklahoma State, Jaworsky trained with John Smith, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. The opportunity to train every day with one of the sport's greatest champions, and the coaching he received from two of his most important mentors, Lam and Steve Dunlap, his junior high school coach, gave him an exceptional foundation for success.

"Both Coach Lam and Coach Dunlap were strong coaches who knew how to get the best out of me; everyone respected them and adored them. They would run through walls for you. If they saw you fight for them, they would fight for you, and I was so fortunate to wrestle for them."

Jaworsky went 39-1 in 1992-93 in his first season in Chapel Hill, losing only in overtime in the Virginia Duals. He beat the defending champion from NC State, 20-6, in the ACC finals and entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed at 134 pounds.

The No. 1 seed, Iowa's Terry Steiner, was upset by Penn State's Cary Kolat in the semifinals in Oklahoma City, which set up a Jaworsky-Kolat final. Kolat led, 4-1, before Jaworsky rallied to pull even with an escape and takedown. A minute and 16 seconds into the final period, Jaworsky turned a reversal into a 5-4 lead, which he held on to claim the title despite a wild scramble in the final seconds.

"I was yelling, 'T.J., he's getting tired, you're in better shape,' and both guys heard that and Cary started acting tired," says Lam.

Jaworsky says that first national championship-winning match, is the one he cherishes the most.

"I was trailing in the first period and had to come back, but I was truly in the zone," recalls Jaworsky. "I don't even remember all the details of the match, but to win the first time was so special."

His second national championship came in the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, capping a 33-4 season in which three of his four losses came against Kolat. Again, Jaworsky won an ACC title and entered the NCAA Tournament as the second seed, but Oregon State's Babak Mohammadi eliminated Kolat and Jaworsky won his second title with a 12-4 major decision over Mohammadi. It was the only bonus-point victory among the 10 national championship matches that season.

In his final season, Jaworsky beat every challenger, winning all 38 times he stepped on the mat, including a third-straight ACC title and a 13-6 win over Mohammadi in the finals in Iowa City. Jaworsky pinned his first three opponents in the NCAA Tournament and was selected the meet's Most Outstanding Wrestler, although Central Michigan's Scott Bitely came within a split-second of a stunning upset in an early round.

"I was dominating the match, taking him down and letting him up, but then he neck-wrenched me to my back, it was a 10^th-of-a-second moment where I relaxed and nearly got pinned," remembers Jaworsky. "I got off the mat and pinned him in the second period, but that was my closest call."

What made Jaworsky such a special wrestler? In addition to the competitive heart Lam attributes to his success, Jaworsky possessed a lethal combination of quickness and strength.

"Wrestling is about drilling quickness over and over to the point where you don't have to think about taking a shot, it becomes a reaction," says Jaworsky. "If you think, you're too slow. I wrestled so long that everything became second nature. All of Coach Lam's teams were in great shape, so nobody was in better shape than we were. Having the speed, endurance and the right technique made a good combination."

Jaworsky was strong enough to keep his opponents on the mat (he built a remarkable 3:50 riding time in the 1994 NCAA finals), but his signature move was a lightning-quick shot for a takedown, which he could do to either of his opponent's legs.

"His quickness put him on a different level," says Lam. "John Smith taught him a great single-leg takedown, and I had learned one at Oklahoma that was different than John's, but T.J. was able to use them both, so he had a single shot to both legs. He was strong, and he was quicker than most guys, so he could make those shots. Plus, he was experienced enough to know the difference between which leg was open. He'd set the guy up, and the guy didn't even know it and then suddenly, he's in and the guy's on his back."

Just how lethal were Jaworsky's single-leg takedowns? From Tar Heel royalty perspective, think Phil Ford running 4 Corners and spinning into the lane for a layup; Mia Hamm or Erin Matson rifling goals in the upper 90; or Drake Maye effortlessly flicking a pass 60 yards over the top of the secondary for six. Jaworsky's devastatingly quick and effective signature move was on par with those legendary actions.

Jaworsky credits his coaches and training partners at Carolina, including Dave Leonardis, Josh Miller, Travis Lam and Kendall Cross, for challenging him every day to get better. "I had the best workout group in the country."

Jaworsky loved the thrill of victory and thrived on the competitive nature of the sport, something that fuels his drive today in the business world, where he is president and co-owner of Sydney Peak Stone in Ridgecrest, Calif.

"In wrestling, you get out of the sport what you put into it," says Jaworsky. "Anyone can do it; you just have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and know you have 100 percent belief in yourself and know you have outworked the other guy.

"We compete in our business every day. We're competing with companies in China and Pakistan and working hard every day to support our customers and our products. We compete within the rules set out by all the different regulating agencies to stay competitive and make a profit."

Jaworsky fell in love with Chapel Hill during his time as a wrestler and assistant coach, and his oldest daughter, Blythe will be enrolling as a freshman next year (Bella, his youngest daughter, is a freshman at North Lincoln High School).

"It's such a beautiful campus with stellar athletics and academics, and the people there were the ones who made it such an amazing experience for me. Rob Koll has a great thing going now with the wrestling program. It's fun to watch them and see what he and his staff are putting together."

These many years later, Jaworsky remains the only wrestler in ACC history to win three national championships. He rightfully shares mention with the all-time Tar Heel greats and is one of wrestling's most accomplished champions.

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