Wrestling Blogs - Jim Brown

An interview with Chad Zaputil

In the early ‘90s Chad Zaputil was the leadoff man for what might be considered the “Murderer’s Row” of college wrestling: Chad, Terry Brands, Tom Brands, Troy Steiner and Terry Steiner (11 NCAA finals and 7 titles). Recently I encountered Chad through a mutual interest in saving University of Oregon Wrestling. He graciously allowed me to interview him. To kick off NCAA Championship week – here’s the interview.

What made you want to attend the University of Iowa?

The biggest reason was of course because Dan Gable was the coach. The tradition at Iowa was very strong as well so the room was just full of great wrestlers.

1. Was the decision entirely wrestling related or were academics involved?

My older sister had also attended the U of Iowa, so I was familiar with it and also liked some of the academic stand points as well.

2. Tell us a little about wrestling for Gable.

Wrestling for Gable was a tremendous experience for me. I learned a lot of wrestling of course, but more importantly I learned a lot about setting goals, what it takes to work towards them in an intelligent manner, and what kind of sacrifice is put into working towards your goals. I think I also learned a lot about how to deal with people. I think I always marveled at how well Gable could deal with any type of athlete. It seemed he always knew how to motivate people no matter what the circumstances.

3. Did you learn things from Gable that have carried over into your professional life?

Absolutely, I own a promotional event company now where a big part of what I do is getting goals accomplished on strict timelines. I continually use aspects of what I learned in college to get this done. I use not just my experiences but ones that were going on around me and the Iowa wrestling team as a tool to figure out ways to motivate the people around me in my everyday business dealings.

4. What was your academic major?

My major at Iowa was Economics and I had a Minor in Communications.

5. What was the workload like for a student/wrestler at the U of I while competing for Gable?

It could be pretty hectic at times, but I think that also is something that you just learned to deal with the longer you were involved with the program. It was definitely a big plus if you were an organized person, and if not it taught you that to some extent you needed to be!

6. Tell us a little about your post-graduate career path.

My father owned a general contracting business as I was growing up and I followed in the same business but not in my home town. I ran that in the Iowa City area for a few years after graduating from Iowa, but then decided I really wanted to move where the weather was a little nicer year round and ended up in Southern California. I now currently reside in Long Beach, CA and have become so accustomed to the nice year round weather that I don’t know that I could even move back to the Midwest!

7. Tell us a little about the evolution of your business.

The current business that I own, I came across a bit by accident. I am a partner in a Mixed Martial Arts gym with Rico Chiapparelli. (Another former Iowa Wrestler…) In the beginning I was there with Rico full time and was also helping another business out on the side. The other business was very unorganized and I was able to put some structure to running their promotional events in the field. I was able to put a lot of their field work into perspective from the general contracting business I had grown up around. When that company fell apart due to an owners divorce I went into it full time with my own company. I now run that company called Active Marketing Services or AMS out of Long Beach. I also still own a portion of the MMA gym, but Rico owns the majority of the gym and runs the complete business side of it. It’s called the R1 Training Center and is in El Segundo, CA.

8. What things do you think you have learned from wrestling that carry over into the business world?

I think one of the biggest things that have helped me is a real simple philosophy that Gable always preached and that is “there are no shortcuts”. Other then that just the work ethic and being able to do whatever it takes to complete the task at hand. I am sure Gable does not even remember this but when I was in college he was giving me an example of someone that did not go through with something they had said they would do. He gave me a slip of paper and on it was – “dependability; fulfilling what I consented to, even when it means unexpected sacrifices”. I still remember that like it was yesterday and I think that’s an important thing that people seem to lose these days.

9. How closely do you follow wrestling today?

I keep up with things on the internet a lot, but do not get to see as much live wrestling as I would like.

10. You wrestled with Tom Brands throughout your respective careers. Do you have any observations on his potential success as the Hawkeye coach?

I don’t think there are any questions that Tom is going to be a successful coach. I have not had the chance to see him coaching first hand, but I really look forward to it. He is such a motivated individual and I think he has become a great leader of his athletes. When I wrestled at Iowa, I really felt that Tom and Terry both brought a great deal of intensity to the Iowa room, and just their never quit attitude was motivating. I think things are going to continue to get better for him as he continues to develop as a coach, and I think that will always be true for him as he is definitely not one to rest on his laurels.