There were stories overheard about our hometown hero, Bobby Weaver, winning the '84 LA Olympics. His celebration - carrying his newborn baby in his arms while running around the arena - was like a legend in my area. 

But I was just six years old at the time. A few more years brought me my first true 'hero,' as John Smith captured all of my attention.

Beyond his unprecedented winning (six straight World/OLY Golds), it was the aesthetic that marveled. John Smith had a style with both athleticism and grace and his low single was revolutionary.

Life played out as such that in 2016, at the Junior World Championships in France, I spent a few hours in empty bleachers, watching Mark Hall and Daton Fix and Zahid Valencia while talking wrestling, its history and its business with Coach Smith and USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender.

I went to get us coffee. They were very appreciative of that. 

And I was very appreciative of the conversation. In fact, it remains one of the fondest memories of my career.

For a few years after the 2000 Olympics, the U.S. senior freestyle team went into a slump. Though Cael Sanderson hit hero status in 2004, that was the lone Gold in the entire next quad.

And things continued that way for nearly two more quads. Bill Zadick ('06) and Henry Cejudo ('08) earned the only American Golds over the next six years. To make matters worse, we weren't winning medals of the other colors either. Just 10 total medals were brought home by our men from 2005 to 2010, an average of less than two per year. In 2010, we were completely shut out.

Enter Jordan Burroughs, with a similar aura as Smith: charismatic, aggressive, and with a unique, unmistakable style. And through each rung of his success, I was happy for my childhood best friend, Bryan Snyder - not simply for the craft and the labor of coaching Jordan, but also because of his personal relationship with him.

There are a great deal of personal stories and ties that I reflect on. A lot of happy moments. 

Ok. Great, Willie. Spare us your Hallmark moments. I came here to be inspired, not to read your diary.

Guys, I'm getting to it.

Burroughs Gold in 2011 was a surprise. He ran through an incredible gauntlet that included Denis Tsargush and Sadegh Goudarzi. Perhaps it was lightening in a bottle. And despite the excitement that the Gold drought was over, America only had one other medalist (Varner, Bronze). Not bad, but we weren't 'back'.

The 2012 Olympics were a success with two champs (Burroughs, Varner) and another medal (Coleman Scott, Bronze). But the next quad was uneven. One medal in '13, two in '14. 

The remnants of the 2005-2010 drought lingered. Where were we at as a country? Is our system working? What can we do to 'fix it'? These are questions that raged - asked internally, by the media, and less politely, by the fans.

And then things started to come together.

Kyle Snyder became the youngest American to win a World title. Burroughs was back on top. James Green arrived. We took just 7th as a team, but for the first time in a while, we felt like we were on the right track.

In Rio, Kyle Snyder confirmed his best-in-the-world, here-to-stay status. J'den Cox emerged. 

Rich Bender, Bill Zadick, and all the RTC coaches had the pieces in place.

Team USA went over to Paris for the 2017 World Championships confident they could compete. But what happened was nothing short of the wrestling world shifting on its axis. And my proudest moment in American Wrestling history.

The U.S. medaled at six of the eight weights. Jordan Burroughs was back on top. J'den Cox and James Green were officially every-year-medalist threats. And in the most dramatic of fashions, Kyle Snyder in the last match of the entire tournament, with the team title on the line, in a #1 vs #2 Pound-for-Pound, Olympic Champ vs. Olympic Champ, Cold War match up, gave the United States the right to say we were the best wrestling country on the planet.

Like all spine-tingling moments, the full gravity took some time to digest. At the time, you cheer. You've won. You're elated. You'll remember this forever.

But the 2017 World Team Title isn't my favorite, proudest moment ever because we were the best over a couple days of wrestling. It's my proudest moment in the sense that it stood as emblematic of all the good things that led to it. It wasn't, and isn't, a "Do You Believe In Miracles" situation; USA Wrestling didn't have a singular moment of brilliance. No stars aligned to beat a superior opponent when things just clicked. The 2017 World Team title was a symbol of all that was right with our system, of our past, and of our things to come.

The Senior Freestyle title earned the trifecta; we swept titles in Freestyle at the Cadet, Junior, and Senior levels. The following spring, we won the World Cup. Our system is stacked, overflowing with young talent. With new weights, we inject new talent that are certainly world medal contenders.

It's an amazing time to be an American Wrestling fan. And the luster on our system and our prospects, to me, will always refer to Paris as the seminal moment where everything in American wrestling - its Executives, and leadership, its athletes and coaches, its media and fans, all coalesced into something special.