When Wyatt Henson committed to the Iowa wrestling program on Oct. 20, 2019, he fulfilled a dream that spanned generations.

To begin Wyatt’s journey, however, you have to start at the beginning. His dad, Sammie Henson, the 1998 World Champion wrestler at 54 kg, moved around a bit to different coaching jobs, and Wyatt’s coaching staff shifted even from a young age. 

First, it was different coaches in Oklahoma. Then his dad took over and coached a group of boys at night in Missouri. In West Virginia, they would work out together in the mornings. 

“When we first started doing this, I told him that he can’t pick and choose when I’m his dad and when I’m his coach,” Sammie said. “If he wants me to help him then he has to take [the] good or bad . . . open lines of communication have kept it really fun, and it’s been great so far.”

Wyatt started wrestling when he was five years old, but really found his love for the sport in middle school. But, as Sammie alluded to, Wyatt’s natural ability allowed for a hands-off approach and they didn’t have to put as much work in.

In high school, things started to shift. As Henson’s career got closer and closer to the potential of continuing at a Division I college, the time spent on the sport expanded. 

“Throughout his high school career, he’s matured every year and just basically became a student of the sport this last year-and-a-half, two years,” Sammie said. “You can tell, it’s gone to another level. Mentally he’s really changed as an athlete.”

Wyatt is physically strong and has a natural ability for wrestling, adapting to matches and overcoming difficulties in the match itself. 

His mentality, on the other hand, is something that Sammie can relate to in a different way. He sees similarities between himself at that age and his son and has tried to help him through mental setbacks. They both hate to lose more than they love to win. 

“To deal with that and growing from that, I’m trying to teach him at a younger age,” Sammie said. “I didn’t have that composure that I needed, and I think that I’ve been able to give him that at a younger age, which I think is going to help him progress faster on every level.”

As a kid, Sammie dreamt of going to Iowa, but found his own success at Missouri and Clemson. When Wyatt’s recruiting process came around, Sammie lent his advice as a head coach and a former wrestler going through the process but took a step back in his wishes and let Wyatt make his own decision. 

He told Wyatt to go where he felt he belonged and to take some time to make sure it’s the right decision not only surrounding the wrestling team, but the university atmosphere as a whole. And Wyatt found that in Iowa early. 

“It’s awesome, I love Iowa. It’s cool how my dad wanted to go to Iowa and I get to go there, so it’s pretty cool,” Wyatt said.

Anna attended the University of Iowa, where she covered multiple sports from volleyball to football to wrestling. She went to Pittsburgh in March 2019 for the NCAA DI Wrestling Championships and did live coverage of the entire event and Spencer Lee’s second-straight NCAA title. Follow her on Twitter.