Golden guest

Olympian shows off moves, his medal

? Upon hearing Kendall Cross’s credentials, undivided attention was as common as sweat at Wednesday’s session of the Quest4Gold wrestling camp at Baker University.

Among other things, Cross, 36, was a gold medalist at the 1996 Olympic summer games in Atlanta.

Simply put, he already has been where every wrestler dreams of going. That’s why it wasn’t hard to get a younger generation to listen to what he had to say.

“I take what he says and take it to heart,” Free State High junior Jesse Hardy said. “I listen to what he’s saying, because he’s been to the Olympics and won.”

Cross conducted three sessions Tuesday and Wednesday at the Collins Center on Baker’s campus. A self-described “unorthodox” wrestler, Cross enjoyed a mildly successful high school career in Oklahoma, and earned a wrestling scholarship to Oklahoma State. There, he was a three-time All-American and a 1989 national champion.

He then made his way through Olympic qualifying and grabbed the gold at the ’96 games at the age of 28. As he does at most of the camps, Cross brought his gold medal to Baldwin, and the campers fell in love with it — touching it, putting it around their necks, and looking it up and down, understandably awestruck.

“I think it’s neat. I want these kids to get their hands on it,” Cross said. “It makes it real. Some guys don’t want people touching their medal. Me? Go get it. That’s what it’s for.”

During his stay in Baldwin, Cross showed some of his creative moves to the 73 campers, and had them work on imitating them. He then answered question after question about his background, and inspired the wrestlers when talking about his humble beginnings.

“It puts me in their shoes,” Cross said. “They understand that you don’t have to be a world-beater from day one. I remember being embarrassed about getting third in state my senior year of high school. But now I love it, because it tells kids, ‘I don’t have to be the best. There’s still hope.'”

Olympic gold-medal winning wrestler Kendall Cross, right, demonstrates a move in front of 73 campers.

The Quest4Gold camp, organized by Baldwin coach Kit Harris, was headlined by Cross’s appearance, but featured other top-notch clinicians as well. Among the other participants was Teague Moore, an NCAA national champion and two-time Big 12 Conference champion while at Oklahoma State; Dusty Spaulding, a four-time Kansas state champion while at Emporia who now wrestles for Nebraska; and Bo Maynes, a Big 12 champion for Oklahoma who finished his four-year high school career at Salina South with a 130-0 record.

“These guys are very willing to do things like this,” Harris said. “Wrestling tends to be that way. They want to give back.”

Cross returned home to Dallas after Wednesday’s afternoon session. Due to his growing family, he has cut back on his involvement in camps like Quest4Gold to only a handful each summer.

Still, he said it never gets old. And when he brings his gold medal along, it assures that the young wrestlers never will stop listening.

“Some of these guys will be inspired, not just by the technique, but by knowing they might be able to do something like this,” Cross said. “I like to see these guys think they can do it.”

Cross pins a camper during a wrestling demonstration at the Quest4Gold Wrestling Camp on Wednesday at Baker University in Baldwin.