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Craig Mattick: Welcome to another edition of In Play. I'm Craig Mattick. Today's guest qualified for the state wrestling tournament six times. He won three titles, helped his team win two team titles, and then he coached his alma mater and saw his son win three wrestling titles. His dad and brother were basketball players, but our guest today had no interest in basketball. He's the Vermillion Tanager, Hazen Bye. Hazen, welcome to In Play.

Hazen Bye: Thank you.

Craig Mattick: Did you give basketball at least a shot when you were a kid?

Hazen Bye: I played a lot in my backyard, but that's about it.

Craig Mattick: The late 70s and the early 80s, Vermillion's wrestling program was just one of the best in the state. Those teams were loaded with talent and you were a big part of it. Now, you started wrestling as a seventh grader and made the varsity as a seventh grader. Kids today, they're as young as five. They're in AAU and wrestling and learning all the fundamentals, but you didn't do that, right?

Hazen Bye: No, I just did the basic AAU stuff. So didn't get to a lot of tournaments, but I guess that's about anything anybody was doing at that time in those years.

Craig Mattick: You must have been a quick learner though to the fundamentals of wrestling? No.

Hazen Bye: I didn't like to lose, maybe that's what it was. I don't know if I was a quick learner in the wrestling room, but I guess I survived and didn't like to lose maybe. Maybe that's what it was.

Craig Mattick: How much time did you put into wrestling as a youngster? Maybe right before seventh grade.

Hazen Bye: Right before seventh grade, I wrestled since the age of five, but like I say, all we ever had was districts, regions, and state for AAU. So I didn't even have wrestling shoes back then. So I got my first pair of wrestling shoes when I made varsity in seventh grade.

Craig Mattick: But your dad and your brother were basketball players. When did they give the acceptance for you being a wrestler?

Hazen Bye: Well, I'm assuming they liked it, but they never did say it was okay. My parents were very good about anything I did. They always supported me and they were just always there.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. That's awesome.

Hazen Bye: Yep. My brother, we wrestled all the time in the living room, of course as a family and cousins. It was just something we did a lot and horsed around.

Craig Mattick: So as an eighth grader though, you eventually qualified for the State A wrestling tournament. How much better were you as an eighth grader that one year after you really got into it as a seventh grader?

Hazen Bye: Well, a lot of things helped there. Of course, I had a lot of good teammates that I wrestled in the wrestle room for a couple years. So by the second year, I was definitely a lot better when you have other people that you wrestle every day, like a Tim Manning and Craig Manning and all those people in the room. So definitely got better just being in the room and hanging around them.

Craig Mattick: Eighth grader, 1979, the State A Wrestling Tournament is in Aberdeen. You qualified, but you didn't medal, but you made an impact right away on the first day of the state wrestling tournament. Tell me about that story?

Hazen Bye: Yeah. So 1979, I was a seventh grader at 98 pounds, made it to state, got fourth place at regions, so I barely made it. Got the state in the first round. I'm assuming I wrestled Mark Crossman, the number one guy in the state from Stevens, and I ended up beating him six to two. So then after that, I lost and that made Mark Crossman eliminate from the tournament because I didn't continue to win. So turned out good for the team score.

Craig Mattick: Kevin Gross of O'Gorman eventually won it at 98 that year.

Hazen Bye: That year, yes. I believe so. Yep.

Craig Mattick: Now, Vermillion would go on to win their very first state wrestling title that year. Of course, you had Bob Hirsch and Mark Manning. They won titles. You had Craig Manning get a runner up. You had Nick Karantinos and Greg Blanchard and Kevin Seibel getting top finishes. What? That's a pretty good team right there.

Hazen Bye: They were pretty good mentors, that's for sure. I grew up awful fast being a seventh grader.

Craig Mattick: Then you go into the following year. The A tournament is in Rapid City. It's 1980. Vermillion would finish third in the team's standings. Was there anything different in that off season for you to prepare for that year?

Hazen Bye: A little bit. I guess as a team, we kept on doing things in the summer. That's when we got introduced to freestyle. Went to a lot of little tournaments in the Iowa area on Saturdays. We did it as a group, had a lot of fun doing it, and just learned to love wrestling then.

Craig Mattick: Well, I mentioned Kevin Gross, who won the title at 98 the year before. You wrestle him in the finals in 1980 at 105. What do you remember from that match?

Hazen Bye: Well, I remember quite a few things because it wasn't the first time I wrestled him. First time I wrestled him, he pinned me in seventh grade. So then later at the Sioux Falls Lincoln that year, I scored a point on him and man, I thought I was a big deal. Then next time I wrestled him is at sectionals, then I ended up getting beat by him then. And then at state tournament again, I ended up wrestling him in the state finals. So it was a rematch of our sections.

Craig Mattick: Yeah, that year, Vermillion would place third. Stevens won the team title that year, but those same guys that we mentioned, the Mannings and the Karantinos, those guys are still scoring points for Vermillion. And eventually, I mean, you guys just keep rolling. 1981, state wrestling tournament is in Watertown, and you move up to 126. I mean, that was a couple of weight divisions you had to move up. How much of a change was that for you?

Hazen Bye: Well, I think from going to 105 to 126 was probably good for me, so I didn't diet, but obviously I didn't place as high as I wanted to in the podium, but oh well. It was a good year. I had fun and didn't diet as much, put it that way.

Craig Mattick: You had finished fifth that year in state. You had Dale Westberg of Huron. He won it that year. You had Doug Hughes of Spearfish. Kelly Huther of Stevens, Kevin Hall from Lincoln. You remember some of those guys?

Hazen Bye: Oh, yep. I remember all of them. So it's kind of fun to look back and remember the people that wrestled. There's quite a few of them I'm pretty good friends with now.

Craig Mattick: Were you disappointed finishing fifth that year?

Hazen Bye: Oh, yes, definitely. Definitely. But I didn't lose too much over it. I kept on going. And like I say, when we got good teammates around, they picked us up and we kept on going.

Craig Mattick: Well, things would change a lot for the next three years for you. You would become one of the top wrestlers in the state. 1982, the State A Wrestling Tournament is in Huron, and you moved up another weight class, to 132 and you win it all. You went up against Dennis Johnson of Rapid City Stevens. Had you faced him a few times during the season?

Hazen Bye: No, it was actually the first time I actually wrestled him. He was in the same weight class as I was at the Sioux Falls Lincoln Tournament, but I believe he placed like fifth or sixth. So I never seen him till the finals.

Craig Mattick: Who gave you problems in 1982? I mean, who were the ones that you barely got by?

Hazen Bye: Chris Rye from Brandon Valley.

Craig Mattick: What was it about Chris?

Hazen Bye: Well, actually he beat me in regions, so I didn't even win regions that year.

Craig Mattick: And he placed fourth in state overall.

Hazen Bye: Yeah. Yeah. I think Dennis beat him. And then so I never wrestled him in the finals, so I never even seen him again, but he was my last loss in high school career was Chris Rye.

Craig Mattick: When you look at the preparations, I mean, this is already what, your sophomore year. You win your first state title. How much time are you putting in at that time as a wrestler?

Hazen Bye: Well, like I say, we probably don't put in the time that my son put in, but it was always on our mind. We were always doing something. We all played football. We did other sports. We were always doing something. I grew up in the farm. I was always doing something there, obviously to get stronger, weight room. Probably that's probably when I got to start camps. We got sent to a few camps, but there wasn't that many available, so two or three in a year was about all we did.

Craig Mattick: At this time, you're a sophomore. You've won your first state title. Who were some of the upperclassmen that you looked up to when it came to wrestling at Vermillion?

Hazen Bye: Well, I still had Tim Manning. He was probably young again at that time and Kyle Seibel was in that class. So we spent a lot of time in the room together, wrestling each other. Chris Karantinos. Yep. There was a good little group of us there.

Craig Mattick: Going into the 1983 season, Vermillion, again, strong in the number of weight classes. Did you think that Vermillion could win another team title at State at that time?

Hazen Bye: Oh yeah. We had some very promising people. We had some depths on the team. Yeah, we were looking good.

Craig Mattick: And you did. Not only did you win your second title, your second title, you moved up another weight class to 138. What was the discussion prior to that season about moving up another weight class?

Hazen Bye: Actually, I moved up to... I tried to move up a few more, but I couldn't make varsity, so I had to drop down. I went down to 145.

Craig Mattick: Well, who was preventing you from being on the varsity?

Hazen Bye: I don't know how to say that, but we had Tim Manning above me, then Kyle Seibel above him, and he come back from injury. So as a team, we decided to move down together. So that's why I moved down and let Kyle Seibel back in the lineup.

Craig Mattick: I'm sure Kyle appreciated that.

Hazen Bye: Well, it made us a stronger team going to come to State.

Craig Mattick: Well, it may have been the strongest Vermillion team put together in a long time. You guys won State. I mean, it was not even close. You beat Mitchell by 32 points, but you look at all the guys that scored that year. You had Ryan Menard. He won at 105 and Tim Manning at 138. And then winning second, you had what? Thad Manning and Kyle Seibel, Tom French, Mike Musser. How were you able to fit in in all of that?

Hazen Bye: Well, I tell you what, we're still all friends. I mean, 12 weight classes, it was a little tougher to all fit in, but seemed like we got along good and we did what was best for the team.

Craig Mattick: You individually, you're at what, 145?

Hazen Bye: Yes.

Craig Mattick: And then you took on Tom Roach for the finals. What was that state tournament like for you? Because you had won the title the year before.

Hazen Bye: Yeah. I didn't get too worried or stressed about a lot of things at that age. So it's probably a good thing that I didn't get too stressed or too worried, but turned out to be a good state tournament. Had Tom Roach obviously in the finals, which everything turned out good, so I was very thankful.

Craig Mattick: At the time you're a junior, you've now won two titles. What was your signature move at that time as a junior?

Hazen Bye: Double leg and inside cradle.

Craig Mattick: And who did you practice on to do that every day?

Hazen Bye: Everybody that I wrestled with. A double leg. It was coming.

Craig Mattick: Had you had any serious injuries prior to becoming a senior at Vermillion?

Hazen Bye: None. None associated with wrestling. I did have a couple bruises and bumps and torn cartilage, but for the most part, I never really got hurt wrestling. It was always either football or something else.

Craig Mattick: What about football? What kind of success did you have as a football player at Vermillion?

Hazen Bye: We had a nice football team. I got to be all state, which was great. Loved playing football. I don't know how you can't at that age.

Craig Mattick: Well, in the late 70s, Gary Culver becomes the head coach of football there in Vermillion. What did he mean to you?

Hazen Bye: Everything. It's the same people I wrestled with. We played football together, so we just moved from one sport to the next sport. And the core athletes just stuck together the whole time. I mean, inside the room, classroom, outside, we were always doing something.

Craig Mattick: And then of course, in the wrestling room, Willie Seibel, Jerry Schlekeway, they were the wrestling coaches. What did those two guys mean to you? What'd you learn from them?

Hazen Bye: Well, quite a bit. I guess I always listened to directions well, so I was always the young guy in the room. So I still do to this day, but it was good. Jerry was my seventh grade coach and Willie for the next five years. And I had Greg Erickson was assistant coach and Roger Heirigs was assistant coach. So I had a lot of other great athletes in the room too, that went through the program.

Craig Mattick: So you're a two-timer now. You've won two state wrestling championships and now your senior year, the Tanagers still have a solid core back. The State A Wrestling Tournament is in Huron. Rapid City would win the team title, beating you out by only five points. But you win your third straight and you move up another two weight divisions. But I understand 155 was probably the most fun that you had at that point.

Hazen Bye: Yep. I didn't cut much weight. The practice room was fun. Senior year, I mean, I really enjoyed it. Healthy. I was blessed.

Craig Mattick: There's a lot of repetition when it comes to the fundamentals of wrestling. What kept you motivated going into your senior year, knowing you'd won two titles and were hopefully thinking you were going to win a third?

Hazen Bye: Yep. Yep. Hopefully. It was a good year. I did dominate that year. I think I had 26 pins, one forfeit and one by. And I think there was one kid I didn't pin that year.

Craig Mattick: How ironic at least one by for Hazen Bye. That's always good. But you had to beat Brian Hartwig of Watertown for the title. What kind of a match was that?

Hazen Bye: Well, it was good. I'd wrestled him at the Sioux Falls Lincoln tournament. So back then that was a pretty good size tournament. About everybody was there, so it was a good warm up for state tournament. I beat him there. And of course in the finals, I got three single legs in about the first minute, and the coach threw the towel in so we never really got to finish the match.

Craig Mattick: So that final match, you're all done as a high school wrestler at that moment. What are your feelings like there at the State A tournament in Huron? I know the team would lose only by five points, but individually your season and career is done. What were you thinking at the time?

Hazen Bye: Well, I was thinking about going eating probably. I think that was an important thing to me for six years. Discipline, eating, discipline, everything, I guess. And still pretty disciplined person actually. So enjoyed it a lot. It was a great state tournament. Turned out well for Vermillion and I really enjoyed wrestling.

Craig Mattick: You had a career record of 137 wins, 30 losses. And when you look back to all those Vermillion wrestling teams that you were a part of, you had three titles. Mark Manning had three titles. Tim Manning had three titles, plus about eight other guys who placed. How much fun was the practices with the Mannings, specifically those guys in the wrestling room?

Hazen Bye: I'm assuming it was a little more intense than other rooms. We got the work and we got our work done in the room, and I don't believe we had not a lot of messing around. We got the work done.

Craig Mattick: And the motivating factor, who were some of the guys that motivated you saying, "I want to be like them or better than them?"

Hazen Bye: Mark Manning, of course, is always up top.

Craig Mattick: Yeah.

Hazen Bye: Always leader. Yeah. Yeah. But pretty much every one of those 1979 graduates were all successful, all moved on to do great things. That class of '79 for Vermillion was a very nice class for that.

Craig Mattick: Well, it's off to South Dakota State after you graduate. Why South Dakota State?

Hazen Bye: Mike Engels come to the house numerous times, recruited me, easy place to go. So that was the place to go, I guess.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. He was just starting the program for the Jacks. Ralph Manning was the coach at South Dakota State prior to Mike, but Mike was able to convince you to go to SDSU. 1987 was your best year. You finished sixth, you were an All-American, but what was the wrestling experience like for you at SDSU?

Hazen Bye: Very good. Once again, I've got a lot of teammates there that are very good still friends with to this day. Pat Doran and Kyle Jensen. We're still good friends. We hang out. It was a nice atmosphere at Brookings. Tense was a division one where it was year round. So it was a nice, easy atmosphere and Coach Engels was a great coach, good motivator.

Craig Mattick: You had only about, what, two and a half years at SDSU? What was going on?

Hazen Bye: Yep. Two and a half years. I transferred, so I had to sit out a full year. Yeah, that was one of them. All-American one year, and then I did run into some knee injuries, and that's when I ended my career.

Craig Mattick: So really the first serious injury with wrestling came once you were at South Dakota State?

Hazen Bye: Yeah, 1987, I think. The year I'd come All-American. First year I was eligible.

Craig Mattick: Was it a specific match that had happened?

Hazen Bye: Oh, no. No. I had a couple tears in the knees, had a couple scopes done, and I just thought that was enough.

Craig Mattick: Well, they scoped the knee a lot different today than they did back in 1987, Hazen.

Hazen Bye: Yes, sir.

Craig Mattick: Well, you are at SDSU. Are you wanting to be a teacher at that time? Do you want to be a coach? Were those two things intertwined together when you were with SDSU?

Hazen Bye: Yeah, that's when I was going to school, be a physical education teacher and probably coach. And things changed at home. Got the opportunity to go home and farm, so that's what I ended up doing. I went back to Vermillion and started farming, so took over the family business.

Craig Mattick: So you did not get a job in the school district at all right away, did you?

Hazen Bye: No, I didn't. I went home, started working, and the position opened up at Vermillion High School as an assistant, so I took that on and a couple years later I was the head coach. So I was working on the farm and then going in coaching in the afternoon.

Craig Mattick: So what were those first few years of coaching like? I mean, you're transitioning at one time from being a big time wrestler to a coach. What was that transition like?

Hazen Bye: Yeah, it was a good experience for me. I learned a lot about how things worked in the classroom and I did some student teaching or substitute teaching, I should say, since I was employed by the school as a wrestling coach. So I actually got to go in and do some fill in work for a few people. But I was probably only 25 years old at the time, so I wasn't much older than some of the kids I was coaching. And friends with them also still to this day. So it was a grown up experience, I guess, as far as working in the classroom and coaching.

Craig Mattick: And then raising a family too.

Hazen Bye: Yeah, my wife felt pretty good with that. So everybody worked together. It was nice.

Craig Mattick: Well, the Bye name would continue on there in Vermillion. Your son eventually became a part of the wrestling program and you had your cousin's son also on the team. What was it like with those two guys on the team?

Hazen Bye: Well, so I took a little break from coaching, but then when I come back and started coaching again, obviously we did a little more off season wrestling than prior years. So we were pretty much all summer traveling somewhere to major tournaments, wrestling in the room. We'd go up to Brookings for camps. We went everywhere. So a little different than when I wrestled. The boys did a little more. I'd say they had to work a little harder than I had to.

Craig Mattick: So Regan, your son, how many times was there conversations at home about certain wrestling moves or the attitude, the fundamentals of wrestling?

Hazen Bye: Yeah, it was tough. It was tough to be a dad and a coach. He probably didn't get as much love as mom wanted him to get from me, but it worked out okay.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. There's coaches who say that it's the most difficult thing they have to go through, coaching their son on the team. Overall though, it worked out pretty well, but what kind of a challenge was it for you, Hazen?

Hazen Bye: It was a challenge. One of the bigger challenges was that Regan and Brett had to wrestle off. They both wanted to be at the same weight class and had to wrestle off and Regan lost. So guess what? He made a decision to go down a weight class and that's when he got to be a state champ.

Craig Mattick: What kind of a coach were you?

Hazen Bye: Hands-on. Did a lot of wrestling. As a coach, it was a hands-on. I didn't ask the kids to do anything that I wouldn't do as far as working out or getting up at 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM. I was kind of a hands-on coach that way and didn't expect the kids to do something I wouldn't do.

Craig Mattick: Was there one thing in the coaching world that you were much different than Willie Seibel when he was your coach?

Hazen Bye: Yeah, I guess one of the philosophies, you want to get better, wrestle more. And like I say, we did it year round. We started doing lifting in the morning and second workouts in the morning. So like I say, they worked hard to get where they got, Brett and Regan. And anybody these days, if they're winning these days, they're working hard.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. Well, Regan would be just like dad. Regan would win three wrestling titles, and it was his sophomore, junior, and senior year. What were those special moments like when he was able to have his hand raised, and win a state title, and you're there on the sideline? What was that like?

Hazen Bye: It was awesome. The first one was obviously for me unexpected, but Regan, he was confident. We tried to give him confidence on and off the mat. And I think he was a smarter wrestler. He was more aware of what his opponents did. Just all around probably when it come to wrestling, Regan off the mat and did his homework of kids he was wrestling. He was very good at that on his own.

Craig Mattick: Hazen, you would coach Vermillion for 11 years, a couple years sandwiched in there with Dakota Valley for a couple of years. What was that experience like?

Hazen Bye: Oh, it was very good. I got in a couple extra rooms. Dakota Valley is one of them with Ryan Menard. I moved back from Arizona and I was looking for something to do, and I went down there and started coaching with him. So reunited with him and coached. I actually got in some practices down in Mesa, Arizona where Nick Karantinos was coaching. So it was fun to see other states, other towns, how they ran their practices and their programs. And I think it all around it made me a better coach.

Craig Mattick: Ah, I had forgotten that Karantinos went on to coach, but you think about it. All those guys that you wrestled with when you were on that wrestling team, Bob Hirsch, he went to what? Millbank and was at Watertown. And Kyle Seibel, he's been at Canton and now Mark Manning, of course, the head coach at Nebraska. How wild is that?

Hazen Bye: Yeah, very wild. And Nick down in Mesa High School in Arizona. Yeah, Tim Manning. I think he volunteered a little bit at high school in Minnesota where he's at. So yeah, it's kind of fun to see everybody go on and do their thing and be successful.

Craig Mattick: You got out of coaching in 2015, but do you still stay in contact with all those guys?

Hazen Bye: Yes. For the most part, I do. Try to make as many duels as possible, state tournaments as possible. Yeah, for the most part. Well, Facebook makes it a lot easier, but most part we do stay in touch.

Craig Mattick: Well, Mark Manning probably has the biggest spotlight as a coach as he's with Nebraska. And what was it like for you to see your teammate go on to a pretty big spot there in wrestling?

Hazen Bye: Oh, it's awesome. I try to make it down there as much as possible to support him. I think he's doing a great job all around, classroom, wrestlers, everything. So obviously it's fun to see him be successful, but it's about the top you can get in the big 10.

Craig Mattick: You stepped away from coaching in 2015. What was the reason why?

Hazen Bye: Well, so I was never in the school system, so it was always a second job for me. So I owned a company with my sister, Dakota Realty in Vermillion, and pretty much had to get to work.

Craig Mattick: Well, you followed in your dad's footsteps.

Hazen Bye: Yeah.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. Your dad, Gary, he sold real estate and he's an auctioneer, and that's what you're doing today.

Hazen Bye: Yep. I just kept playing 42 years I've been auctioneering. So done a lot of charities, do a lot of land sales, do a little bit of everything. Jack of all trades when it comes to that.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. What's a normal day like for you today?

Hazen Bye: So at Dakota Realty, we're pretty versatile. We got land sales, we got home sales, but we also do about 500 units of property management of college kids. So you never know what might happen in any given day.

Craig Mattick: Well, Hazen, you were inducted into the Vermillion Tanager Hall of Fame in 2016. What did that mean to you?

Hazen Bye: It was great. I got to go to a couple others and see some of my other teammates get introduced, and that was awesome. For me, I think it was awesome because my kids were older. They appreciated it. They supported me and just something that we enjoyed as a family, and they got to see me in a different light than they usually see me.

Craig Mattick: I did some searching of wrestling records in South Dakota, specifically the individual titles here in South Dakota. I may have missed someone, but at least those with multiple individual wrestling titles, there are only two father-son combinations who have won multiple wrestling titles in Class A. You and Regan, both three titles. I mean, that's the most father-son duo in Class A. But I also found out that you got Boyce and Brent Voorhees out in Sturgis, along with their dad, Cooper, who wrestled at Rapid City Stevens, they had a couple of state titles. So you and Regan pretty much got some great history there.

Hazen Bye: Well, that's good to know. I don't know if I knew that statistic.

Craig Mattick: Well, then it's at least class A. Class B, there's a lot more to go through.

Hazen Bye: Oh yeah, I bet there is.

Craig Mattick: With the class B wrestlers. But how special is it to you that you won three titles, but also your son was able to do the same thing?

Hazen Bye: Very special. Like you say, I guess not a lot of people have done it. So I guess it is more special than I thought it was, but we're good friends. I'd say we're best friends at this point. He looks up to me and I look up to him and we are happy with the way things turned out, and I guess hard work paid off for him.

Craig Mattick: What's the biggest thing you're seeing in wrestling today in South Dakota? A lot of these kids, they're pulling close to 50 matches every year. I don't think you ever wrestled 50 times in one year, did you, Hazen?

Hazen Bye: No. 32 is probably the most I got in one year, 32 matches. But the thing I see most is not just wrestling, but all sports. The kids are more well-rounded, educated, more athletic, how to eat properly, all the above. I think the kids are so much more advanced than we used to be when I wrestled in high school.

Craig Mattick: Last one for you, Hazen. Of those three state championships, was there one title that meant more to you than the others?

Hazen Bye: Maybe my sophomore year. I wasn't expected to win state title. I got beat a couple times that year and I lost a lot of weight that year. So it was a tough year, long year. It turned out well. So I'd say my sophomore year at 132 was my special one.

Craig Mattick: In Play with Craig Mattick is made possible by Horton in Britain, where smiling at work happens all the time. Apply now at hortonww.com. If you like what you're hearing, please give us a five-star review wherever you get your podcast. It helps us gain new listeners. This has been In Play with me, Craig Mattick. This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.