By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – With each pose, Rulon Gardner would provide a bit of a headlock, or toss a kid or two over his shoulder.

Maybe he’d get a little pushing and shoving going, a little grappling for the camera.

“There are some athletes that won’t even touch people when they take pictures,” said Gardner, the Olympic champion wrestler. “I’m there to interact and have fun – be a person they can relate to. If I just stand there stiff, they can’t relate to me.

“But if I’m there, a person just like them, and doing goofy stuff just like them, they can say Coach, he’s just like me but he adds another level. He’s a bad boy when he wrestles, but he’s just like me.'”

Gardner received instant fame when he defeated Russian Aleksander Karelin in the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia. Karelin had never had a point scored against him before the Afton, Wyoming, farmboy made history. Gardner went on to win a bronze medal in 2004, despite having to overcome surgery on his feet following a snowmobile accident.

He’s retired from active competition, but while many know Gardner’s story, he’s using his fame to help them learn from him.

Gardner was at the Portland Expo Friday night to speak at the Friendship Series XXI. He told the wrestlers in attendance to push hard and to battle through challenges. When Gardner talks about persevering, he knows what he’s talking about.

Growing up as the youngest of nine kids, Gardner worked hard to find a way of life outside the dairy farm. He graduated high school at a fifth-grade reading level. In college, professors told him he would never get a degree. He was the underdog to represent the United States in Syndey. After his win over Karelin, his frostbitten feet from the snowmobile accident nearly derailed his wrestling career, but in every instance, Gardner battled through.

He admits it’s an amazing story. Though he doesn’t seem himself as a role model, he understands the power of his example.

Friday he offered encouragement, signed pictures, shirts and wrestling gear. He even got a chance to talk to a women’s brother serving in Afghanistan.

“Is what I’m doing that great? But if it helps another human being see the strength inside of themselves and help them become a better person, that’s fine,” said Gardner.

Had he given into temptation to quit at one point, he admits he likely would have become a teacher and feels that might have been a more worthy calling.

“I could have started teaching right after college,” said Gardner, who does motivational speaking appearances all over the country and has a book “Never Stop Pushing” coming out in September. “Which is better? Which is more important? This is a great life, but truly some of the most happy and the most influential people in the world are the high school teachers. They have 300 kids and those 300 kids are nothing but a reflection of them. They learn to become champions because of one teacher.”

So Gardner is using his story and this platform to show what hard work, dedication, discipline and a never-say-die attitude can accomplish. He spent two-plus years after using up his eligibility to get his degree at Nebraska. Now he’s teaching in his own way.

“That for me is the opportunity I worked for so many years ago in education – to be a teacher,” said Gardner, who hopes to coach in the future. “Wrestling was great, but teaching is my true calling.”

He says coaches are the real inspiration for athletes. He said he was spurred on by family and people that surrounded him and encouraged him. He’s no different than any other farm boy in any other small town, and that’s what he wants people to see.

“Being a teacher isn’t just about teaching physical education, but teaching them to be a better human being” he said. “That’s the kind of impact I want to have. I want to convince them that athletes out there appreciate what they did for us. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are now.”