David Taylor (born December 5, 1990) is an American amateur wrestler. Representing Penn State University, he is a four time Division I All-American and two time Division I National Champion.
In 2018, Taylor became only the 12th American man to win the Ivan Yarygin Memorial Invitational, which is widely considered to be the toughest open wrestling tournament in the world. He competed at 86kg, and defeated the 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the quarterfinals on his way to winning by pin in the finals.
Video David Taylor (wrestler, born 1990)
Early life
Growing up in Wyoming, Taylor was presented with a unique set of opportunities in his practice facilities where he trained with famous collegiate wrestler Cael Sanderson, along with Sanderson's father and coach, Steve, before moving to St. Paris Ohio with his family just before the start of his junior high career.
During his youth, Taylor experienced great success in the sport of wrestling. In 2005, Taylor captured a Cadet National freestyle wrestling championship, FILA Cadet National Folk-style wrestling championship and a silver medal in Cadet National Greco-Roman nationals. Taylor continued his dominance on the mat in his teen years as he won a Cadet National Greco-Roman title in 2006, and both a Junior Free-style and Greco-Roman title in 2007.
Maps David Taylor (wrestler, born 1990)
Amateur wrestling career
High school
Taylor began his high school wrestling career at the 103 pound class, where he would move on to capture two Ohio State Division II state titles for the St. Paris Graham High School Falcons. In the remaining two years of his high school wrestling career, Taylor won two more Ohio State Division II state titles in the 112 pound and 135 pound classes respectively.
Adding to his resume, Taylor was twice named an Asics first team All-American. In addition, Taylor became the first and only wrestler to win four consecutive Walsh Ironman gold medals. Taylor ended his high school wrestling career with an overall record of 180 wins with just two losses and was awarded the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award for the nation, which is presented to the top wrestler in the nation, judged by not only by athletic achievement but also by character, academic success and community involvement. Taylor graduated from St. Paris Graham High School with a 4.0 grade point average.
College
Originally committing to Iowa State to wrestle under then head coach Cael Sanderson, Taylor secured his release and followed coach Sanderson to Penn State, where Taylor wrestled five seasons as a Nittany Lion. Taylor began his wrestling and academic career at Penn State in 2009, where he redshirted for his freshman year, and did not compete with the varsity team. During Taylor's redshirt year, he was a competitor at five individual open college tournaments. Taylor claimed gold medals in three of the five tournaments and posted an overall record of 21 wins and two losses.
During Taylor's first year of varsity competition in the 2010-11 year, he completed the regular season of competition undefeated and won the Big Ten Championship tournament. Taylor finished in second place in the NCAA Division I national tournament, where he received his only loss of the season in the finals competition. He was pinned by Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State University. He completed his first year of college competition with a final record of 38 wins with just one loss and All-American honors.
As a redshirt sophomore, Taylor posted an overall record of 32-0, winning a national title, and scoring a NCAA record 22 points in the Division I National finals over his opponent Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh University. After a perfect season as a sophomore, Taylor was awarded with the Dan Hodge Trophy, which was implemented by Mike Chapman in 1995.
In his junior year of competition, Taylor once again obtained a spot in the NCAA Division I national finals, where he was defeated by opponent, and childhood friend and practice partner, Kyle Dake of Cornell University. Taylor completed his junior year of competition with a final record of 30-2, with both losses of the season against Dake of Cornell University.
During Taylor's final season as a Nittany Lion, he claimed his second NCAA Division I national gold medal by defeating Tyler Caldwell of 6-0 in the national finals at 165 pounds, and earned his fourth All-American honors. With his undefeated senior season, Taylor was awarded his second Dan Hodge Trophy, becoming only the third wrestler in the award's 20 year span to win the trophy multiple times, and was named the most dominant wrestler of the NCAA Division I national wrestling tournament. Taylor also became the only wrestler in the history of the Penn State wrestling program to win four Big Ten titles. In addition to the Dan Hodge Trophy, Taylor was named the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year, named after Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. Taylor was the second Penn State male athlete to receive the award in Penn State history. Also, Taylor was nominated for an ESPN ESPY award for best male college athlete of the year at the end of his collegiate career in 2014.
Taylor was a part of a Nittany Lion wrestling team that won four consecutive NCAA Division I Team national titles, one in each of Taylor's varsity seasons.
Olympic/International
Since graduating from Penn State, Taylor focused on qualifying for the United States Olympic wrestling team for a chance to wrestle in the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he aimed to compete at the 74 kilogram weight against returning United States Olympic gold medalist, Jordan Burroughs. Coach Bruce Burnett of the United States wrestling team believed that Taylor is poised for great success in international competition and even stated "David is on track to be a world or Olympic champion". However, due to the dominance of Jordan Burroughs, Taylor chose to go up in weight class to 86kg. He missed out on Olympic qualification when J'den Cox won the weight class at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. Cox went on to take bronze at the Olympic games in Rio.
Taylor also competed at 86 kg at the U.S. World Team Trials in June 2017. After winning the challenge tournament, Taylor faced Cox in the finals and lost the best of 3 match series, 2 matches to 1.
Endorsements
In 2015, Taylor and Adidas released a line of wrestling apparel labeled "M2" after Taylor's college nickname "Magic Man". Taylor received the nickname "Magic Man" during an interesting exchange of events during the Big Ten Championship bout his senior year at Penn State as he turned an unfavorable situation for himself into a takedown that contributed to him capturing his fourth consecutive Big Ten title. The apparel line began with wrestling shoes and since has expanded to clothing, posters and Adidas sponsored events.
Along with his clothing, Taylor is also a promoter of the sport of wrestling. Taylor regularly attends wrestling clinics to help younger wrestlers become better at the sport, such as the Journeyman wrestling camps, where thousands of young fans and athletes gather to learn from the Penn State two time national champion.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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