Kendall Duane Cross (born February 24, 1968) is an American

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

, wrestling coach and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist. He won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, Georgia, where he wrestled in the 57 kilogram (125.5 pounds) weight class. He defeated

Guivi Sissaouri Guivi "Gia" Sissaouri ( ka, გივი სისაური, tr, born April 15, 1971) is a Georgian-Canadian former freestyle wrestler. Biography Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Sissaouri began wrestling at age ten. He would later become a citizen ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

5–3 in the final match. Cross also competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

where he placed sixth. He had defeated the eventual winner and the two-time world champion

Alejandro Puerto Alejandro Puerto Díaz (born October 1, 1964) is a retired male wrestler from Cuba and Olympic champion in Freestyle wrestling. Puerto competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona where he won a gold medal in the men's freestyle wrestling ...

of Cuba in a previous tournament but lost 10–6 in round six of the elimination rounds. His bracket at the 1996 Olympics is considered one of the deepest of all time, with 8 former or future World and Olympic champions competing in the event.

Early career

In high school, Cross wrestled for

Mustang High School Mustang High School, often shortened to MHS, is a public school located in Mustang, Oklahoma, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Mustang Public Schools public school district and serves around 6,800 students. The complex contai ...

Mustang, Oklahoma Mustang is a city in the southeastern corner of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Mustang's population was 19,879 at the 2020 census, a 14.3% increase from 17,398 in 2010. The city is now ...

where he won a state title. He wrestled collegiately for

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

where he was a three time All-American and won the NCAA Championship in 1989. Kendall graduated from OSU with a major in political science and economics.

Highlight achievements

*Distinguished Member of the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stil ...

, inducted 2002 *Three time US National Champion *Outstanding Freestyle Wrestler at the U. S. Nationals, 1992 and 1995 *1997 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year *1992 Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin Tournament Champion (he defeated the strong world wrestler

Bagavdin Umakhanov Bagautdin Mustafayevich Umakhanov (born 2 June 1971 in Khasavyurt) is a Russian former wrestler who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics. He is the brother of Murad Umakhanov. Bagautdin Umakhanov is known for his victories over Olympic gold medali ...

)Museum of Ivan Yarygin. Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin.
/ref> *Espoir National and Espoir World Cup Champion, 1988 *Bronze medal at Junior World Championships, 1986 *World Cup Champion, 1997 *Olympic Champion, 1996

Coaching

After college he served as an assistant coach at

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795 ...

in Chapel Hill, NC while training for the Olympics. He also served as a coach for the Sunkist Kids and the Dave Schultz Wrestling Clubs. Kendall went on to become an assistant coach at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and worked at

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. While in

, he founded the Kendall Cross Gold Medal Wrestling Club, which developed young athletes. Then after moving to Dallas, helped coach at Dallas Dynamite, with other Olympians

Brandon Slay Brandon Douglas Slay (born October 14, 1975) is an American former freestyle wrestler. He won an Olympic gold medal for the United States in wrestling at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Slay also helped found Dallas Dynamite wrestling club in Dallas, ...

and Jamill Kelly. In addition to helping coach at Dallas Dynamite, he also coaches at Trinity Christian Academy.

Family

Kendall has two children, Kennedy and London Cross, and currently resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

References

External links