Not Just A Game with Dathan Wickson Jr.Dathan Wickson Jr. survived brain surgery back when he was first entering Boylan High School, and after a speedy and determined recovery, last year he became the lone Titans wrestler to qualify for state last winter.
Now Wickson Jr. is being named the Rockford Register Star’s Passion and Perseverance Award Winner, which will be announced during Thursday night’s virtual banquet on rrstar.com. On Thursday morning, he and his father and coach, Dathan Wickson Sr., will be on NBC’s the Today Show with Olympic gold-medal winning wrestler Jordan Burroughs to talk about the banquet, and the award.
“It’s all like a Walt Disney movie, you know,” Wickson Sr. said of all that his family has been through, and now for the opportunity to be on the Today Show with his son and Burroughs. “It was all unexpected... The Today Show, and Jordan Burroughs, who we really look up to, he’s like the Michael Jordan of wrestling. The way he carries himself with his character and the way he displays his morals, to be able to talk to him and have my son be able to express himself to him, and all this attention and recognition, it’s just unbelievable. We’re just grateful and happy.”
“Not Just a Game” can be found at rrstar.com/sports. Or you can get the latest episode by subscribing for free to “From the Newsroom: Rockford Register Star” wherever you listen to podcasts.
Host: Jay Taft: jtaft@rrstar.com; Twitter: @JayTaft
Produced and edited by multimedia journalist Scott P. Yates.