Wrestling: Marian Central’s Charlie Fitzgerald praised for act of high-character

OREGON – Marian Central senior Charlie Fitzgerald sat alone, leaning up against a wall in Oregon’s Blackhawk Center, with tears running down his face.

Fitzgerald’s individual season was over, having lost to Princeton’s Augie Christiansen in the 145-pound wrestleback semifinals, the round that decides which competitors advance to the state tournament.

Fitzgerald lost in a major decision 12-3, and will have no shot at a state medal next week in Champaign.

But Fitzgerald earned something else in defeat Saturday at the Class 1A Oregon Sectional. He gained the admiration and respect of the crowd. He received undying gratefulness from his opponent.

Fitzgerald did what he thought was right, rather than what would have benefited him. He could have stayed prostrate on the mat after being slammed on his head and wrestled at state next week.

Except he could not stay prostrate.

“We don’t like to win like that at Marian Central,” Fitzgerald said. “We don’t want to win an unfair match. I didn’t deserve to take that away from that kid. He showed up, he deserved to win that match. It’s not my job to take that away from him.”

It was a crushing loss, but Fitzgerald took some solace in acting with the utmost sportsmanship.

“We were scared he wasn’t going to get up,” said Christiansen, who is 45-5. “He’s a very good kid. That showed a lot about who he is as a person. He could have laid there and I would have been done. That really shows that, more than wrestling, how good of a person he is.”

Christiansen held an 8-1 lead in the third period when he picked up Fitzgerald and put him down hard. The referee called it a dangerous hold and Fitzgerald was awarded a point. If he could not continue, Fitzgerald would have won by forfeit.

Princeton’s coaches were upset, thinking Christiansen was finished. The trainer attended to Fitzgerald, who was evaluated, cleared and given 2 minutes of recovery time. He laid there for almost all of the time before popping up and trotting across the mat.

Princeton coach Steve Amy has seen that situation before.

“Unfortunately I have. It’s bad when they do stay down, especially in a match like that that’s one-sided at the time,” Amy said. “I’ve seen guys do that to get to the state finals. It shows a lot about his character and what kind of a young man he is.

“I didn’t think he was going to get up. He popped up out of nowhere. I’m glad he did. It shows a lot about the young man’s character.”

First-year Marian co-head coaches Ryan Prater and Jordan Blanton ached for Fitzgerald, but praised him for doing what was honorable.

“It’s character. We want to do things the right way,” Prater said. “A lot of emotions are flying, people are going crazy and it’s like, ‘Take the full time. Relax. And we’ll see how you feel after. If you’re not knocked out and you’re not in any danger, you’re ready to go.’

“We’re not going to win the wrong way. The way we build a program, we want to win the right way. Chuckie got up and was ready to go. I think we had 10 seconds left. It was time to make a decision. Chuck’s a stand-up guy, and I don’t think he wanted to win that way either.”

Fitzgerald had a strong season, finishing 35-12, and will get to wrestle with the Hurricanes at the Oregon Dual Team Sectional on Tuesday, Feb. 21. But he will not wrestle at the individual state tournament, where he aspired to medal next week.

A half-hour after the match, Fitzgerald hurt more mentally than physically, although admitted he had a headache.

“I feel crushed right now. My dreams were to be a state champ, and to not even make it out was devastating,” he said. “The match was 3-1 and I got into a scramble and got tossed onto my back, and that was really it. It’s hard to come back when you give up a big five-point throw. I don’t even know how I feel right now.”

As sad as he was, and as badly as he wanted to qualify, Fitzgerald just could not lay on the mat and take the forfeit.

“It (stinks) that I’m not able to compete next weekend in Champaign, but I know if I was in his shoes, he probably didn’t mean to do that, and that’s taking away a dream from somebody, and it’s really not my job to do,” Fitzgerald said. “It was a hard decision to make, but I made the right decision.”

Blanton, like Prater, was proud of Fitzgerald doing a most difficult thing.

“There was that moment in time, ‘Does he get up? Does he stay down?’ " Blanton said. “It shows the character there, what our program’s about, what we preach to these guys. There’s health and safety first and second, doing the hard things.

“The easy thing would have been to stay down. The hard thing is to get up and finish that match. It shows a lot about his character that he got up and finished it. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”