Heber Valley’s Cael Sanderson: 20th Anniversary Olympic Gold

HEBER, Utah — The Summer Olympics are less than a month away, marking the 20th anniversary of Heber Valleys own Cael Sanderson’s Gold Medal victory in the 2004 Games in Athens Greece, birthplace of the Olympics. For those who know Cael, and have followed his wrestling career, the road to Gold is a familiar one.

Cael was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Steve and Debbie Sanderson. Wrestling has been a part of the Sanderson Family for generations: Caels Grandfather, Norman Sanderson was one of the original founders of youth freestyle in Utah. Norman’s attitude and philosophy is one that has been passed down to his sons and grandsons. His motto, “if you have fun and work hard, winning will take care of itself.” Steve, Caels father, wrestled in high school and for BYU where he was the WAC champion. He was also the coach at Wasatch High.

Cael has 2 older brothers, Cody, Cole and a younger brother Cyler, so in a home with 4 boys, it would be natural for wrestling to be a natural occurrence. How did mom handle it? Debbie said she didn’t mind that her 3 oldest sons have always liked to play rough with each other. Nor did she mind seeing one of the boys grab another by the legs, heave him to the ground and apply a full Nelson. Not only did she not mind they behaved like this-she encouraged it.

With this kind of support from family-it’s easier to see where Caels focus came from. In school, at Wasatch High, Cael had a record of 127-3 and 4 times an Utah State Champion. From there, he followed his older brothers to Iowa State. After red-shirting in the 97-98 season, he won all 39 of his matches to win his first NCAA and Big 12 Conference Title. His next 3 seasons were identical compiling 40 wins and no losses finishing with only perfect in NCAA Divisional 1 history at 59-0.

Sports Illustrated named his college career as the second most impressive college sports feat of all time, second only behind the setting of 4 world records by Jesse Owens in 1935.

He was also a three-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner. To the newer fans of wrestling, this award is collegiate wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. He was the first to win the award multiple times, and the only person to win it three times.

Let’s not forget, he was featured on the cover of Wheaties breakfast cereal in 2002. Which leads us to Athens Greece, 2004 where Cael won all 5 of his matches in the 84k (185lb) freestyle to win the Gold Medal.

So, 20 years later, what is Cael doing now? In 2009 Penn State named Cael as their head wrestling coach where he continues his winning ways. Penn State has won 11 NCAA titles, coaching his wrestlers to 39 individual titles. Penn State will be sending 4 wrestlers with Penn State ties to the games in Paris in July.

With such an amazing run of success, you would expect to find a “bigger than life” attitude found in so many athletes today. But not with the Sanderson family. In an interview a few years ago, Cael was asked to explain their personal coaching and coaching philosophy in a single word. His response: Gratitude. He went on to say

“There are a lot of words that are important. But I do think the foundation for success is based on gratitude.” He then said “Everything-peace of mind, happiness, getting the most out of what you have- springs off the word gratitude.” Having the opportunity to meet Cael’s parents, it’s easy to see where this comes from.

Cael apparently had clarity of setting goals and making good choices at an early age. His mother said “he told his first grade teacher he wanted to be an Olympic champion, a good student, and a nice person.”

As the boys continued to compete, Debbie had been like a second coach for her sons. “She knows what is going on” Steve said. “She’s really good at analyzing what the kids are doing wrong. In fact, it would surprise most people that she’s as good as she is at it.” Debbie said she would holler at them and they would listen to me over their junior high coaches.”

As important as wrestling was to the family, so was school and learning. Cael, Cody and Cole finished with GPA’s of 3.8, 3.97 and 4.0 respectively while at Wasatch High.

These expectations and principles set at home prepared them for the experiences on their international wrestling trips and when they were recruited. At a very young age, 16, Cael followed in his older brothers Cody and Cole’s footsteps traveling to countries, like Hungary, to wrestle. Cody said “we had our goals…. It was good to see the world, meet other kids. I feel that to interact with difference viewpoints and beliefs provided an enlightening benefit.” Said Cael, “the trip abroad was a great learning experience both for wrestling and for life.”

When Cael had just advanced to the conference finals, he humbly gave credit to his opponent for putting up a fight. “I’ve wrestled him 7 times, and this was the best he’s ever been against me.”

These qualities and principles of wrestler Cael, or now part of Coach Cael at Penn State.

Cael said he is often asked by parents how to make their kids dominating wrestlers. But they don’t listen. They expect me to say the crazy stuff like “have them run sprints around the block, dragging cinder blocks, or feed them raw meat, lock them in a closet with a badger, have their 5 year old do 100 pushups after they finish their 4 hour workout, take them to every tournament possible as soon as they can walk, have a belt ready to whip them if they lose,etc etc. I tell them….this is the biggest mistake parents can make with their children in athletics (or most anything for that matter) is to blur the lines between why they support and love them. It is very easy for kids to mistake why a parent is proud of them. Kids need to know that their parents love them because they are their son or daughter. To help kids reach their greatest potential, they need to know that their parents support their effort- not whether they win or lose. The ultimate goal of sports should be to get an education and prepare for the rest of your life, and of course have fun. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. There are kids who want to compete at every possible championship out there. My advice, take them to a few tournaments, but make it a privilege. Hold them back a little so they really develop a love to compete. Tough love is also important to develop a good wrestler. That’s a different subject though. My mom was not afraid to get in my face and let me know if she didn’t think I gave it my best.

For young wrestlers reading this- it is important that you realize your parents, no matter how much pressure you think they put on you, just want what is best for you. They want you to win because they want to see you successful. They want to see you happy.”

For brother Cole, he is a coach at Utah Valley University, Cyler founded Sanderson Wrestling Academy in 2016, while Cael and Cody continue coaching at Penn State.

Twenty years….and still showing how to win. The Sanderson men are following the advice and example from parents and family by embracing Grandfather Norman’s motto: “If you have fun and work hard, winning will take care of itself.”

This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.