Interview with Former Cowboy Wrestler Hardell Moore on the Oklahoma Wrestling Academy

Hardell Moore was a two time All-American for the Cowboys in the late 1990’s. Even though his eligibility has been used up he’s still a big contributor to the Cowboy wrestling program.

As head of the Oklahoma Wrestling Academy Hardell is one of the top club coaches in the entire country. He has been an instrumental piece in the development of youth wrestling in the state of Oklahoma and a number of wrestlers that have come through the Cowboy program came through the Oklahoma Wrestling Academy.

I spoke with him recently about the academy, his guys that have come through OSU, and what to expect from the ones on their way in.

Seth Duckworth: I know there are quite a few guys that came through the OWA that were/are Cowboys: Could you give us a bit of a rundown on who all they are?

Hardell Moore: So we started out as Edmond Generals, then Edmond Generals transferred into OWA when we started doing our first year-round wrestling academy, so I claim Kyle Garcia, I coached him, Landry Chappel was an Edmond General, Schafer (Austin Schafer), by the time we got to OWA we had Derek White as a senior, then Kaden (Gfeller) who’s up there, Colt Denny, you just signed Colt Newton and we also had Boo Lewallen.

Here’s Hardell with Boo and recent commit Colt Denny at the grand opening of the new OWA facility.

@WrestlingOK great turnout today for our Grand Opening. Thanks to everyone that came out and showed support.#Oktuff #OWA pic.twitter.com/RQdbgYzuQi

— Hardell Moore (@hardell_m) September 10, 2018

SD: We’ve had a chance to see most of those guys, but Colt Denney is just a freshman, and Newton just committed. What would you say fans should expect from those guys?

HM: #1 a good effort. Colt Denny’s going to be young, he’s coming in around that 157-174 range and that’s where I came in as well. He’s going to be wrestling some grown men, so expect a good attitude and effort, they’ll have their ups and downs just as anyone does getting used to that college wrestling grind. More importantly, expect a good young man that’s going to do what he needs to do on and off the mat. He’s going to make the university proud, his self-proud, and his parents proud and his coaches proud. That goes for both Colts. They may not know much about Newton right now, but they’re going to.

SD: You mention Derek White, he’s grown up a lot since 119 pounds in high school. What are your thoughts on that?

HM: If you’ve ever met his dad and his brother. They’re shorter guys, but they are some stout gentleman. Funny story, but Derek and Preston Weigel were at a lot of national tournaments and Preston was always bigger than Derek through youth. They never wrestled. It’s awesome to see those two guys at the same weight and now it’s flip-flopped where Derek is bigger than Preston. Derek wrestled 119 as a freshman, I think 145 as a sophomore, and I think 170 something as a junior and 195 as a senior. His dad was always worried that he wouldn’t sprout, but I’ll tell him now I’m not live wrestling with him. He’s all there. He came so close last year and I know that kinda hit him. I told him I’m always in his corner even when I’m not in it. I had a chance to catch up with him at the social after NCAA’s. Understand it’s a grind, it’s tough, I tried to prepare him the best I could for it, but it’s one of those things they have to go through themselves to understand it a little bit more.

SD: You’ve been recognized by OSU with the Gallagher award for what you do for wrestling. What is it that makes you give back to the sport?

HM: First thing is I have a wife that really understands it’s more than just wrestling. We actually met in Fargo when she was going to school there. Wrestling has opened up many doors for me. The values that wrestling teaches young men and women. Regardless of if you stick with it forever or just a few years you’re going to understand hard work, determination, humility, motivation, when you get knocked down in life you have to get back up. There’s just a real laundry list of things you learn. It’s allowed me to try to give back to these wrestlers and teach them some things that I’ve learned, where I could’ve done better, but the big thing, prepare them for life when they’re graduated. If they have Olympic aspirations or if they don’t and they realize they got to go to work. When it’s done and finished I just want people to say that Hardell Moore was one of a kind and really loved the sport and helping young women and men reach their goals on and off the mat. The academy is all volunteer. It’s a non-profit 501(C)(3) anyone that has anything to do with the academy is a volunteer and I think that’s a unique thing.

SD: So you all just opened a new facility?

HM: Yes. One of my slogans is it takes a village. Our first facility was an old Dollar General. We were there for five years and really didn’t have a blueprint, I had some guys approach me about opening a year-round academy. Carl Belford and Steve Asbury, I coached their kids, one thing led to another and here we go. We had a good five years there in Edmond and we just moved to 6725 Miramar BLVD in Oklahoma City. We have a parent that is a general contractor, Matt Richardson, he went out and found a building. It’s hard to beat. It’s more centrally located and allows us to get more kids in from different locations. We want it to be easy for kids coming from wherever to come in. It’s going to be good. I’m really looking forward to it.

SD: Any other thoughts?

HM: I love that I have a lot of boys up there (at OSU). I love that I can call them and they can reach out to me whenever they want. I get a good feeling when I see my young men and they’re doing the right things and living the right way, regardless of what college they’re at. That’s what I’m trying to continue to do with these kids as they come up in the OWA program. I just thank my wife and my support system we have with parents and volunteers, it really takes a village and we’re going to continue to try and build and get better.