The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1059287
64 ■ THE WOLFPACKER his triumphant return … and started 0-1-1. It was another life lesson. "My takeaway was that happens when you put all this pressure on yourself to win every match," he said. "I knew I had prepared well and just needed to go out and have fun. "If I was going to have a season of wrestling tight and trying to win tight matches, it wasn't going to be fun. … It wasn't the start I expected, but that was okay. I went back to the power of positive thinking." With the change in mindset, Turner had different results, and the expected wins followed. Although Turner met Krieger, the defending national champion, twice more and lost all three times during the regular season, he stayed positive. It hurt that in both dual matches, a win would've clinched a team victory over No. 1 Iowa State, and he lost by one point each time. Then Krieger pulled out a 3-1 victory in the East-West All-Star meet, but Turner stayed dedicated to his new mindset. He knew he'd have one more chance at the NCAA Championships — if everything went right. "I will say I was never that focused ever, nor have I ever been that focused since," he admitted with a laugh. "I stepped on that mat every match and said I am not giving up a point. This guy's going to have to rip my leg off to score. "My junior year, I wasn't prepared for that semifinals match. My senior year, it was 'nothing for free.' That's what I kept saying to myself." By the end, it was more like nothing for nothing. Turner entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed and beat his first three opponents by a combined score of 33-0. There was no looking ahead in the semifinals, either, and Turner posted a 1-0 victory to set up the final showdown with Krieger. After a 1-1 tie in regulation, the rivals — who still exchange the occasional text — went to overtime. Just like when Turner beat Krieger during his junior year at the NCAA Championships, he es- caped during his turn on bottom and rode out Krieger for the victory. The win clinched Turner his coveted place atop the final podium and the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler award. The only point he surrendered was for riding time in regulation against Krieger — who Turner remembers eclipsed the required one-minute mark by only five to 10 seconds — while he cemented a spot among Pennsyl- vania's six 1988 NCAA champions, including three from District 11. It also confirmed the audible to Raleigh five years before was the right move. From there, Turner continued making the most of whatever situ- ation or location he found himself in. He coached at both NC State and Clemson, where he earned a graduate degree, and then put the lessons learned on the mat to good use off of it. "It taught me discipline, it taught me teamwork, it taught me preparation," he said. "Every job I've ever had — I worked at Gen- eral Electric for 15 years and I had some pretty tough jobs there — I would say, 'As long as I can eat and drink, I'm fine.' "In college, I wasn't able to eat and drink, and I'd work out three times a day to make weight. Whatever you throw at me, as long as I could go have a meal and drink something, I'm all smiles." Turner still wonders if he should've stuck in coaching a little lon- ger, but he remembers having a separated shoulder on his first date with his now wife of 23 years, Yvonne. A hands-on coach — much like Guzzo — he continued to train as if he was still wrestling his way to the top. His wife would joke that she would be pushing him around in a wheelchair when he was 40 if he kept it up, and the right job oppor- tunity presented itself when graduated from Clemson. He started in sales and eventually worked his way up into management. After 15 years with GE — where he estimated he held eight differ- ent jobs and was flying 160,000 miles a year — an almost 50-year- old Turner decided it was time for something else. He helped a start-up in the Los Angeles area but eventually landed at IDEXX Laboratories, where he has been a regional sales manager for the global leader in veterinary diagnostics and software since September 2014. "Everything I've learned from wrestling and coaching, I use ev- ery day," he said. "From manag- ing my team to picking my team to motivating my team, it's all built around that. "The sport itself afforded me some great opportunities in life, just like every other athlete that's come through that program. Pat [Popo- lizio] does and Guzzo did a great job at this — they teach you about things outside of just wrestling, which is very important." Turner already knows the next move for his family, which includes son Preston, a standout baseball pitcher who Turner happily notes inherited his father-in-law's height, standing 6-1 at 16 years old. The family will be relocating from Hermosa Beach, Calif., to South Carolina at the end of the school year. Despite changing coasts, Turner will still be close to the beach. He'll also be closer to the Wolfpack, who he still follows intently in all sports. He is especially proud of NC State becoming a national power in wrestling. "I wanted to get back to the Carolinas, I've had enough of Califor- nia after 20 years," he explained. If the past is any indication, it will turn out to be exactly where Turner is supposed to be. ■ "Everything I've learned from wrestling and coaching, I use every day. … The sport itself afforded me some great opportunities in life." ■ Turner Turner, above with son Preston and wife Yvonne, is one of just 10 NCSU wrestlers to win three or more ACC titles. PHOTO COURTESY SCOTT TURNER