Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso feels 'lucky' as he recovers from August shooting
The victim of a shooting during an August carjacking, Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso still considers himself lucky.
He is not currently wrestling for the Buckeyes, but Sasso said he’s “lucky to be recovering at the rate that I am.” He said he’s lucky to still be a part of the Ohio State wrestling program and sparring with teammates on practice mats five months later.
“Things could have been a lot worse for me,” Sasso said.
But Sasso has high expectations for himself.
Sasso entered the 2023-24 season as a four-time All-American, a two-time Big Ten champion and a four-time NCAA tournament qualifier. As Sasso recovers to try and wrestle again with four screws and two rods in his back and significant nerve damage in his left leg, this is the standard he expects to reach once again.
And if Sasso feels he can’t reach that standard again, he said his wrestling career would be complete.
“If I’m not competing at the level that I was before, then I won’t come back,” Sasso said. “I had a great career. I never lost a Big Ten dual meet. I wouldn’t come back at (a) less version of myself and tarnish my record or just what I’ve done in the sport. If I’m not competing at what I was or better, then it’s not happening.”
Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso at '60%' recovery
Sasso was shot by two individuals attempting to steal his vehicle on the 1300 block of North High Street and East 7th Avenue. According to the Sasso family’s GoFundMe page, Sasso was shot in the abdomen and underwent emergency surgery to reconstruct his colon. A second surgery was also needed to remove a bullet near his spine which caused the nerve damage.
“Crazy things happen, but you’re just happy to be alive once you wake up,” Sasso said of the shooting. “It was tough, though. I’m not going to sit here and act like the time at the hospital was easy. Things were tough, but at the end of the day, I was still breathing. I was still happy.”
Sasso said he is hoping that in six to eight months, the deficit in his left leg will begin to go away. But he said progress has already been apparent, saying he “had to go back to learning how to walk again” immediately after the shooting.
Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan said Sasso is “60%” of the wrestler he once was, acknowledging the work Sasso has had to do to improve the neural pathways to use his left leg as he once could.
Ryan was not shocked that Sasso was back on the mat so quickly, though, knowing Sasso’s will and love for the sport.
“I know that he told the surgeon that ‘If I’m going to wrestle on one leg, I’m wrestling again,’ ” Ryan said. “There’s a determination there that nothing will get in the way of.”
Sasso is not enrolled in classes at Ohio State. But he remains in Ohio State’s wrestling room and is coaching and encouraging teammates to “cut loose, wrestle free” to be the best version of themselves on the mat.
Nicholas Boykin, a redshirt senior, said Sasso has given his team a “reason to wrestle” in the 2023-24 season.
“I mean, we lost our team captain,” Boykin said. “And a lot of the guys, we’ve come together. The night it happened, a bunch of us got together, basically said our prayers. And now we’re seeing him on the mat. It’s made us closer.”
Sasso’s leadership qualities were apparent to Ryan from the moment Sasso first joined the program. But Ryan said the shooting has only revealed more of who Sasso is, what Sasso stands for and how Sasso does things in a wrestling room.
“We’re seeing him transform,” Ryan said. “As much as he was a leader, he’s been able to really take a step back and find even deeper gratitude for what he does have. It’s been pretty amazing getting to see him refine himself.”
Sammy Sasso puts wrestling return in perspective
Sasso said he’s not frustrated he’s not wrestling as he once did. Instead, Sasso said he’s encouraged.
The shooting, he said, put wrestling in perspective.
“What I went through was a lot harder than wrestling live in the room,” Sasso said. “What you thought was hard before, you go through something like that, it’s not so hard anymore.”
Sasso is hopeful that he will return to the mat for Ohio State. He said it gives him something to look forward to, to work toward. But Sasso admits he is "still a ways away" from being the wrestler he once was.
And for Sasso, that is OK.
“I had a great career,” Sasso said. “So if God’s got it in the plan for me that I’m not going to wrestle again, I’m OK with that.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU wrestling: Sammy Sasso feels 'lucky' as he recovers from shooting
