Peterson: Iowa State wrestling's David Carr exemplifies meaning of student-athlete

AMES – Kevin Dresser has an unwritten rule he tells first-time Iowa State wrestlers. If you even sense trouble, call him. Day or night. Sooner rather than later. Before his boss finds out. Before anyone outside the team finds out. And for darn sure before it hits the media.

A few Cyclone wrestlers, for example, notified their coach immediately on that early Monday morning last May when DCI agents showed up to collect cell phones for what’s now being called by some a warrantless search and seizure.

Superstar David Carr − who will try to win his second NCAA championship this week in Kansas City − once hit up Dresser, too, but for something very, very different.

Way back when he was just a true freshman still finding his way around the university’s beautiful leafy campus, Dresser’s cell phone went off.

Uh, coach. Something happened. It’s serious. You need to know.

“He was sounding like the world was coming to an end,” Dresser recalled to the Register. “It was his second or third week of school, and he said, 'I failed my first exam.' He was freaking out.

“I said, it’s all right. We’ve got great academic support. I told him to get in there, let them plug you into their system, and you’ll be fine.”

Carr wasn’t used to bombing a test, or even a quiz. He was a good student at Perry High School in Canton, Ohio. He expected to be the same once reaching college. To him, flunking his first college test was such a big deal that it warranted following his coach's phone-call demand.

Uh, coach ...

“That’s David,” Dresser said. “He plugged himself into the academic support, and from then on, he’s been great.”

Great might be an understatement. Carr not only has earned nearly every academic honor there is, he’s done it while going through rigorous and intense work that has put him on the "world-class wrestler" pedestal.

More: From meeting in 2019 to Iowa State teammates, Bastida and Carr relish last season together

His list of wrestling accomplishments is as long as his positive academic grade reports. Foremost on his mind right now is excellence on the mat – he's seeking a second NCAA title in his fifth and final try Thursday through Saturday in Kansas City. He enters the postseason with a 22-2 record and a No. 2 national ranking.

How has this elite-level athlete managed in ultra-disciplined and very different worlds of wrestling and academics simultaneously?

Quite well, everyone says.

The graduate student’s athletics resume is probably longer than any Iowa State athlete who came before him

• 2021 NCAA champion

• 2023 NCAA runner-up

• Iowa State Male Athlete of the Year in 2021 and 2023

• Four-time Big 12 champion

• 2021 Big 12 Wrestler of the Year

• Four-time All-American

• 115-5 career record

If there’s something to be done on the mat or in the classroom, Carr probably has already done it.

“We were big on that,” David’s mom, Linda Carr, said about her son’s all-around abilities. “What was the point in doing all these skills and being a great athlete if you can’t compete in school? What would be the point in that?”

This real-life story of what truly defines 'student-athlete' has played out in places big and small

Carr has thrived in large arenas full of screaming fans and in small classrooms − after telling Dresser he thought his college academic life was on the skids.

Would he be kicked off the team − or worse, kicked out of school? Would he lose a season of eligibility? Would he ever be a good student again? Would he lose his scholarship?

More: Iowa State wrestling defeats Northern Iowa, wins six of 10 bouts

All that and probably more went through Carr's mind after receiving first-semester news that he didn’t score in the classroom as well as he did on the mat.

“Actually, I flunked my first three exams,” Carr said. “One was in geology, one was in psychology and there was one more in something I can’t recall right now.

“I called (Dresser) on my phone – from my dorm. I said, 'Hey Dresser, I got my grades back. I’m failing three of my classes.' I’m like really nervous, and he just laughed.

“'You’ll be all right,' he told me. 'We’ll get you some tutors.'”

Dresser stayed calm throughout the conversation. He heard the seriousness in Carr's voice. The veteran coach who has seen and experienced just about everything knew this was just a blip in what would become one of the finest careers any Cyclone athlete could imagine.

“But I was like, 'Dude, I’m flunking out,'” Carr recalled saying. “I might not even wrestle at Iowa State. What if I’m ineligible?

“Dude, I’m freaking out.”

Was this an overreaction?

Probably a bit of that, but it was more just learning the hard way that college is a heck of a lot different than high school.

“He started meeting with teammates and people from the academic department – people that really encouraged him that he could do well. The more they encouraged him, the more he focused,” Carr's father, Nate, said. “It’s like we always say for sports − no strategy, no victory.”

Nate Carr was a bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics. He was a three-time NCAA champ while wrestling for Iowa State and is now the associate director of the Cyclone Regional Training Center.

“My dad and mom made it very important for me to work on schoolwork,” Carr said. “They both encouraged me. I had a lot of people helping me with academics.”

Carr got the university’s academic assistance that all student-athletes get. Possibly his biggest academic wake-up call came from an older wrestling teammate, Dan Eslick.

“Dan was exactly the role model-type that I needed at that time,” Carr said. “He pretty much was, 'Hey, you’ve got it. You can do this. Together, we’ll figure out a game plan to help you be successful.'”

They did just that – an academic journey that started while David was riding in Eslick’s car.

“I remember that day,” Eslick told me of his buddy’s academic concerns. “We’d become really close friends when he got to campus. I became his ride; he didn’t have a car his freshman year, so we spent a lot of time in my car.

“One day, we were parked someplace. He told me he failed his first three exams. He thought he’d be ineligible, or maybe worse − not even be able to finish school.”

Would David Carr’s dreams vanish because of a few early-college bad grades? In wrestling terms, he needed an academic reversal, and he needed it now.

“I felt like I had some pretty good study habits, so I shared with him what I did,” Eslick said. “I suggested that he have a specific notebook for every class. I wrote down my notes for every class with pen or a pencil. I told him that would help him stay engaged, because sometimes it’s hard to focus in class when you’re cutting weight (like some wrestlers do) and you’re tired, compared to somebody with a full belly and a good night’s sleep.

“I told him that at the end of the day, on a blank page and without looking at your notes, write down everything you can remember from each class.”

Words to live by.

“I got to the point where I didn’t even bring my cell phone to class,” Carr told me. “I took notes. I printed out slides ahead of time. Dan showed me how to study better – how to set myself up to be successful in the classroom. Tutors helped me with consuming the class content.”

And now look at what’s been added to David Carr’s resume:

• Three-time scholar All-American

• Four-time first-team All-Big 12 academic

“Now, I’m getting my master's in higher education,” Carr said. “I’ve learned a lot about administration, about budgeting and marketing.

“If I’m a head coach someday, I’m going to know how to talk to an athletic director and my superiors. I’ll know how to convey that we need a new wrestling room, or that these are some budgeting concerns I have – things that will help me through my process of coaching and wrestling.”

The communications aspect of his major is a benefit in any walk of life. Especially right now for athletes in this climate of making money off your name, image and likeness.

“I know how to communicate with people,” Carr said. “I do a lot of speaking events. If I want to speak to a donor, or if I’m talking to people, I know how to use my words, how to communicate. I feel I’m a very effective manager.”

He has done speaking events throughout Iowa. He’s done them very well, by all accounts.

“He is a true gentleman, as are all the athletes coach Dresser guides,” said Kae Hoppe, owner of Tweeters Restaurant in Okoboji.

Hoppe catered an Iowa State wrestling meet-and-greet last summer that Carr and other wrestlers attended.

“A true ambassador for the sport and for Iowa State,” Hoppe continued. “His bright eyes and smile light up a room with style and class.”

And now, this part of David Carr’s exceptional wrestling and academic career is in its final days. However it ends, he’ll be an all-around student-athlete success story for the ages.

“My college degree was very important to me,” he said. “Coming to Iowa State, my two goals were to win a national title and to get a college degree.”

Mission accomplished.

“He pretty much just did it,” said Eslick, his former teammate and academics mentor. “Ever since that first conversation we had, it’s been win after win – in classroom and on the mat.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 52nd year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, on X @RandyPete, and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State wrestling's David Carr is a top Cyclones student-athlete