There are stories that are stranger than fiction. Then there’s Chris Campbell. 

His improbable comeback tale includes more twists and turns than an ambitious Hollywood script could handle. And it’s all real. 

Campbell was an NCAA champion for Iowa in 1976 and 1977 but it was borderline miraculous that he made it there. Dan Gable — an assistant coach at the time — flew to Westfield, New Jersey, in 1973 to speak at a banquet as a favor to then-athletic director Bump Elliot. A young Chris Campbell was in the audience.

“I really liked your speech,” Campbell told Gable. “I’d really be interested in wrestling at Iowa.”

Oh, by the way, "I'll kick your butt," Campbell told Gable during the exchange. 

Gable learned that Campbell went out for wrestling when the basketball coach told him “You suck.” He wrestled JV as a sophomore but Campbell’s mother wouldn’t sign a release for his junior year. He eventually competed as a senior season, winning a state title following an undefeated season.

“Nobody really recruited me because they were afraid my mother wouldn’t sign off,” Campbell said. “Nobody really knew about me because I only really wrestled one year of high school at the varsity level.” 

Iowa Wrestling Scholarship

The Hawkeyes offered Campbell a books scholarship after he placed second at Junior Nationals in Iowa City a few weeks later. He sold his car, purchased a ticket to Iowa with the money, and began work at a Ford factory while he trained with the Hawkeyes. 

Gable took over as head coach during the 1976-77 season and Campbell was his first individual NCAA champion following two titles and three appearances in the finals. 

That led to a successful freestyle career where he won a World title in 1981 following a fifth-place finish in 1977. Campbell made the 1980 Olympic team but the United States boycotted due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The strict amateur rules at the time meant Campbell often lived on food stamps. 

“I made the decision to be so good that I beat the crap out of everybody, which I did,” Campbell said. “If you look at how I did in 1980, I scored 10 points on everybody — or more. There was no way I could make those teams if I was just even with those guys. I had to be much better.”

A knee injury prior to the 1984 Olympic Trials dashed any hope of winning an Olympic gold medal. Campbell’s prime years were over and it was a time to explore a professional career. He coached at Iowa State for a spell but eventually went to Cornell Law School.

“Did I experience discrimination in wrestling as a black man with respect to referee calls and with respect to trying to be a head coach? That’s all I wanted to be,” Campbell said. “I didn’t want to be an attorney if I could have been a head coach. I didn’t believe it was possible. I may be wrong on that but it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I was really unhappy with life (before I made my wrestling comeback). I didn’t even want to wake up in the morning. To fight that depression, I would wake up in the morning and run, and then I would weight lift. When I started working out with the Syracuse team, I was wrestling three times a week. It was hard for me to recover when I started getting older so I couldn’t wrestle every day.” 

Chris Campbell at the Worlds and Olympics

Middle-age Comeback

Campbell eventually began work with the Carrier Corporation as he mounted a wrestling comeback in 1989 at the age of 34. He lost to Jim Scherr in the finals of the U.S. Open finals but made a World team the following year.

Here’s the kicker: Campbell didn’t tell anyone at his office that he was competing and took vacation time from work to wrestle at the World Championships in Tokyo. His silver medal performance made headlines, so Campbell expected the worst upon his return. 

“I figured they were going to tell me I’m an attorney here and you need to focus and you need to focus on being an attorney and stop that,” Campbell said. “(My boss) sat me down and said, ‘Chris, we noticed you placed second at the World Championships. We think that means you have a lot of talent and you need to pursue it.’”

In place of a scolding, the Carrier Corporation sponsored Campbell’s training, which meant a $20,000 raise and an unlimited expense account. Training partners like Kenny Monday and Kevin Jackson accompanied Campbell throughout the world as he maintained the dual role of wrestler and attorney. 

Teammates affectionately gave him the nickname Grandpa along the way. 

“I started getting noticed,” Campbell said. “Not only because I was a wrestler, but because I was old as hell and also because I was an attorney. That’s a good story if you want to influence younger kids.” 

Campbell made the 1991 World team, defeating eventual World champion Makharbek Khadartsev along the way but fell short of a medal because he lost to the Cuban in the round-robin format and placed fifth.

Finally, at the 1992 Olympics, Campbell, 37, won a bronze medal 12 years after the 1980 Olympic boycott when he was at the peak of his powers. 

“Chris was special,” Kevin Jackson, a three-time World and Olympic champion, said. “His technical skills were unbelievable. His technique was so sound. His positioning was so sound. He was so strong. So athletic. He never got out of position and never exerted force or energy that wasn’t needed.

“To see what he did at that age is incredible. I think it’s unprecedented. He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen make a comeback and compete as well as he did in big-time competitions.”

Campbell discusses why he took a week of vacation to compete at the 1990 World Championships.