The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Film is riveting tale about Northeast Ohio native
A “Lee Kemp” Google search will tell anyone interested about the exploits of the Chardon High graduate — that being he’s one of the great wrestlers in the history of wrestlingrich Ohio.
That alone says a lot about the two-time state champion and multiple world champion.
There’s a lot more to Kemp’s story, and it’s all played out in the riveting documentary “Wrestled Away: The Lee Kemp Story,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime.
As a Chardon sophomore, Kemp had an 11-8-3 mark, but by his junior season won a state title for the Hilltoppers, then repeated as a senior.
In college, he was a national runner-up as a freshman at Wisconsin then won three straight NCAA titles to close out his career. The stretch included 101 straight victories. His wrestling career was far from over.
As an 18-year-old, he defeated the legendary Dan Gable, then 26, in an open event when Gable came out of retirement to make another run at the Olympics. Gable was the reigning Olympic champion at the time but Kemp won, 7-6.
By age 21, he became the youngest American world champion and eventually the country’s first threetime world champ in wrestling. Kemp’s ultimate dream was as an Olympic champion, and as the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow approached, he was at the top of his game.
Then President Jimmy Carter boycotted the United State’s involvement in the Olympics as a sign of protest when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
From there, Kemp’s career and life took unfortunate turns.
In preparations for the 1984 Olympics, he was beat out for a spot on the U.S. team by the legendary Dave Schultz.
Despite an impressive run leading up to 1984 — Kemp won gold in three world freestyle championships, four Wrestling World Cups, and two Pan American Games — something was amiss from one observer.
“He lost his fire. He lost his drive,” said former Chardon wrestling coach Dick Depenbrok in the film.
It got worse for Kemp, who eventually married and had two sons and a daughter. He stepped away from wrestling and opened a car dealership in Minnesota. Struggles in his personal life were building to a boiling point, and by the mid 2000s, Kemp and his wife divorced.
The film chronicles Kemp’s wife’s mental health issues but when a custody battle for the couple’s children ensued, Kemp’s wife won. Eventually, she filed a restraining order against Kemp pertaining to the children, and when Kemp violated it, he was sent to jail.
Upon his release, Kemp — who’s now 62 — regained custody of his children and after a 20-year hiatus from wrestling, he’s back in the sport as a coach. He also helps teach wrestling to
UFC fighters.
“There was easy dance when you go to wrestle with Lee Kemp,” said former UFC champion Daniel Cormier, who was also world-class amateur wrestler.
The film also chronicles time as an adopted son living in the Cleveland area, and he and his parents eventually moving to Chardon to avoid the Hough Riots in July 1966, when four people were killed, 30 injured and 240 fires were reported.
While in Chardon, Kemp took a liking to wrestling.
“I didn’t have to worry about race, politics,” said Kemp in the film. “All I had to think about was winning.”
After winning his first state title in 1973, the city of Chardon held a parade for Kemp in the town’s square. It was the start of a remarkable wrestling career.