When it comes to American politics, the Kennedy name runs deep. In pop music, it’s hard to beat the Jacksons. In Wisconsin wrestling, the biggest name is Jordan.
Starting in the 80s, the Jordan family, particularly Jim, Jeff, Ben and Isaac, has been a crucial part of the Wisconsin wrestling tradition. There have been two waves of Jordan boys, including this year’s All-American sophomore Isaac Jordan, but both generations have made a splash in the Wisconsin wrestling community.
Jim and Jeff
In 1982, a four-time state champion in Ohio broke out of his home state to wrestle in the 134-pound class for the Badgers. That man went on to be a three-time All-American (one of only 12 Badgers to earn the honor at least three times) and a two-time Big Ten and NCAA Champion (one of only four Badgers to win multiple national titles). That man was Jim Jordan.
In his career, Jim accumulated 156 wins, the most all-time for a Wisconsin wrestler, as well as 49 wins in the 1985-’86 season, the most for a single season in Badger history. Jordan was inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. To say he is UW’s best wrestler of all time is not a stretch.
Two years later, his younger brother Jeff followed in his footsteps. Jeff would go on to be a two-time All-American and was the Big Ten champion of the 150-pound class in 1988. To say he wasn’t as accomplished as Jim isn’t to downgrade his accomplishments at all, it is only a testament to how successful the elder Jordan was.
Jim is now a Congressman from Ohio, but before beginning his political career he served as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State. When asked for an interview, he declined, saying he prefers not to comment on his children’s athletics.
Jeff was a Purdue assistant before becoming the head coach at St. Paris Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio. As a coach, Jeff has been a large contributor to the Wisconsin program from afar.
“Wisconsin and I have had a real long-standing relationship,” Jeff said. “I’ve sent a lot of my kids from St. Paris Graham to Wisconsin, with Ben Jordan, Isaac Jordan and Ryan Taylor, two of your three All-Americans [this year] were St. Paris Graham kids that I coached.”
You’ll see two familiar names on that list: Ben and Isaac Jordan. These two make up what could be considered the second wave of the Jordan legacy.
Ben and Isaac
In 2008, the Jordans returned to Madison in the form of Ben Jordan, son of Jim, and the first of the second generation of wrestling phenoms. Bouncing between weight classes, Jordan couldn’t quite fill his father’s humongous shoes, but he finally settled into the 165-pound weight class and earned an All-American spot as a senior in 2012, the same year his younger brother Isaac was redshirting for the Wisconsin squad.
Ever since then, Isaac has been a standout. In his freshman year last season, he was an All-American at the 157-pound mark, and this season, as a sophomore, he was an All-American in the 165-pound class. For most, earning All-American honors would be a dream come true, but Isaac bristles at the idea of that being an end-goal.
“It’s honestly not what I wanted, I wanted to win, obviously. I didn’t wrestle to the best of my ability, but I’m still happy with All-American and coaches are happy that I got on the podium and finished by placing, but I’m still hungry for more,” Isaac said.
He also was the Big Ten champion in the 165-pound weight class. The wrestler he beat to earn that title? Bo Jordan, freshman from Ohio State. The last name similarity is not a coincidence; he is the son of Jeff, but preferred to stay closer to home by wrestling at OSU.
Isaac and Bo are cousins, Isaac one year older, and have grown up wrestling together. According to Jeff, they started wrestling at age 5 and 6 and were sparring partners until they graduated from the same high school. Having been teammates for so long, there is a level of familiarity between the two and their styles.
“I knew his style and a lot of his moves, but he definitely developed over the past three years, as I have, so we had some things that neither one of us knew the other had,” Isaac said.
Growing up in a family so entrenched in wrestling has given current Badger Isaac an advantage over his teammates and opponents in ways that he doesn’t quite grasp.
“I take it for granted that I’ve been around it so much and it’s kinda become second nature that if you wrestle, you’re just good at it,” Isaac said. “You’re expected to win, and you expect that out of yourself because you’re surrounded so much.”
When Bo and Isaac were going to face off in the Big Ten championship for the 165-pound weight class, there was an inevitable amount of pressure forming. Isaac said he tried not to focus on that, but to treat it like any other match, fearing it would negatively affect his wrestling if he put too much thought into it. He did admit that it was hard on his grandparents, as well as his dad and uncle, and that beating his cousin to win the Big Ten was “special.”
If both boys stay in the same weight class for the next few years, it puts them on a collision course that could meet on a larger stage than just the Big Ten finals.
“What would be a good thing is if Isaac and Bo wrestled in the NCAA finals one day. It’d be a great story,” Jeff said. “Me and my brother might have a heart attack, but it would be a good story and you know what, I’m sure that the two boys would work everything out and still be friends.”
Continuing the legacy
When it comes to Wisconsin wrestling’s first family, only Isaac’s story remains untold. Whether he will be a national champion like his father, whether he will threaten to break his father’s win records, or whether he will become the first Jordan to be a four-time All-American are still all to be seen.
No matter how his career ends, the legacy of the Jordan family in Wisconsin wrestling will live on. Who knows, maybe in another 30 years a few more Jordans might be standing on the All-American podium, sporting a motion W on their singlets.
