At 71 years old, Tim Johnson found himself back where it all started – in a wrestling room in the basement of the old Morning Sun high school building. The room isn’t large, smaller than an average classroom, but the names that would come out of that modest bit of real estate in Southeast Iowa are gigantic. 

Al Baxter, Nick Hobbs, Gregg Durbin, Ron McDonald, Jerry Malone, Jay Johnson, Earl Bryant … the list of Iowa high school state wrestling tournament qualifiers and place winners to come out of Morning Sun reads like a chapter book. They're household names in Iowa high school wrestling, many of whom were coached by National Wrestling Hall of Fame coach John Siegel.

The wrestling room, painted emerald green with matching green mats, is located next to the boiler room. That was intentional. Tim Johnson recalls grueling workouts in that hot room, conditioning that would help him win matches both on the wrestling mat and in life. 

“To be back in this room where a lot of blood, sweat and tears happened is a tremendous feeling,” Tim Johnson said. “I owe a lot to this sport.”

It’s a sport he didn’t know he would even be able to participate in early on. A lawnmower accident nearly cost him a leg when he was a kid. Full of youthful energy, he raced up behind his dad who was operating a new riding lawnmower. The grass was damp from dew and his left leg slid under the blade deck. The injury required multiple operations and lengthy rehab sessions, but the medical staff was able to save his leg.

When he was in second grade he met Bob Darrah, Morning Sun’s wrestling coach, while at a high school meet. A few years later Darrah invited Johnson to come workout with the varsity wrestlers. 

“This was a sport I was allowed to do,” Johnson said. “I could wrestle, and coach Darrah said ‘as long as you can wrestle you’ll be okay.’ I owe a lot to a man who put that courage in me.”

Darrah went on to coach at Urbandale High School before establishing a legendary program at West Des Moines Dowling Catholic.

Johnson learned early on how to modify his wrestling stance to protect his leg, taking the mat in a sugar foot stance. He became both explosive and impossible to take down, another analogy that works for him off the mat. Through some rough life challenges Johnson has learned resiliency. For him, wrestling is not something that’s only done on a three-quarter-inch mat.

“Everybody wrestles with life,” Johnson said. He’s a humble man who wastes little time acknowledging those he credits for his successes, from influential coaches to the group of wrestling moms back in the early days that sold homemade pies for traveling money and dyed long underwear green so the athletes would have uniforms to wrestle in. 

Humble, yet still carries himself with elbows bent and primed to shoot a double leg at the blow of a whistle. 

Johnson’s passion for life and love for wrestling will be available for all to see when he joins legendary wrestling coach Jim Miller mat-side to broadcast NCAA wrestling meets on Iowa PBS in January.

It is the first time since 2012 that Iowa PBS has carried a wrestling meet on its statewide network. In addition to televised coverage, this year the meets will be livestreamed on Facebook, YouTube and the station website.

“Bringing college wrestling back to Iowa PBS is a homecoming for both the sport and our statewide network," Iowa PBS General Manager and Executive Director Andrew Batt said in October, when it was announced.

“We’re proud to showcase a celebrated broadcast series with deep ties to Iowa’s sports history to a new generation of viewers,” Batt said.

Jim Miller, 71, coached Wartburg to 10 Division III championships and was a five-time national coach of the year. While wrestling for the University of Northern Iowa he won Division II national titles in 1974 and 1975. Wrestling has radiated from his core since he was seven years old, back when his older brother introduced him to the sport by knocking one of his front teeth out. He remembers vividly the Miller family gathering around the television to watch college wrestling on Iowa PBS.

“We grew up with Iowa PBS and wrestling,” Miller said. “To get Iowa PBS back covering college wrestling has just been a jolt for our sport.”

Miller is currently the director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, a short drive across the Cedar River and down 4th Street from where he wrestled at East High.

Jim Miller met Tim Johnson 50 years ago on a wrestling mat at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Miller was craving a tough workout that he wasn’t able to get as a new coach at Charles City High School.

He called his former college coach Chuck Patten at the University of Northern Iowa and asked if he could come get a workout with the college wrestlers. 

“I’m working out with high school kids and it’s not the same,” Miller recalled. 

He arrived at the Northern Iowa wrestling room late. 

“I don’t get (to Cedar Falls) until after practice is wrapped up. I go ‘aww man, I’m ready to go.’”

Patten pointed and told Miller he could maybe wrestle the graduate assistant, Tim Johnson. 

The explosive wrestler from Morning Sun with the sugar foot stance didn’t stand much of a chance against the two-time NCAA Division II champion. 

“I’ll just say that after the workout I still needed a workout,” Miller said, laughing. “It didn’t go well for Tim that day. But from that point in time we became good friends.”

Tim Johnson was quick to return quips, saying that most people who know Miller don’t know him from back when he had hair. 

The two were the best men in each other’s weddings and have been lifelong friends ever since. 

The friends – and two of Iowa’s prominent wrestling ambassadors – will be reuniting at Grand View University in Des Moines on January 16, 2025, when they call the matches between the Viking men's wrestling team versus the University of Nebraska–Kearney for Iowa PBS.

Miller helped arrange the broadcast schedule for 2025 and feels wrestling fans will be excited about the season’s meets. Matchups that will bring the farmers in from the chores, Tim Johnson would say.

“We’ve got some good stuff coming,” Miller said.

 

College Wrestling returns to Iowa PBS in 2025. Usher in a new era of wrestlers as College Wrestling makes its triumphant return showcasing five exciting small college duals, including powerhouse programs from Division II, Division III and the NAIA.

Live coverage will be as follows*:

• Thursday, January 16: University of Nebraska at Kearney vs. Grand View University  
• Tuesday, January 21: Loras College vs. Coe College
• Thursday, January 30: Augsburg University vs. Wartburg College
• Thursday, February 6: Central College vs. Luther College
• Tuesday, February 11: William Penn University vs. Grand View University Women

*Coverage and start times are subject to change.