A tale of wrestlers and weddings

Sandy Stevens has been “that lady announcer” for hundreds of wrestling events and is one of the top ambassadors for the sport. She heard about this and thought, “What a great story.” Then it was picked up and published in the online edition of People Magazine. But you know you’ve arrived when your hometown paper does a story.

Brian Swafford, a Mediapolis native, has had a long and storied career as a coach at New London JH/HS. But its start was s little inauspicious when he was turned down for a HS assistant football coaching position. The year was 1986.

Brian had married Elissa Armstrong in 1982, and after she graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1984, she was working as a special education associate at NLHS in 1986. Hardly a week went by when a very pregnant Elissa didn’t remind the newly hired wrestling coach Mark Chiri that he needed an assistant, that her husband was the perfect guy to help him, that he was going to be a great coach, and he’d better snap him up.

Meanwhile, Chuck Lorber, the Athletic Director, had a JH baseball coaching position open and remembered Brian’s interview earlier in the fall. He offered him the position that Brian accepted. Later, Mr. Lorber would hire him for football and wrestling. Little did Brian know the journey he had embarked upon.

By this time, he and head wrestling coach Mark Chiri had hit it off and would coach together from 1987 until 2023. They became close friends as they guided countless wrestlers to be the best they could be.

He was also JH wrestling coach for 26 of those years.

“I enjoyed helping the junior high and teaching fundamentals. I wanted to be the first coaching experience they’re going to get,” he said. “If I had a positive relationship with them, I could help with their problems, whether they were wrestling or life problems. It also gave me an opportunity to be a good recruiter for the wrestling program. Many of the boys wouldn’t have had any wrestling experience, and no reason to go out for wrestling, but if they enjoyed their time with me in football and trusted in me, then they might give wrestling a try.”

It turned out that Elissa was right all those years ago. He was chosen 2A Junior High Football Coach of the Year in 2005, and in February of 2017 he was awarded the Junior High Wrestling Coach of the Year. In October of 2023, Swafford received the Iowa Chapter National Hall of Fame’s Gold Standard Award for Assistant Wrestling Coach.

But Brian had a whole other life apart from wrestling.

His father-in-law, Ian Armstrong, was pastor of the Christian Church in Lowell. When he passed away in 1997, Brian took his place at the New Song Christian Life Church, where his continues as pastor these almost 27 years later.

His relationship with Jesus ranks even higher than wrestling in his life. He saw coaching as an outreach, an extension of his faith. He tried always to share the love of God in both words and deeds. As a coach, he was drawn to the boys that maybe weren’t as gifted and struggled. He was always encouraging and willing to give them a little more time after practice.

“Swaff,” as he is affectionately called, started to see his athletes at youth group. For 30 straight years he took a big group of teenagers to Chicago for three days to an Easter Convention called the Ascension Convention. Getting to know kids off the field or mats, and sharing Jesus with them was the best time of the year!

It wasn’t much of a leap then for Brian to be asked to marry one of his wrestlers. Justin Garvey was his first wedding, and there have been many more since. Thirty-two, to be exact. When asked to name a few, it was a Who’s Who of New London athletes, and not always wrestlers.

He named, off the top of his head, Gabe Lemley, Justin Carter, Jet Swailes, Justin Heneke, the Brumwell boys, Cully and Corbin, and Blake Nehring. In an interesting twist he married Dustin and Paula Bliven. He was a state champion wrestler for Columbus HS and Paula is the P.E. teacher at New London … small world.

Brian views every wedding he has officiated as an honor. He enjoys seeing the boys he coached become men as they enter into marriage. He, of course, likens a successful marriage to success in wrestling. He tells the groom — and bride, too — that marriage takes sacrifice, patience, effort, and belief in the process, in the relationship.

This multitalented man has tried his hand at matchmaking too. Mike and Andrea Richart were married in 2019 after Brian suggested they’d be perfect for each other. He was right.

“It was truly a ‘God-thing’, getting Mike and Andrea together, and an honor to get to help officiate their wedding as well,” he said.

He and Elissa have been married over 40 years and have raised three children. They, of course, dote on their grandchildren. Last summer they took a wonderful trip to England. But life without coaching still takes some getting used to.

There are always those one or two special teachers and/or coaches that make a lasting positive impact on the lives of many students. They help shape men and women of character. Brian Swafford is one of those kind of coaches … he’s one of the good ones.