Blaise Butler was born into wrestling. The 174-pound Missouri redshirt-senior credits his father for starting him and his two brothers as wrestlers by signing them up for youth camps when they were young.

Butler has wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps since then, and since his father wrestled at Amherst College, Butler decided he would pursue wrestling in college as well. When he graduated from Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Ill., he moved to Virginia and wrestled four years for the University of Virginia, where he believes he grew both intellectually and physically as a wrestler.

“I think I was still pretty raw going into college, I mean I had talent and athleticism, but I was still a pretty young student of the sport,” Butler said. “I think just my wrestling IQ grew so much, and I really put a lot more time in training and studying the sport, so I made the jump from athletic and a decent wrestler to someone who really knows what he’s doing.”

Butler said his relationship with his father and brothers helps him succeed as an individual and as a wrestler. Butler’s younger brother, Alex, is a freshman on the Missouri wrestling team and is part of the reason why he even looked at Missouri for graduate school in the first place.

Grateful for his father’s support and advice, Butler has always tried to follow in his footsteps. He sees his dad as a role model and believes that everything he says to Butler and his brothers is to make them better athletes and people.

“He really wants the best for us, whether that’s school or athletics, he just wants us to give 100 percent all the time in everything that we do and try to stay away from things that are going to hold us back,” Butler said. “I really feel that everything he says is for the good of us and will eventually help us.”

During his run with the Cavaliers, Butler gave 100 percent all of the time and it paid off. He started three seasons and won an ACC championship at 157 pounds as a sophomore. When he graduated, instead of staying in Charlottesville and wrestling for his fifth year, he decided to move to Missouri to pursue a graduate degree in business and compete for the Missouri wrestling team as a fifth-year senior.

The decision to move was a career move and Butler stresses that he does not regret his decision to wrestle for Virginia those four years. That being said, he has enjoyed his year at Missouri and is looking forward to the championship season that is coming up right around the corner. With a 11-2 dual meet record and No. 5 ranking, Butler looks to the NCAA Championships in March with high hopes. Coach Brian Smith is also excited about Butler’s tournament chances since Butler can help the team win a trophy as well.

“He’s right there with the best guys in the country, he’s beaten some of the best, we’ve lost some tough matches but he’s healthy and wrestling great at the same time,” Smith said. “He’s bringing that to the program, he’s giving the program the chance to win a team trophy.”

Butler said his biggest achievement on paper would be his ACC Championship at Virginia; however, he believes he has attained greater accomplishments during his five years as a college wrestler.

“I feel like I’ve beaten a lot better guys than I beat that year and won that championship,” Butler said. “There’s been a lot of personal accomplishments that I don’t write down on my resume but that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

One of those accomplishments is the legacy he wants to leave in the Missouri wrestling room. Butler says he does not want to be solely remembered for his statistics, but more of the impact he made on the younger wrestlers in the room.

“I want to be a guy that when I come back to the room everyone looks up to and wants to wrestle with,” Butler said. “I don’t really care as much about my face on the wall as much as I care about being a role model, and that would be enough for me.”

Butler certainly seems to be leaving an impact on his coaches and teammates, as most of them cite the quiet leadership and determination he brings to practice and to matches.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year that were some great leaders, so having him step in and being committed to his schoolwork as well as being committed in here is great,” Smith said. “He does it in a quiet way, and we needed that. Having a guy that’s new fit in and respond to the team that well and have that leadership is something the team needed desperately, a team that’s young and inexperienced.”

Sophomore Willie Miklus, Missouri’s 184-pound starter, often trains with Butler in practice. Miklus is grateful to have Butler as a partner and he believes he’s learned how to be faster and how to hand fight better in matches because of him.

Miklus is also appreciative of Butler’s voice of reason and work ethic, noting how as a master’s student, Butler knows what he is doing and is a guy that the team can look up to.

“He has a really good sense of humor and a great work ethic, he just puts his head down and works really hard and does what the coaches ask and then some,” Miklus said. “So he really brings kind of a quiet leadership of ‘I’m going to do my work and no one is going to outwork me.’”

Butler is grateful for his training partners, as well, mentioning many younger athletes who he believes will emerge as great wrestlers in the coming years. The depth that Missouri has on its team has helped Butler become a stronger athlete in the practice room and on the mat when it comes to meets.

“Having tough training partners not only helps you become better technically but helps build confidence too,” Butler said. “It makes the weekend a little easier when you’re wrestling tough guys who may not be as good as your training partners.”

As the end of the season and graduation nears closer every day, Butler is unsure of his future as a wrestler. He does not plan on wrestling after graduation right now but he says that perspective might change depending on how the national tournament ends.

“It’s going to depend on how I feel after the year ends, obviously the goal is to win a national title but I don’t know how I would respond to that at the moment,” Butler said. “I think I would be perfectly fine with retiring after winning a national championship. I guess we’ll see how I feel in two months.”

Edited by Tyler Kraft, Assistant Sports Editor
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