GREAT FALLS — Great Falls wrestling legends Bill and Mike Zadick are back in their hometown this week for the return of the annual Zadick Bros Wrestling Camp. The camp is being held at at Great Falls CMR this week, a year after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 event.
It was a whirlwind weekend for the the Zadicks, who didn't arrive in Montana until late Sunday night. But they had good reason.
Bill, a former world champion wrestler and the current head coach of the USA men’s senior national team, was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Saturday during a ceremony in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Even after a lifetime of accomplishments and accolades, the honor was still humbling for one of Montana’s greatest wrestlers.
“As a kid it's not really something you think about. When you’re growing up you dream, but you dream about winning the world championships and the Olympic Games and other major events,” Bill said. “But when you step back and analyze what it really is, a lot of my heroes are commemorated in there. And to be talked about in that same conversation is really a special feeling.”
Bill was accompanied to the induction by most of his family, including Mike.
“It was very powerful just for what our family put into the sport and Bill's commitment to it. You look at the big accolades like the world championship as a competitor and the world championship as a coach,” Mike said. “Those things are neat but the family you acquire in the sport and the rewards you acquire from it after being involved for so long. It’s an honor and humbling for all of us, especially Bill.”
The Zadicks will run the camp through Thursday, and then spend some time with family through the weekend. Then Bill will resume training with Team USA in advance of the Tokyo Olympics this summer and the world championships later this fall.
