Kendall Duane Cross (born February 24, 1968) is an American

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling i ...

, wrestling coach and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medalist. He won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, Georgia, where he wrestled in the 57 kilogram (125.5 pounds) weight class. He defeated

Guivi Sissaouri Guivi "Gia" Sissaouri ( ka, გივი სისაური, tr, born April 15, 1971) is a Canadian freestyle wrestler who lives and works in Canada. Biography Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Sissaouri began wrestling at age ten. Sissaouri won the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

5–3 in the final match. Cross also competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

where he placed sixth.

Early career

In high school, Cross wrestled for

Mustang High School Mustang High School, often shortened to MHS, is a public school located in Mustang, Oklahoma, United States. It is the only secondary school of the Mustang Public Schools public school district and serves well over 3,000 students. The complex ...

Mustang, Oklahoma Mustang is a city in the southeastern corner of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical area. Mustang's population was 19,879 at the 2020 census, a 14.3% increase from 17,398 in 2010. The c ...

where he won a state title. He wrestled collegiately for

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

where he was a three time All-American and won the NCAA Championship in 1989. Kendall graduated from OSU with a major in political science and economics.

Highlight achievements

*Distinguished Member of the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

, inducted 2002 *Three time US National Champion *Outstanding Freestyle Wrestler at the U. S. Nationals, 1992 and 1995 *1997 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year *Espoir National and Espoir World Cup Champion, 1988 *Bronze medal at Junior World Championships, 1986 *World Cup Champion, 1997 *Olympic Champion, 1996

Coaching

After college he served as an assistant coach at

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in Chapel Hill, NC while training for the Olympics. He also served as a coach for the Sunkist Kids and the Dave Schultz Wrestling Clubs. Kendall went on to become an assistant coach at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and worked at

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. While in

, he founded the Kendall Cross Gold Medal Wrestling Club, which developed young athletes. Then After Moving to Dallas, helped coach at Dallas Dynamite, with other Olympians

Brandon Slay Brandon Slay (born October 14, 1975) won an Olympic gold medal for the United States in wrestling. Slay also help found Dallas Dynamite wrestling club in Dallas, TX. Slay currently is the Assistant National Freestyle Coach and National Freestyl ...

and

Jamill Kelly Larry Jamill Kelly (born October 25, 1977) is an American freestyle wrestler. He represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games where he earned a silver medal. He is currently a part of the University of North Carolina At Chape ...

. In addition to help Head coach at Dallas Dynamite (Brandon and Jamill both coach for the US National team currently) with former Oklahoma wrestler, Melvin Lofton, he also coaches at Trinity Christian Academy high school wrestling team.

Family

Kendall has two children, Kennedy and London Cross, and currently resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links