DEARBORN — The journey to the State Finals is so difficult that many wrestlers only make it there once in their entire high school careers.

Khodor Hoballah, third from right, of Dearborn High School, took third place in the 160-pound division of the state wrestling championship finals. Photos courtesy of Radwan Hoballah

On top of that, the rookie experience at States can be intimidating between the intensity of the matches and the tough competition.
Khodor Hoballah learned that the hard way in his junior season with the Dearborn Pioneers, as he accomplished his goal of making States but didn’t win a match.

This year was a different story, however, as the 160-pound phenom used the experience he gained in 2008 to take third place in Michigan in his weight class.

“My junior year, I was very nervous,” Hoballah admitted. “But going into my first match this year I had that experience.

“My goal was to place; if I didn’t place it would have been a bad season for me.”

Even if Hoballah would have fallen short of that goal, he still would have gone into the books as one of the best wrestlers Dearborn High School has ever seen.

Hoballah carried a 48-2 record into the State Tournament and also held the school record for near-falls, a wrestling move where the aggressor puts his opponent on his back and holds him there to get points.

The senior co-captain’s coach, Frank Halburda, said that all of the success is a testament to the power of hard work. All wrestlers work hard, but Hoballah was on another level.

Khodor Hoballah. Three Fordson wrestlers and three Dearborn High wrestlers qualified for the State Finals. Paul Hancock won the State Title at 135 pounds. Fordson: Paul Hancock – 135 pounds. Hassen Berry – 171 pounds. Jabreel Nasser – 189 pounds. Dearborn High: Harry Cassedy – 112 pounds. Alex Eklem – 152. Khodor Hoballah – 160.

“He’s the hardest worker I’ve had in a couple years now, just a great kid with a great work ethic and an all-around good kid,” he said.
“He said at the season-ending banquet that he wasn’t the most physically talented kid out there, he just worked so hard, that’s the biggest thing.”

Hoballah also had an insatiable appetite for more knowledge of the sport.

“He’s always staying after practice to learn new moves and techniques, and he video tapes all of his matches and goes home and watches them,” Halburda said.

It all paid off in the State Tournament, where Hoballah went 4-1 overall. He lost a close 4-2 match in the State Semi-Finals last Friday, March 20, to the number-one ranked wrestler in the class, Jake Johnson of Rockford, while almost securing a couple of takedowns that would have punched his ticket to the finals.

Just hours later last Saturday morning, his conditioning and endurance was put to the test as he showed up again to wrestle more top contenders in order to place. He beat the number three-ranked wrestler coming in from Holt, 8-6, before taking on a wrestler from Grandville who was ranked second all year in Michigan and defeating him 2-0 to lock down third place and secure his goal for the season.

It was a wild ride for Hoballah, who exceeded expectations considering he only began wrestling as a freshman in high school while most of his opponents had been wrestling for much longer.

“Right before we went up to the podium, the other wrestlers asked me how long I’d been wrestling and I said since freshman year,” Hoballah said. “They didn’t believe it.”

What Hoballah lacked in organized competition, he made up for with tips from his older brother Mohammed, who helped lead the way for the family by wrestling his junior and senior years. Mohammed Hobollah gave pointers to his younger brother and taught him to take conditioning seriously, sending him out on long runs that would give him the stamina he needed to succeed in his wrestling career.

He’ll need to take things even further for the next step in his career, with a possible scholarship to an in-state or Ohio college as strong possibilities. Halburda and Hoballah are busy putting together tapes to send to local colleges.

Hoballah wants to wrestle at Eastern Michigan and study business.

His coach will be sad to see him go, but at the same time, he’s excited to see what the future has in store for one of his most accomplished pupils.

“We were very happy to have him, he was only on varsity three years and did well to succeed this much in just three years,” Halburda said. “We’ll miss him and we hope he does some big things in his life.”