By Kyle Klingman
FloWrestling

By this point, everyone has a Gary Abbott story. My favorite was at the 2019 World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Several members of the U.S. delegation experienced some sort of bug, and, halfway through the tournament, it got Gary. I saw him in the bathroom with a handful of paper towels when I asked what happened. He puked on press row and was about to clean up his mess. 

Gary vomited three times and never left the tournament. He powered through like a Jordan Burroughs double-leg takedown. 

I moved as far away from Gary as possible, hoping to avoid his fate. I held my breath if he was near. I used paper towels to open doors. I didn’t make eye contact. I tried everything. 

Well, it didn’t work. I got sick the next day and puked three times — just like Gary. 

Only I returned to the hotel to recover. Andy Hamilton, Trackwrestling’s content manager at the time (this was at the peak of the Track vs Flo wars), said Gary defeated me 3-3 on criteria since he kept working through the session, and I did not. 

There’s a strong chance we used “BarfingGary1” as a password for one of our Trackwrestling accounts when we returned home. 

This was quintessential Gary Abbott. Nothing would ever stand in the way of getting the job done — even if you have to sacrifice your health to make it happen. There’s a reason USA Wrestling’s executive director, Rich Bender, calls Abbott the hardest working man in wrestling, and Gary always proved it. 

Gary is calling it a career after 37 ½ years as USA Wrestling’s director of communications. He covered the Olympics, World Championships, NCAA Championships, youth tournaments, beach wrestling, and everything in between. 

His greatest legacy will be the advancement of women’s wrestling. There were times when Abbott was the lone voice for a sport that was working to find its place. 

Bender was an intern at USA Wrestling in 1988 when he was asked to make a presentation to the board of directors about sending a women’s team to the 1989 World Championships. The presentation must have worked since the first U.S. women’s World team competed the following year.

He credits Abbott for the presentation and for his groundbreaking women’s wrestling coverage. 

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