I was one of those people who were blessed to grow up in what was considered a wrestling family. To become a wrestling family when I was growing up, you needed to have a few brothers who enjoyed the sport and got pretty good at it. (These days, there are also many wrestling families that include sisters who compete).     Before long, your name got around and people would pluralize your name ("The Abbotts") or call you the brothers ("The Abbott Brothers"). I'm sure you know of many such families in wrestling.    With most wrestling families, the force behind the success is often the parents. These are the key people who provide the support and encouragement that allow their kids to improve and grow. With all of the challenges that wrestling entails, including weight management, travel, injury and often disappointment, it is very difficult for a young person to develop in our sport without strong parental support.    I've heard numerous wrestling family stories about kids that excel in wrestling because their father was a wrestler. I would venture to say that there are at least as many (or more) wrestling families where the parents were not involved in wrestling until their kids got involved. I am from one of those families where the dad did not wrestle.    It was probably a safe bet that the Abbott brothers were going to become athletes of some sort. I was born the second son of a pair of physical education teachers. Both my father, Ralph, and my mother, Ethel, taught "gym" during their professional careers. (Mom would later teach science and health education). I wouldn't call either of them gym teachers, because both were tremendous educators. Their interest was in teaching and in learning, and is the key reason why all of my siblings were good students.    Genetics could be a big reason why wrestling was our sport, because my dad was only 5 foot-2 inches tall. His sport was baseball. He was a tough-nosed second baseman who joked that he never hit a homerun. He played semipro baseball on a competitive level well into his 40's, and served as his team's organizer and manager. When he no longer played baseball, he got into softball, playing the game for the rest of his life. In the later years, when he had some challenging physical problems, it was a true testament to his determination and guts that he could play at all.    I grew up on a baseball diamond, watching my dad play and manage, and getting involved in organized baseball at age six. Dad also ran the youth baseball program where we spent our summers, so we were surrounded by that sport from birth. Baseball was fun, and the Abbott boys were pretty good at it. When we were not in an organized game, we spent all day playing sandlot games in the vacant fields of Dexterville, N.Y. (the little upstate crossroads that is not on any map but where my grandparents lived and we "summered.").    Things change when you grow up, and only my older brother Jim went on to play high school baseball. I first found out about wrestling when I went out for the team in seventh grade, only because my big brother Jim joined the team. Jim was probably the best athlete of the three Abbott brothers, and was a fast success at his new sport. In my first year, I went 2-6 on the junior high "B" team, losing my first six matches in a row. In spite of that, it soon became obvious to me that wrestling was my sport.    Our first wrestling coach was one of those guys who did not wrestle, either. Dave Mayerson played basketball, we were told, and I once saw him sink a few shots in a row from half-court. But he coached junior high wrestling, not hoops, and he was very good at teaching the basics and motivating us to do our best.    The third Abbott brother was Ken, who was the fourth on the family ladder. (Our sister Carolyn came after me, and she certainly enjoyed sports her entire life). Ken learned about wrestling as a kid from Jim and I, and even (believe it or not) received his first few years of lessons on the living room carpet.    With a father who was an accomplished athlete and a physical education professional, you would expect he might try to "coach" his kids, right? Well, my dad never did that (except perhaps in baseball, when he showed us skills when we asked). Wrestling was foreign to my dad, so instead of trying to be an expert, he chose to be a parent. We already had coaches, including a good one in high school, John Szokoli.    Dad and Mom were always at our wrestling matches in junior high school and high school, traveling all over suburban Long Island following their boys. They cheered for us, win or lose. They bought us the needed equipment, furnished the snack foods for after weigh-ins and paid for our wrestling camps. Dad and Mom led our wrestling family by letting the wrestlers pursue the sport themselves and develop their own passion for it.    Jim had the most successful high school career. He won Suffolk County twice, placing third and sixth in the state meet. New York is a one-class state, and only one person per section gets to the state tournament (a field of about 14 per weight class then). Just making the states is a big deal in New York, and Jim did much better than that.  In his senior year, one questionable call in an early round may have cost Jim the state title. Ken and I were both successful in Suffolk County wrestling, but neither of us made it to states. Together, the three boys were certainly good enough to be considered part of a "wrestling family" for our part of the world.    I was really the only wrestling fanatic. Jim and I both played football and wrestled, but I skipped the spring season to compete in freestyle wrestling while Jim played all-league centerfield. Ken also enjoyed many sports, like Jim. I got involved in the US Wrestling Federation (now USA Wrestling) and I competed at the Junior Nationals (in Iowa City in 1978). I believe that I would never have been a college wrestler if it were not for the off-season wrestling.    I have a few stories about the kind of wrestling people my parents were. When I was an underclassman in high school, I did not drive (too busy with school and sports was the excuse). I qualified for the State Junior freestyle meet, and my Dad agreed to drive me up to Johnson City (near Binghamton) to compete. We had to drive all night after Dad's workweek ended, and he had to fight fatigue to get us there safely. He left the window open for the cold air and slapped himself a bit to stay alert. We got there, no problem, because of Dad's persistence. I proceeded to go 0-2 in the tournament, out right away. Dad never said anything to discourage me, in spite of the poor performance. After my senior year, I returned to Johnson City and won the New York Greco-Roman Junior title.    Mom and Dad did not see us wrestle much in college, as they were busy with work and supporting Carolyn and Ken and being very active in the community. I went to school in Boston, which was just far enough away to make it a challenge. Early in my freshman year, my folks stayed at my aunt's in New Jersey and came to a quad meet at Princeton. It was one of my best performances in college, as I won all three matches and wrestled very well with them in the stands.    That March, they decided to watch both Jim and I wrestle the same weekend at our Div. I conference qualifiers. The plan was to watch me at the Univ. of Rhode Island on the first day of the New England Championships, then drive down to Jersey to see Jim at the EIWA Tournament. After weigh ins, I found out that I received a bye in the first match and would not wrestle the day my folks were there. (This was before cell phones, and they were already on their way to see me, so I could not head them off). They spent time with me, an enjoyable visit for me to see them but a long drive for them to witness a bye. They left Rhode Island on schedule and did get to New Jersey to see Jim wrestle, although I don't think that Jim did very well that year.    In time, I believe my parents learned to enjoy watching the boys wrestle, although Mom never quite got used to seeing us pounded on. There was one match in college that I'm pre