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Even at Olympics, U.S. wrestler leans on incarcerated father for support

ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) --

Toccara Montgomery is neither ashamed nor embarrassed about the imprisoned father who will be an ocean away when she becomes one of the first women to wrestle in the Olympics.

"I always was a daddy's girl and I always will be a daddy's girl," Montgomery said, her voice filled with emotion. "He's always been a driving force in my life."

Paul Montgomery of Cleveland was sentenced to 33 years to life for a 1998 double murder and is not eligible for parole until 2032 -- the year his daughter will turn 50.

Toccara occasionally visits her father at an Ohio prison, not all that far from where she attends classes and wrestles at Cumberland (Ky.) College. But she insists she doesn't need her father's physical presence to know he is with her.

"He may be incarcerated, but he's as much in my life as anyone can be. ... I know people who have both parents (at home), and they're not involved in their lives as much as mine are," said Toccara, whose mother Tara, a cook, essentially has been a single parent since Paul Montgomery went to prison. "I'm grateful to have parents who are supportive of me."

Less than a month after the October 1998 shootings, and with her father awaiting trial, Toccara's life was altered again when she learned Cleveland's East Tech High would sponsor its first wrestling team in 40 years.

Montgomery, then 15, had never wrestled before despite being very athletic, and the idea intrigued her; her mother once rejected her request to play football.

"I was only thinking about being (voted) most athletic at my school, and I needed another sport," she said. "But when I tried it, it was different from the team sports -- I was always used to blaming someone else when something went wrong. It was very frustrating at first, and very difficult."

But East Tech wrestling coach Kip Flanik found her to be a quick learner, someone interested in improving even as she constantly lost to male opponents. Wrestling also occupied her time and helped serve as a refuge from the trouble in her personal life.

Within months, she finished second at the U.S. girls nationals -- an extraordinary achievement for one so new to the sport -- and she was a national senior open champion before graduating from high school.

Her rapid progress continued as she moved onto the U.S. national team. She beat three world champions en route to placing second in the 2001 worlds, and was voted international female wrestler of the year.

As she advanced, Flanik assumed such an important role in her life that he accompanied her to Cumberland as the coach of one of only six U.S. women's college wrestling teams. He also worked with 2003 world silver medalist Tina George.

"Nobody knows you like your own coach," Montgomery said. "He's always been there for me."

The two have an emotional bond that is tightly tied to their similar backgrounds.

Flanik's father, who serviced vending machines as a side occupation, was shot to death during a robbery when Flanik was 14. Unlike Montgomery, Flanik intensely disliked his father -- a man he says physically abused him from an early age -- and he admittedly was not sorry to see him die.

Now, Flanik is helping Montgomery prepare for her first Olympics match Sunday.

One of three 2003 world silver medalists on the four-member U.S. Olympic team, Montgomery is among the favorites at 1581/2 pounds (72kg). She lost to defending champion Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan in last year's world finals in New York and during an Olympic venue test tournament in Athens, but beat her in a World Cup match in Tokyo.

Hamaguchi, a five-time world champion, has already promised what will happen in Athens, telling Japanese reporters, "I definitely will win the gold medal."

What's intriguing is that Hamaguchi, 26, is a daddy's girl, too; her father, Heigo "The Animal" Hamaguchi is a former well-known professional wrestler who serves as his daughter's coach and guiding force.

Montgomery's father won't be in her corner, or even on the same continent, if she meets Hamaguchi, but he spoke with her four days before she left for Athens.

"We talk as much as possible, though there are certain times and circumstances when you just can't," she said. "He was kidding with me the last time we talked, saying, `You're on the Olympic team, but you still can't beat me.' I said, `OK, old man, we'll see."'