Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball team. Dwayne Johnson grew up a troubled teen who turned into commonly known as “The Rock.”

Many superstar athletes have unusual paths to greatness.

Everyone has a story, and for two wrestlers here at SHS, their paths of overcoming family struggles both crossed on and off the mat.

Sophomore Isaiah Wilson’s life didn’t start like everyone else. Both of his parents were drug addicts, and they ended up getting a divorce when he was around 6 years old.

“I want to tell you a good memory (of them), but I don’t really remember one,” Wilson said.

After the divorce, he started living with his dad, who is schizophrenic. They did not have a stable home and even lived in a car at one point. But then they moved in with Wilson’s grandmother looking for a better start.

All was well, until it wasn’t.

Eventually, his dad ended up moving out on the streets, and Wilson was now without both of his parents.
Wilson will never forget the moment he got home from shopping with his aunt and grandma to find his father waiting on the porch for them to return, hiding his face behind a satanic doll.

After waiting for over two hours, he popped up and scared them to the point where the police had to be called.

That feeling of fear never left Wilson.

The family ended up having to go to a different location for the night. Being a young kid and terrified in the moment. That feeling of fear never left Wilson.

He ended up moving in with his other grandparents when he was 8 years old and eventually moved to Arizona. He then moved back to Indiana when he was 9 years old, and he now lives with his aunt and uncle.

“They provide a lot for me (and) have really changed my life for the better,” Wilson said.

One of the outlets that his aunt and uncle introduced him to was sports. When he started high school as a freshman, he joined the football team and also the wrestling team.

“Wrestling means everything to me … it’s just doing something that you love every day that you’re good at,” Wilson said.

During his freshman year, Wilson was ranked 7th in semi-state, scored the most points and pins and broke the school record for scoring.

This is when he met another wrestler, sophomore Jeyson Murillo. Like Wilson, Murillo had a similar upbringing.
Murillo remembers all the traveling he went on with his family and just spending quality time with his parents, but things took a turn for the worse. He ended up going into foster care when he was 11 years old.

Foster care wasn’t a place he enjoyed, and having to move from house to house so often over the next few years didn’t sit well with him.

So when Kristi Ford, who is finishing up the adoption process to become his legal guardian, came into his life, he was free from all the turmoil of his past. Still, Murillo misses his parents every single day.

“It’s hard some days,” Murillo said. “Just doing things with my new family and thinking about my real family kind of just sucks.”

Despite the hardships he’s faced and the resentment he has, he still loves his parents and doesn’t hold anything against them.

Though it’s been rough over the past year, he used sports as an outlet as well. During his time in middle school, he spent his years split between wrestling at Delta and Frankton Middle Schools. Murillo was a three time county champion, two time team MVP and had an undefeated 28-0 during his 8th grade season.

Once he moved to SHS, Murillo met Wilson at wrestling, and the pair have been inseparable ever since.

“I’ve been there for almost every match of his, I’ve coached him when there was no coaches,” Wilson said. “I’ve practiced with and we’ve made each other better.”

They have also built a bond with activities off the mat as well.

Both have picked up the hobby of photography and shooting pictures at sports events. Also, both have girlfriends who are friends and both are invested in their faith with God.

The duo has been able to talk to each other about the similarities within their backstories, and it has made both of them more outgoing.

“It’s good to know somebody that I can talk to, because they’ve been through that same thing,” Wilson said.

After seeing what this friendship has brought them, Murillo’s girlfriend, sophomore Abby Boone has come to realize friendships like theirs show how similar upbringings bring a sense of comfort.

“Them both having the similar past kind of made them realize that they are not alone,” Boone said.

Through all the struggles for both wrestlers, Murillo is looking forward to competing to become ranked with Wilson by his side.

Though their lives have been affected by the past, Wilson believes this connection has grown through wrestling and has changed the trajectory of their friendship.

“When you go through a lot of hard times with somebody, you grow a connection that you don’t really have with anybody else,” Wilson said.