As a freshman wrestler at Camp Verde, Conrad Brady finished second at the state tournament. And that was coming off of a middle school wrestling career where he won three state championships. He transferred to Mingus as a sophomore and the transfer rules prohibited him from wrestling that year. When he returned to the mats for the Marauders as a junior, Brady won the state championship at 170 pounds.
So, he wasn’t sneaking up on anyone heading into his senior season. It didn’t matter. Brady actually wrestled much of the season at 160 pounds. Again, dropping weight to help the team did nothing to hinder his performance, as Brady took an undefeated record into the state tournament. Wrestling at 170 pounds again, Brady was not about to relinquish his title. He not only repeated as state champion but won every match at the tournament via pinfall.
His exploits earned the attention of all of the coaches at Mingus, who voted Brady as the Marauders Male Athlete of the Year. The Cottonwood Journal Extra agrees with that assessment and is naming Brady as the Mingus Male Athlete of the Year.
“I am super honored, humbly honored — I really am,” Brady said. “I know that there are a lot of hard working athletes that try to accomplish getting to the top place — that’s their dream. This is something that I’ve been working for ever since second grade going into wrestling. I’ve been doing it year-round, working my absolute butt off to get here and living in the wrestling room.”
Wrestling hasn’t always been Brady’s only sport. When he was younger, he played basketball. In basketball, though, he found a problem. The sport is very team oriented, meaning you have to depend on others and they have to depend on you. That wasn’t something Brady found a lot of comfort with.
While there is a lot of teamwork that goes into making a wrestler as good as he or she can be, when it comes time for competition, it’s a one-on-one battle. Either you’re the better wrestler on that day or your opponent is. Brady found that appealing. And that mindset is ultimately what Brady hopes will carry him into his eventual career.
He recently concluded a Fire Science Class for HazMat 101, Wildland 101 and Firefighting 101 and 102. He plans on getting his EMT certification in the fall and working for the next three years to attain a nursing degree. During that time, Brady will also be training for another combat sport — mixed martial arts — specifically for a career in the UFC.
“I really want to fight — to get in the cage,” Brady said. “It’s always been my dream since second grade, to fight in the UFC. Growing up, especially in a town like this, hanging out with the age group that I do, it’s like music to my ears every time that I hear someone say ‘If I could go back.’ Every time I hear that it always gives me a little bit of a push or motivation just to go out there.”
While many UFC fighters are outspoken and brash, that does not define Brady at all. In fact, when he was asked how he’d like to be remembered at Mingus, Brady said “as a man who’s not too outspoken.”
He named his favorite wrestling memory as winning the state championship as a junior and then jumping on one of his coaches — Mario Chagolla Sr. — in celebration.
And while wrestling is an individual sport, Brady also knows that he’s had a lot of help in reaching his accomplishments there. Chagolla is one of the first people that came to Brady’s mind when talking about that help.
“I really want to thank coach Mario Chagolla Sr. — without a doubt my biggest role model in my life,” Brady said. “The Wilbur family for letting me live there. And most of all, God. I actually got baptised four weeks ago. My life has completely changed. I’m nose down in that book quite a bit lately.”
And beyond not being outspoken, that’s how Brady wants to be remembered by his classmates and future Marauders who come through the doors of Mingus.
“Someone who always followed the truth — if I could give the people of Mingus a gift it would be the gift of starting to follow Christ,” he said. “Just looking up to me as that person. To create a path. I see a lot of kids go downhill. For people from my point of view, to give them a little motivation to go up.”
