After stopping by his brother's wrestling practice, Bailer dropped basketball to hit the mats. When Josh Bailer was in fourth grade his favorite sport was basketball and his brother, Jeremy, liked wrestling. One day, Jeremy's wrestling coach asked Josh to give wrestling a try instead of going to basketball practice. After one day of wrestling, Josh liked it so much that he stopped playing basketball and moved on to wrestling. "From that day on I was a wrestler," Josh Bailer said. Bailer was very competitive as a youngster and loved the one-on-one competition inherent in wrestling. By the time he reached middle school he had already had much success in the sport, as shown by his victory in the midget state championships in New Jersey. As Bailer got older and better his passion for wrestling grew. "It is like a snowball effect," said Bailer, now a senior at Penn. "When I found myself being successful, I fell more in love with the sport." The Lake Hopatcong, N.J., native first achieved team success when his high school squad, which also featured current teammate Mark Piotrowsky, was ranked No. 1 in the country. His greatest individual high school achievement came in his senior year when he capped off a great career by placing fifth in the country in the 158-pound weight class and was named a Junior National All-American. When it came to searching for colleges, Bailer was looking for a school with very strong academics coupled with a solid wrestling program. "At the beginning of my senior year Penn had made a strong commitment to getting some of the best wrestlers in the country." Bailer said. Indeed the team had recruited the likes of Clinton Matter, Sean O'Hara and Joey Allen the year before. Brandon Slay and Bart Murphy were recruited in the same year as Bailer. In his freshman year, Bailer found adjusting to the academics at Penn more difficult than the transition to wrestling at the college level (unlike high school where just the opposite had taken place). Coming from a tradition of success in high school, Bailer knew what it was like to wrestle in important matches. Bailer's freshman year was highlighted by the Quakers' first victory over Cornell in a dual meet in many years. Wrestling at the 158-pound level, Penn needed wins from him and the next four wrestlers in order to win the meet. Bailer was able to get the team rolling with a win over the Big Red's captain, Mike Klinglesmith, and the Quakers ended Cornell's run of six years without a league loss. Bailer found the friendships he made in his freshman year to be rewarding on and off the mat. "Brandon Slay, who was a rodeo star in Texas, taught me how to incorporate rodeo techniques into wrestling," Bailer said. In his sophomore year, Bailer got more serious about improving his wrestling and competing at a higher level. This increase in dedication to the sport paid off when Bailer finished the season ranked No. 4 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. As a junior, Bailer wrestled at 167 pounds and was named to the All-Ivy League First Team, won the EIWA championship, and qualified for the Nationals in Minnesota. At the Nationals, Bailer lost in the first round, but won his first match of the consolation wrestlebacks before being eliminated. "I went in with high hopes but understood that everyone else had high goals," Bailer said. "I was disappointed but it was a good experience." This year at Penn, the Politics, Philosophy and Economics major has taken over a leadership role as captain of the team. "He leads by example," Quakers assistant coach Brian Dolph said. "He pushes himself to the limit, and people recognized that, and want to follow." When asked what his best match of the year was he responds that his best match never really occurred. At the Cyclone Open at Iowa State, both he and his brother Jeremy reached the finals at the same weight class. However his father and coaches decided that they should not wrestle because of the intense rivalry between them. "It might have turned into a fight out there," Bailer said. "I think that would have been my toughest and best match of the season." Last weekend at Cornell may have been one of the worst matches of his Bailer's career. While he was attempting a risky move, his opponent knocked him down and he was unconscious. It was the first time this happened to him since high school, but he has recovered. Bailer has high goals for both the team and himself in his senior year. Individually, he wants to win the EIWA title and improve on last year's performance at Nationals. His goals for the team include a convincing victory at the EIWA Championships, and bringing all ten wrestlers to the national championships. Bailer's winning attitude has definitely influenced his teammates and coaches. "He really hates to lose," Dolph said. "He is a fighter and will do whatever it takes to win."
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