How wrestling at Penn set Josh Harris on his path to team ownership and the NFC championship game

Josh Harris is surely set for a frosty reception from Eagles fans on Sunday when his Washington Commanders visit Lincoln Financial Field for the NFC championship game.

While his 76ers have been a disappointment this season, the Commanders have authored a stunning turnaround during his second season as owner from the second-worst team in the NFL to one win away from the Super Bowl a year later. When charting the Commanders’ trajectory, plenty of ink has been dedicated to the moment they selected quarterback Jayden Daniels second in the 2024 NFL draft, or when Dan Snyder sold the team to Harris’ management group in 2023 for $6.05 billion.

Turning back the clock even further, Harris’ path to purchasing the Commanders might even be traceable to over four decades ago on Penn’s campus, when a certain freshman wrestler was competing in the 118-pound weight class.

Harris, who also serves as managing partner for the Sixers and New Jersey Devils, has consistently acknowledged his experience wrestling at Penn as the place where things started for him.

”Wrestling was one of the most formative experiences of my life,” Harris said in a statement to The Inquirer. “It taught me the value of discipline, teamwork, and showing up even when things get tough — lessons that have stayed with me throughout my life and career.”

Harris competed for Penn wrestling in 1982 and 1983. Penn’s current head coach, Roger Reina, was a senior captain on the team when Harris joined his freshman year.

“What’s cool for us in the wrestling community is that he’s consistently credited to wrestling a lot of the attributes that lead towards success in business,” Reina said. “That competitive nature is coming out in everything he’s doing and all the teams he owns, the teams he’s putting together to run those organizations. It’s super impressive, but not necessarily surprising.”

The Sixers also happened to win their most recent NBA title in 1983, something Harris has pointed to as having an impact on him.

“He was always a very competitive guy,” Reina said. “I think clearly throughout his career, that competitiveness has continued, and whether it’s business, whether it’s sports acquisitions, what have you, he’s always a super competitive guy.”

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In high school, Harris finished third at the Maryland state wrestling championships. He wasn’t a star at Penn, but the program required persistence, said then-head coach Larry Lauchle.

“I remember him wrestling off, because there was a couple boys around his weight that were just a little bit better than he was,” Lauchle said. “To make the team, you have to wrestle the individual in your weight off, and he was perseverant, and he worked hard at it.”

During one match against Lehigh, Harris was pinned by Bobby Weaver, who went on to win an Olympic gold medal in 1984.

Penn wrestling is steeped in history. Benjamin Franklin, the university’s founder, was a proponent of the sport, and in 1905, Penn hosted the first intercollegiate wrestling championship on its campus. But in the early ’80s, during Harris’ and Reina’s tenure on the team, the program was in trouble.

Wrestling was one of nine varsity teams the Penn administration considered phasing out in 1980. The administration told Lauchle he could no longer recruit new players and must instead rely on walk-ons, and the team could only wrestle locally.

The move wasn’t without precedent: Penn cut varsity men’s ice hockey two years prior because of budget constraints. A four-day student sit-in couldn’t save the hockey program, and it remains in club status to this day.

But a galvanized wrestling alumni base ultimately helped save its team from the same fate. Lauchle called around to his former wrestlers and generated enough donations to ensure wrestling’s future.

“That was a very early genesis of alumni support behind wrestling at Penn,” Reina said.

The tradition has continued. In 2018, the Harris Family Charitable Foundation gave a $1 million gift to Penn wrestling to support the continued development of the program.

Reina and Harris reconnected decades after their shared time at the Palestra following Harris’ 2013 induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. By then, basketball had become his main athletic focus, but Harris was recognized for his contributions to wrestling. Reina was inducted to the Pennsylvania chapter in 2017, and Lauchle, a former Olympian, was enshrined in 2000.

Wrestling is a tight-knit community, and it meant something that Harris never forgot that period of his life.

“One thing about wrestling, if you’re traveling or something, and you see somebody and they have a wrestling shirt on, you always start talking to them,” Lauchle said. “They’re like your friends. They’re willing to do anything for you, help you out.”

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Today, that idea of disbandment is far in the wrestling program’s rearview mirror. Penn runs an Olympic regional training center out of its facilities, which brings top talent to train at the university. Penn also is set to cohost the NCAA Tournament with Drexel at the Wells Fargo Center in March, marking the first time the biggest collegiate wrestling event will be held in Philadelphia since 2011.

Harris sometimes stops by the Palestra to take in a match and annually hosts Penn wrestlers at Sixers games. They also run a joint program where undergraduate wrestlers can gain sports business experience through internships with the NBA team.

Before the NFC title game, Penn has some of its own business to take care of, with a meet scheduled against Hofstra at noon Sunday.

“We’ve got a few Commanders fans and a lot of Eagles fans,” Reina said. “Everybody’s excited about the game this weekend.”