Ben Wise is pulling off a rare feat for college athletes.
The 2026 graduate of V.R. Eaton High School in Haslet, he’s currently at Iowa Falls, Iowa, preparing for the season playing football for Ellsworth Community College.
Then, he will get ready to be a college wrestler later this year.
He arrived in northwest Iowa on July 31 for the start of the Panthers’ football practice ahead of the 2026 season. The junior college went 3-7 last year, which was not great but it was an improvement over 1-10 the year prior.
Wise was an offensive lineman for the Eagles and is adjusting to the college life of a football player. Led by Coach Matt White at Ellsworth Community College, Wise practices during the morning, goes to team meetings, does walkthroughs and lifts weights.
“It’s been pretty nice,” Wise said. “I’m not going to complain. I learned a lot in Texas and I just stumbled on this opportunity to come up here.”
Wise attended high school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but before that he had Midwest roots with time in Nebraska and Iowa. His grandparents don’t live far from his college.
During the recruiting process with White, Wise mentioned he had interest in joining the wrestling program led by Diorian Coleman. Wrestling season for the junior college starts two weeks before the football season is over, so he will have to juggle a little.
He said the two sports play off each other well. He said the leverage he used as an offensive lineman helps him in heavyweight wrestling matches.
The quickness off the whistle in football is the same in wrestling.
“They are just like a circle that really benefits each other,” he said. “That’s the way it’s been for me.”
Wise said he wanted to get back in the Midwest, though he had options to stay in Texas and wrestle if he wanted to. He also looked at Iowa Central Community College.
“I wanted a change of scenery; a different state and I wanted to see what the wrestling competition is going to be like up here in Iowa,” he said.
Wise was 31-12 last season for the Eagles’ wrestling program. He advanced out of district and went to the 2-6A Regional meet. He made the semifinals but lost to Marquis Reis from Arlington Mirabeau Lamar.
A loss to Arlington James Martin’s Dreylnd Riggle ended a chance to compete at state.
During the 2024-25 season, he took fourth at the THSWCA State Duals and sixth at the District 2-6A meet.
Wise was fourth in districts as a sophomore and mostly wrestled JV as a freshman.
This summer, working with Travis Clark at Clark Grappling, Wise took third place in the USA Wrestling Texas championship in freestyle and fifth in Greco-Roman.
He also competed for Team Texas at the Junior National Duals and was at the USA Wrestling 16U and Junior Folkstyle National Championship.
“I would say my biggest growth (this summer) is honestly being able to get beat, while learning,” he said.
Wise said that Greco-Roman is his favorite and his training partner most of the summer was Damani Bodiu from Keller. Earlier this summer, Bodiu was an All-American at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals.
Wise had never done freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling until after his freshman season at the urging of his high school coach Seth Bell, who was recently hired at Azle.
“Coach Bell got me into it, and he did the best he could do to help me,” Wise said. “Coach Clark knows heavyweight is quite a bit different than any other style, so I needed that different kind of training. That’s where I ended up beginning to have the success was when I started work with (Coach) Clark.”
