Grappling With the Reality of Wrestling : Olympics: Danny Henderson sacrifices to gain recognition in Greco-Roman, a sport that’s hardly America’s favorite pastime.

While members of the Dream Team fluff up posh hotel pillows and contemplate topping off their gourmet dinners with a Perrier out of the courtesy bar, Danny Henderson gives thanks for the meat loaf a local booster whipped up and hopes another night of sleeping on the mats in his training facility won’t give him a backache.

Mothers don’t let your sons grow up to be Greco-Roman wrestlers.

“The sacrifices this kid has had to make to be a part of our Olympic team doesn’t make you very proud of our system,” said Bob Anderson, Henderson’s coach at the San Clemente Jets (Junior Elite Training System). “Thankfully, we have some boosters here who feed him and give him a place to sleep.”

Henderson, 21, lives with his parents in Apple Valley when he’s not working out--sometimes even sacking out--at the Jets’ facility. He’s not complaining, though. After all, his wrestling career got started with the humblest of beginnings.

Henderson’s father, Bill, and Anderson were the driving force in the founding of the Jets. In the early years, when Henderson was 8, they worked out weekends only in a Quonset hut at Camp Pendleton.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Henderson says. “We got dropped off on Friday night and picked up on Sunday night. We sort of thought of it as a camp.”

The facilities may not have been first class, but the coaching was. Henderson helped the Apple Valley High School team win the State title as a junior and he won the national championship in his weight class as a senior.

After two years at Cal State Fullerton, Henderson quit school to concentrate on Greco-Roman wrestling rather than freestyle. He placed fifth at the 1991 U.S. Championships in the 198-pound class and then decided to shed the weight to compete at 180 1/2 pounds.

Because of the weight shift, he was forced to start at the bottom of the ladder during the Olympic trials this spring in Albany, N.Y. In four days, he had to defeat five opponents just to earn the right to meet two-time national champion John Morgan in a wrestle-off for the spot on the Olympic team.

Morgan, 29, finished seventh in the 1988 Olympics and seventh in the 1991 World Championships. After placing third in the ’91 Pan American Games, Morgan was considered one of the United States’ top chances for a Greco-Roman medal in Barcelona.

“Morgan was at the mini-tournament in New York watching his brothers wrestle, but because he was ranked No. 1 in the country, he didn’t have to compete,” Henderson said. “I had four matches the first day, three the second day, two the third day and two more on the last day. By the end, I was pretty beat up. My face was all swollen. I was a mess.”

Henderson had two weeks to rest before meeting Morgan in the best-of-three match wrestle-off for the Olympic berth in Concord, Calif. He was physically ready, but not exactly brimming with confidence.

“Before the Olympic trials, I wasn’t even thinking about making the team because climbing the ladder through all those guys is so tough,” he said. “But I started to get real nervous before going to Concord. I think I had made him out in my mind to be better than he really was.”

Once on the mat, however, Henderson lost his jitters and became determined not to lose his chance at making the Olympic team without an aggressive fight. Described by U.S. wrestling officials as a go-for-broke kind of competitor, Henderson took the initiative against the experienced Morgan from the outset.

“I scored first and relatively easily in the first match and then I relaxed and controlled the match,” he said. “I won the first match, 5-2, and then I was more relaxed.

“Morgan came out really aggressive in the second match, but I got behind him for a five-point throw. I was beating him, 7-0, with less than two minutes left and then I stalled out the rest of the match.”

It was an upset equivalent to a high school player winning a spot on the Dream Team. But Greco-Roman wrestling--a sport dominated by Eastern Europeans--is hardly America’s favorite pastime, so you probably didn’t hear about it on the evening news.

Suffice to say that Henderson is not a favorite to bring home any precious medal from Barcelona. He’s aware that he’s an underdog, but it’s hardly a new role to him. So he plans to throw caution to the wind and maybe a few opponents in the process.

“I’m not done yet,” he said, smiling. “Making the team was just one step. The next step is to win a medal.”