Bubby Graham is a little brother in age alone.
Graham, a 152-pound junior wrestler from Annapolis High, entered high school a year after his older brother, Ben, won his only Class 4A/3A state title. It didn?t take long for the younger Graham to step out of his older brother?s shadow.
Bubby, who won the Anne Arundel County title last Saturday, takes the next step toward his second straight state title this weekend when he competes in the 4A/3A East Region tournament at Chesapeake-AA. He won county, regional and state titles at 145 pounds as a sophomore.
Graham is on pace to exceed the accomplishments of his older brother, who went 119-15 in his career but didn?t win a state title until his senior year.
“Ben was a grind-it-out wrestler who you knew would go six minutes every match,” Annapolis coach Tom Sfakiyanudis said. “Bubby has the same determination as Ben, but he?s bigger, stronger and probably has more talent.”
Ben?s biggest obstacle in high school was getting past Chesapeake?s Matt Eveleth, a wrestler who graduated before Ben won his state title. Bubby is on the opposite side of his current rivalry with Broadneck?s Abe Hunter. He beat Hunter four times last year and came up with a 4-1 decision to win the county title last weekend.
Graham is now 28-0 this year and 60-2 the last two seasons. He was third in the county, first in the region and sixth in the state as a freshman.
“Watching Ben wrestle those matches against Matt Eveleth showed me that winning a state title isnever easy,” Graham said. “Those matches got closer and closer, so they also showed me that you constantly have to find ways to get better so wrestlers don?t learn your weaknesses.”
Ben Graham, who currently is wrestling part-time at Davidson, readily admits that his younger brother is better now than he was at the same point of his career.
“He?s really mentally tough,” Graham said. “I?m really proud of what he?s accomplished. I used to be more nervous watching him than I was before my matches. That?s not true anymore, though.”
