Penn State club boxer Eliza Kuehner holds the National Champion belt.
Courtesy: Eliza KuehnerBy day, Osahon Omo-Osagie is a special education teacher at Park Forest Elementary School.
By night, he’s camped in the White Building, yelling at Penn State students to help them improve at punching each other in the face.
Apparently, it pays off. This April, Omo-Osagie, 36, of State College , returned to West Point, New York with nine of his Penn State Boxing Club athletes for the National Collegiate Boxing Association National Championships.
Between the two women and seven men who represented Penn State Boxing Club, the boxers walked away from 2018 NCBA National Championship as one of the winningest teams the club has ever had.
“We brought nine [boxers] into nationals, six of them became All-Americans, two finished national runners-up and one finish national champion,” Pat Doherty, Penn State Boxing Club captain, said. “We came with the most people we’ve ever taken since Coach Os has been coaching and we showed up.”
Part of what makes these victories so sweet for Penn State Boxing Club is knowing what they’ve had to achieve to build up their name.
The year 2018 marks five years since the club’s suspension based on accusations of vandalism within their practice facility. In the midst of all that, the team couldn’t seem to get a coach to stick — that is, until Omo-Osagie came along during that 2013 season.
For the 2014 NCBA National Championships — the first nationals the team was allowed to compete at following their suspension — Penn State Boxing Club was only allowed to bring one qualifying boxer to nationals.
Five years and a myriad of national fighters later, the team claims they’re only moving upward now.
“To go from five years of only taking one boxer to taking a full crew of strong national contenders shows the quality of boxers we’ve been able to take to nationals,” Omo-Osagie said. “Penn State boxing is growing and improving. It’s a really good feeling.”
ELIZA KUEHNER, NCBA 119 LBS. WOMEN’S NATIONAL CHAMPION
Penn State club boxer Eliza Kuehner faces off against Army at the White Building during Penn State Boxing's annual Home Show.
Courtesy: Eliza KuehnerConcerned for her daughter’s safety, Eliza Kuehner’s mother cried after her first ever fight.
By nationals, she was asking when Kuehner (junior-biobehavioral health) and her teammates were fighting because she “wanted to see [them] knock someone out.”
Lucky for her, she got to see a little more than a few knockouts.
She got to watch her daughter win the NCBA women’s nationals, taking home the belt for the 119 lb. weight class.
According to Omo-Osagie, to win nationals after only a year of club boxing is unheard of.
“The whole point of the NCBA is to take kids [who] have never boxed before and, by their senior year, get them to the point where they can be national champions,” Omo-Osagie said. “But she came in one year and just dedicated herself and did it. She’s extraordinary. She’s an exception to the rule.”
Because Kuehner won the regional championship leading up to nationals, she was assigned a bye for the first day of the three-day tournament — meaning she only had to fight twice over the long weekend, instead of three times.
While Kuehner knew she had been training her hardest all year, she wasn’t so certain, like the rest of her team, she was going to win it all.
“I honestly didn’t really think about [if I was going to win nationals or not] until the week before. The week leading up to it was super stressful because of school work,” Kuehner said. “I didn’t want to be overconfident because I saw videos of some of the other boxers so I knew it was going to be a good competition.”
Omo-Osagie knew much further back than a week before nationals that Kuehner would win the belt.
The weekend of her first show this spring — the Penn State-hosted “home show” — Omo-Osagie “saw something change” in her.
“Not saying she was struggling leading up to [the home show], but something happened in that fight [where] she just turned into a new person,” Omo-Osagie said. “My assistant coach [and I] would talk about it constantly, like ‘Man, she looks like a different person every time she steps into the ring. If she keeps building like this and progressing like this, there’s no way anyone’s going to stop her.’”
It seems Kuehner isn’t planning on stopping any time soon. With one year left in Penn State Boxing Club, Kuehner will be taking on the position of captain over the men’s and women’s teams.
In the meantime, she’ll be training to hopefully bring home another belt she can add to her collection.
PAT DOHERTY, NCBA 125 LBS. MEN’S NATIONAL RUNNER-UP
Penn State club boxer Pat Doherty competes against Army at Nationals.
Courtesy: Eliza KuehnerDoherty (senior-finance) may not have the belt to prove it, but according to Omo-Osagie and Kuehner, Doherty was the real champion of the evening. The boxer came into nationals with one goal: advance past the first round.
A now three-time NCBA nationals competitor, Doherty had lost in the first round the prior two national championships he competed in, vowing this year would be different.
Certainly “different” from years prior, Doherty exceeded his goal — he advanced past the first and second rounds to make it all the way to the championship match.
He lost. The match came down to a tie-break, where he was defeated by one point.
“This nationals experience, I demanded more of myself than I did in the past,” Doherty said. “Even [though I didn’t get] my hand raised in the finals, I believe I did everything in my power this season to win. I fought the way I needed to fight. I’m happy with the way I went out.”
Omo-Osagie claims current captain Doherty was more poised about the defeat than anybody watching in Ike Hall.
After watching Doherty work hard, spend two years at nationals losing after the first round and to then see him lose again by one point in the final, it was difficult for him to hold back how upset he was.
Apparently, he wasn’t alone. “Every coach in that building” approached Doherty to tell him he was the national champion at the end of the day.
“Even in that moment when I was upset, his mother was upset, his team was upset, Pat was the one telling everyone ‘It’s OK, it’s alright,’” Omo-Osagie said. “To me, that’s a testament to what boxing’s done for this kid.”
While Doherty’s collegiate boxing career has come to its close, he chooses to keep looking to the future of the club.
Most notably, Doherty is looking forward to passing down the title of captain to Kuehner, “the best possible leader to do it.”
“I think it’s the job of this year’s leaders to create next year’s leaders and I am really excited to see Eliza taking over as captain,” Doherty said. “The foundation of this team is stronger than it’s ever been. I’ll be back to watch, that’s for sure.”
COACH OSAHON OMO-OSAGIE, NCBA COACH OF THE YEAR
Penn State club boxing coach Oshanon Omo-Osagie takes in regionals.
Courtesy: Eliza KuehnerPerhaps one of the biggest honors Omo-Osagie claims is being nominated and selected as NCBA Coach of the Year by individuals who coached while he was a collegiate boxer himself.
Omo-Osagie has now completed his eighth year of coaching for Penn State Boxing Club, previously boxing for Lock Haven University as a student.
While he wasn’t expecting the award, he said receiving that acknowledgement was certainly a fulfilling affirmation. Additionally, he noted he certainly didn’t become worthy of that title all on his own.
“I’m a good coach because I love doing what I do. But I can’t get any kind of accolades or recognition if my boxers aren’t producing, or if I don’t have great assistants helping me out in practice,” Omo-Osagie said. “That’s what that award means to me: To say ‘This team has been a great team, it’s been a great season, they’ve done everything I’ve asked of them.’”
Kuehner and Doherty both agree that Omo-Osagie defines the standards for the title.
Doherty, especially, reflected back to his freshman year on the team, joining the season the team’s suspension ended five years ago.
While he can remember that time when the team was only comprised of a handful of people, he also remembers how Omo-Osagie’s energy for the team drove Doherty and his teammates to get where they are today.
“It’s been a long time coming. In terms of numbers, we were nobody compared to Army, Navy or anything like that,” Doherty said. “But we still had this attitude about ourselves that ‘We will win, we were going to be successful.’ Os’ attitude really helped build the team.”
After winning coach of the year and seeing Penn State Boxing Club come full circle after years of hurdles, Omo-Osagie credits everyone’s heart and dedication back to what he preaches to his boxers each practice.
“What I love about boxing is that is tests you in ways you wouldn’t otherwise be tested, and it builds character,” Omo-Osagie said. “That is the ultimate testament.”
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