Catching up with Dawid Rechul
Dawid Rechul is proud of his cultural ancestry, which includes the traditional Polish spelling of his first name. He’s also quite proud of being a Huntington High School alumnus (Class of 1998) and one of Blue Devil wrestling coach Lou Giani’s 23 state champions.
Rechul has had quite a ride since leaving Huntington’s hallowed halls, earning NCAA Division I All-American honors, graduating from Harvard University, creating several companies, becoming a husband and father and currently attending medical school with his wife in his native Poland.
Most people would look at what Rechul has accomplished in the past 10 years and consider him a success. Yet, being the humble person he is, the Huntington grad isn’t as generous in his assessment. “I feel like even though I've kept quite busy since graduating from high-school, I haven't really done anything exceptional nor story-worthy,” he said. “With the exception of my wife and two children, all of whom are a miracle and constitute some of my life's proudest moments, since graduating high-school I've had a slew of super-high aspirations and only mediocre results.”
Competing for the Blue Devils, Rechul won the New York State championship in 1998 en route to a 36-0 record. He was a key member of Harvard’s wrestling team and eventually finished seventh in the NCAA Division I national championships.
Following his college career, Rechul moved to Colorado Spring to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in an attempt to earn a spot on the Olympic team. He came up short, finishing fourth at the U.S. Open and fifth at the 2007 World Team Trials.
In 2003 Rechul started a business to import custom made home-products from Poland to the U.S. and in 2005 created a construction/restoration business, but neither enterprise proved particularly profitable. “The only good thing being that we had virtually no start-up costs with the first one and broke even on the second one,” he said.
In 2005 Rechul also started a durable medical equipment company and a diagnostic sleep and research facility. Those two ventures, located in Colorado, are doing quite well and have big potential. Rechul estimates they “are probably operating at 15 percent of maximum potential so there’s much room for improvement.”
Rechul, who finished his Huntington mat career with a 90-10 record, married Kisria Ann Born in 2004. She is also a Harvard graduate. The couple’s son, Dantes Augustyn was born in 2005 and their daughter, Mileva Ariana last year. Their son now attends a Polish-only kindergarten in Krakow, Poland and their daughter spends her days with a Polish-only speaking nanny.
Rechul was one of Huntington’s top students. In addition to wrestling, he played football and was on the track team. He was well-liked by teammates and coaches and had a “take no prisoners” attitude when competing. Today, his eyes are glued to books and lecturing professors, but he is still an entrepreneur.
“In the fall of 2007 my wife and I started medical school at Jagiellonian University in Krakow,” Rechul said. “Just recently I opened up a business in Poland doing imports, but it’s mostly a money pit at this point.”
Rechul’s days are now spent studying anatomy, histology, biochemistry and genetics, to name a few subjects. His home and businesses in Colorado Springs are being tended to by others, although he is quite active in the businesses, even from afar. It’s amazing what can be accomplished through e-mail and video conferencing.
Rechul said he has a lot of debt, like most young people do. “The only thing that no-one can put a lien on is my wife and children,” he said. “Their smiles, giggles, and especially the occasional injury or fever are capable of making me forget about all my problems. They are my little world and nothing else really matters at the end of the day.”
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