Kurt Howell

Howell has two brothers who also competed in wrestling: Dicky and Brad.^[1] After watching his brother at the Newark YMCA, he began wrestling at age seven and "started winning" in events in fifth grade.^[2][3][4] At age 12, he started weightlifting, and in 1982, won two wrestling gold medals at the AAU Grand Nationals and one at the National Junior Olympics.^[1][5] Later that year, at age 14, he won the U16 World Schoolboy Tournament in his weight class in the freestyle event.^[5][6]

Howell attended Newark High School and as a freshman in 1983 went undefeated and won the state title in his class, at 98 pounds (44 kg).^[6][7] He remained undefeated and won further titles in 1984, 1985 and 1986, at 105 pounds (48 kg), 112 pounds (51 kg) and 119 pounds (54 kg), respectively.^[6][8] In addition to his state titles, he was also a four-time winner of the Blue Hen Conference championship and was a three-time MVP of the state tournament.^[6][4] Although most high school wrestlers at the time fought "20 or 25 bouts a season", Howell noted that he was sometimes fighting over 100 bouts a year and winning nearly all of them.^[3] He finished his high school career as one of the most decorated wrestlers in Delaware history with a perfect record of 108–0.^[4][9] At the same time, he won the Greco-Roman World Schoolboy title in 1984 and was also selected to the national high school all-star team.^[6][10]

Howell competed in college at Clemson University on a wrestling scholarship, where he battled injuries during his collegiate career.^[6] He compiled a record of 23–6 as a freshman and was named the school's outstanding wrestler as well as the second-best freshman nationally by the publication Amateur Wrestling News.^[11] He redshirted as a sophomore and then compiled a record of 24–10–1 as a junior, placing third at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament; he later competed at the NCAA Tournament and finished one point away from eighth, which would have made him an All-American.^[12] He was an alternate for the U.S. World Cup team in 1989 and in 1990, won the ACC championship in his weight class (126 pounds (57 kg)).^[13][14] In 1991, his final year competing, he placed eighth at the NCAA Championships and thus became an All-American.^[15] He concluded his collegiate career with a record of 100–22.^[16] After graduating from Clemson, Howell attempted to qualify for the 1992 Summer Olympics in the Greco-Roman discipline, but lost in the Olympic trials to Dennis Hall.^[17] He was named an alternate for the Olympics but did not travel to the games.^[18] Later that year, he competed for the U.S. at the World Cup but was defeated in the finals.^[19]

Afterwards, Howell became a coach, starting as a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.^[20] He later returned to Delaware in 1998 as the wrestling coach at Indian River High School.^[2][21] He moved to Smyrna High School in 2004.^[2] He served as Smyrna's coach for 14 seasons and led them to five team state championships, as well as coached 19 wrestlers who won a combined total of 29 state championships.^[22] He stepped down as Smyrna's coach in 2018 and was inducted into the Delaware Wrestling Hall of Fame the following year.^[6][23] He was ranked 85th on The News Journal's 2023 list of the "125 Greatest Coaches in Delaware History".^[24] In 2025, he inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.^[25]