PEORIA – Ian Akers was an eighth grader with big goals.
It wasn’t becoming rich and famous one day. It wasn’t winning a Fortnite game. It wasn’t becoming class president, even though he fits that mold.
Young Ian Akers was a scrawny wrestler in junior high who was easy to overlook, but determined to follow the career path he had in mind of going into the military.
“At the time, you're like, ‘Alright, he's 11, he probably doesn't really know what he's getting himself into,” Peoria Notre Dame wrestling head coach Danny Burk said.
“But it was obvious from the start [that] he held himself to a really high standard. He wanted to be a leader. He wanted to be different. He wanted to be elite.”