Dave Curby grew up in Ann Arbor. He participated in football and wrestling in high school, and placed 3rd in the state at 185 lbs. in 1971. He won the Championship at the National Junior Freestyle Championship at 191.5 lbs. in 1971 in Iowa City.
Dave wrestled at Michigan, 1971-1975, and captained the 1975 squad. He won a Big Ten Championship in 1974 at 190 lbs. after placing 5th in 1973. He still remembers the pain inflicted on him by Keen when he was demonstrating “leg” moves on him in the early and mid-1970s.
Dave began working at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, IL, and assisted former Wolverine teammate, Mark King, in coaching the wrestling team. He then worked about 27 miles North at Niles North High School in Skokie, IL as a physical education teacher and athletic director. In 1984, he was named “Physical Educator of the Year” in Illinois by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Dave earned his master’s degree and doctorate from Northern Illinois in physical education and Educational Psychology. He has written numerous articles on exercise physiology and wrestling. Dave was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008.
Dave is an internationally certified wrestling coach and a strength and conditioning specialist. He is a USA Wrestling Gold Certified Coach who has taken wrestlers to Bulgaria, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Iran, Morocco, Spain and Venezuela.
Curb started the International Network of Wrestling Researchers (INWR) in 2007. His website, Curby Wrestling http://www.curbywrestling.com and www.inwr-wrestling.com are the world’s foremost websites on the scientific aspects of wrestling. He has compiled a list of over 2,000 published scientific articles on wrestling. He is the editor of his own journal on wrestling, “The International Journal of Wrestling Science.”
Dave and Jake Curby
As a result of Dave’s passion for the sport of wrestling, he has become internationally known and famous in other countries for sharing his knowledge and expertise on the research he has summarized. He has presented his research at Yerevan, Armenia, Komotini, Greece, Istanbul, Turkey, Sofia, and Bulgaria. He was the USA Wrestling recipient of the Doc Counsilman Award, sponsored by the International Olympic Committee, in 2011 for his contributions to science in coaching. He has, without a doubt, taken the sport of wrestling to a much higher level scientifically than anyone has done in world history to date.
Curby was appointed Executive Director of Beat The Streets in Chicago, IL on July 22, 2013. There are over 650,000 young people under the age of 18 in Chicago, and 60 elementary schools for Curby to target in his new strategic plan. Dave and Jake
After his son, Jacob, died in January, 2010, Dave initiated The Jacob Curby Cup in his son’s honor. Jake was a member of the USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman Team; the competition features top wrestlers from the U.S. Open against top international teams in May. Thus far, France and Georgia have competed against the United States in Greco-Roman matches in Illinois at Lyons Township High School. In 2013, the third event took place on May 11 with Hungary, Lithuania, and Serbia; it is the premier Greco-Roman event in America. Lithuania won this year’s event.
