InterMat first learned of the Conquering Columbus podcast when it saw a link to its recent interview with Mike Pucillo, 2008 NCAA Division I champ for Ohio State who revealed in a March 2015 interview with Jason Bryant that he is gay. The sixty-minute segment on the Conquering Columbus podcast was an engaging, in-depth conversation between Pucillo and the Conquering Columbus principals (they are friends, as evidenced by the interviewers referring to the former Buckeye champ as "Mikey"). Wanting to know more, InterMat contacted Conquering Columbus ... and learned more about the trio of Buckeye matmen who started the podcast, and their purpose for creating it.
Meet the Conquerors
Yes, Manuche, Whitt and Grandominico all wrestled for Ohio State ... but each former Buckeye brings a unique background to Conquering Columbus.
A walk-on for the Ohio State wrestling team at 133 pounds, Mike Manuche came to Central Ohio from San Diego, Calif. in 2011. In his bio at the Conquering Columbus website, Manuche said, "I am asked why someone would leave a place as beautiful as Southern California to come to the Midwest for school, and then decide to stay in Columbus after finishing my degree. The simple answer is the people. I knew that, although it would be uncomfortable and much more difficult than going to UC Santa Barbara, I would be the best version of myself coming to Ohio State to train with the Buckeyes ... Today, I work in the business world instead of on the mat. Conquering Columbus was started for the same reason I came to Ohio State to wrestle: to learn from the best. We hope to bring the stories and experiences of our guests to our listeners so we can all understand what it takes to reach our potential."
Like Mike Manuche, Josh Whitt was also a walk-on at Ohio State who wrestled 133. The Toledo native graduated Summa Cum Laude and Academic All Big-Ten honoree. Whitt now works full-time at Facilities Management eXpress (FMX) and, in addition, helps out at Rudis, the Columbus-based wrestling gear and athletic wear supplier.
In a phone interview, InterMat asked Manuche and Whitt about their original career goals ... and whether getting into communications (as in creating a podcast) was part of the plan.
"I wanted to be a dentist, until I talked to a dentist," Manuche disclosed.
"I studied theoretical mathematics," said Whitt. "You can imagine the career opportunities there."
That said, the two have some broadcast experience, with Manuche doing color commentary for BTN (Big Ten Network) wrestling telecasts ... and Whitt accompanying him at the mic for a dual.
Serving as webmaster and IT guy for Conquering Columbus is Joe Grandominico, who wrestled for Ohio State at 149 and 157 pounds. He was a three-time varsity letter winner and Academic All American as a Buckeye, and graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Business Administration, specialization in Management Information Systems, and a minor in Spanish for Business. Since graduating, the Westerville, Ohio native has been building his professional career at Ohio-based Owens Corning.
Wrestling ... and a whole lot more
To be clear, Conquering Columbus is NOT specifically a wrestling podcast ... but realizing that three Ohio State mat alums built it, and that a number of the guests have amateur wrestling backgrounds, it would be easy to draw that conclusion.
"Many of our interviewees also have wrestling ties, not because we intentionally seek out wrestlers, but we have an easier time landing them as a guest if we have some sort of connection to them," Manuche continued. "James Lawrence, who ran 50 IronMan competitions in 50 days in 50 states; Kevin Harrington, former Shark on ABC's "Shark Tank", and Robert Hatta, talent partner at Drive Capital) all have wrestling somewhere in their backgrounds and we have interviews with them on our site as well."
In looking at the roster of recent Conquering Columbus guests from the past month or so, another wrestling-related name came up as the subject of an interview: Commander Dominic Gorie, retired U.S. astronaut who was just announced as the Outstanding American honoree of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2017 who will be welcomed into the Stillwater, Okla. based hall in June 2017.
Then again, it's not all wrestlers who make up the Conquering Columbus guest list. In recent weeks, the podcast has interviewed Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo ... the entrepreneur who created Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, Jeni Britton Bauer ... as well as "health blogger" Sara Grandominico on the importance of diet in living a healthy lifestyle.
How it got started
The idea for launching Conquering Columbus came early this year. The first podcast was posted in June 2016 ... with nearly two dozen podcasts already available for listeners to access.
What was the thinking behind the Conquering Columbus podcast?
"Josh and I saw all of the individuals working every day to make Columbus better, and we knew someone had to capture their story," Mike Manuche wrote on the Conquering Columbus website. "We wanted to learn from everyone doing amazing work around Columbus -- from business and athletics to science, medicine, social work, and beyond -- and bring their ideas and dreams to others with the hope that we could make our city more connected then it has ever been."
The three creators see their Conquering Columbus podcast as the way to achieve these goals. They research and interview those across Columbus and beyond who have achieved success in a wide range of endeavors.
"We're genuinely curious about serious people," Josh Whitt told InterMat. "We want to let our interview subjects present their stories in a straightforward, relaxed, conversational setting."
As for timing ... the goal is to have a new podcast up each week, usually posted at 4 p.m. Eastern time Sunday afternoons. Most interviews run from 40-60 minutes each.
Want to know more about Conquering Columbus? Visit their website, where you'll find a list of available podcasts for listening (complete with links) ... complete bios of the three podcast founders ... and more, including a way to be alerted by email when new podcasts are available.
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