The Shadow
The desired road to success is a straight highway, free from traffic, is but a short distance, and smoothly paved until one reaches their final destination. In reality, however, the road looks a lot more like the movie, “Final Destination,” which throws so many obstacles in your way that it can sometimes feel like someone —or something— is constantly out to get you. The latter may very well be the path familiar to local veteran, John Reed Jr., who knows all too well of the long and arduous journey to reach success.
From a young age, it was John’s desire to excel in the world of athletics. Namely wrestling. “I started wrestling when I was at Clifton Middle School,” he said. At the time, Jeremy Bartley, who now coaches track at AHS, was Reed’s wrestling coach. “Sixth grade year, then wrestled all the way through my senior year.” The three-time state placer earned a 6th place finish in his sophomore year and second during both his junior and senior years at Alleghany High School prior to his graduation in 2015, wrestling under Alleghany’s current coach Dale Burdette. “I was lucky. I was able to break every school record that we have for wrestling: Most career pins, most career wins, most career takedowns, most single season wins, most single season pins, and most single season takedowns. I had a good high school career.”
John then transitioned from successful high school wrestler to successful college wrestler when he made the move to Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where he received a scholarship. There, John wrestled under the guidance of coach Chris Skretkowicz until he injured his back halfway through his junior year, thus ending his wrestling career. “[Skretkowicz is] a two-time All-American for Hofstra [University]. Great coach,” Reed said. “The back injury was only partially related to wrestling, partially related to the military stuff.”
Despite his injury, John Reed Jr. pressed on at VMI, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering before joining the Army in 2019 as a Second Lieutenant. “I immediately went to training at Fort Lee. It now has a different name… where I attended a basic officer leadership course, commissioned as a logistics officer. From there, I got stationed at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia, was there about 2 or 3 months and then got deployed to Saudi Arabia at the beginning of 2020, spent 6 months there…” About a month prior to his deployment, John got engaged to his now-wife, McKenna. It was a difficult time for the couple and their families, but there would be a light at the end of the tunnel when John returned safely home.
In June of 2021, John and McKenna were married. Today, John works as a project manager at Hammond-Mitchell, located at 1555 East Dolly Ann Drive in Covington and volunteers as an assistant wrestling coach at Alleghany High School alongside the very coach who supported him throughout his own high school wrestling career: Coach Dale Burdette.
John Reed Jr. credits his faith, morals, and success to his parents. “I can’t say enough about my dad and my mom. Talk about how I was able to accomplish things? They both give 100% of themselves to the community and to others and that’s really what inspired me and my wife, along with her parents. They’re great.” Reed went on to say that his family, wife, parents, siblings (2 of whom are unofficially his adopted brothers), community, and wrestling community have left a profound impact on his life and shaped him into the person he is today.
