CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Brintley and Danny Elsbury of Chelsea were high school sweethearts at South Tama County High School, having bonded over wrestling. Today, their three children are wrestlers with daughter Autumn having recently won a state title.

CHELSEA — When Brintley and Danny Elsbury were first dating at South Tama County High School, they bonded over a mutual love of wrestling. Danny wrestled from preschool through high school with Brintley at meets and tournaments cheering him on.

Fast forward 20 years, and their children have also taken up the sport. Recently daughter Autumn won a state title in girls’ wrestling with daughter Maeley also having been a state champion in 2023, now attending William Penn University. Son Bowen wrestles and plays football.

“Fishing was our first date. I was a sophomore and he was a junior,” Brintley recalled. “Then the next week, he asked me to homecoming.”

Her father had also been a wrestler, so a passion for the sport was deeply ingrained by the time the pair became a couple.

“I just always loved wrestling. I never wrestled. It just worked out that a wrestler asked me on a date,” she added. “His parents took me to every out of town meet.”

They both finished high school in 2002, with Brintley having graduated a year earlier than planned.

“I grew up with the ’03 people, but ended up graduating with Danny,” she said.

After being engaged for two years, they wed on Sept. 25, 2004.

“We wanted to get out on our own right away,” she said.

They rented first, and then bought a home in Tama.

“We lived there for 15 years. It was a small house, but it was the perfect little house for us,” she noted. “In 2018, we found our dream home out in the country in Chelsea with eight acres.”

Brintley began her career at the elementary school in Tama as a paraeducator, after having been a stay-at-home mom.

“I became a para so I could have the same schedule as the kids,” she noted. “I was a para for 12 years. Three years ago, a lady at the Partnership Center reached out to me and asked if I would come there and be the behavior interventionist for kids in the middle and high school levels.”

Danny is employed at Bituminous, is an assistant coach for the girls’ wrestling team at the high school and coaches the youth club.

“Wrestling has been a huge part of our lives. Some people don’t get it, they don’t understand the wrestling, and they think it’s just macho,” he said. “Wrestling instills so much into life. That’s why I think my kids like it so much too because when they step on the mat, it’s all what they’ve worked for and what they know.”

Danny added that when the couple was in school, the idea of girls wrestling was unheard of. It debuted as the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union’s 11th sanctioned sport in the 2022-23 school year. Maeley was the first girl in the South Tama school district to find success with the sport.

“Maeley wrestled on the boys’ team when she started because there was no girls’ team,” Danny noted. “Nobody knew what to think about it. I wasn’t really sure. But it was amazing. It’s a whole other side of it for girls, rather than boys. It kind of took off. We had three, then six, then 24 started out this year and ended up with 18. Then they made it so girls could only wrestle other girls…I think there are a lot of girls that want a contact sport and there was really nothing there for them.”

The family travels the U.S., where he coaches girls’ national teams and both daughters wrestle and mentor aspiring wrestlers. Brintley and Danny said they both encourage healthy eating habits for their children who are only allowed to cut one weight class below what they would normally weigh.

“Us as a family, we do everything together. That’s why it’s been a little weird this year with Maeley at college now,” she said.

Couple’s time has lessened with their children’s active schedules, but the Elsburys wouldn’t have it any other way. Family time includes trout fishing, camping and day trips, especially to Backbone State Park.

“While these days their girls are very much in the spotlight, it’s their relationship that’s also an amazing testament,” said high school classmate Heidi Draisey. “And how cool to have this legacy that affected not only our whole community, but Iowa women’s sports too.”