Iowa State Wrestling Team Helps Find Lost Child

The Iowa State wrestling team handily defeated No. 21 Arizona State and California Baptist last weekend, but those weren't even close to the biggest victories of ISU's west coast trip.

The Cyclones were enjoying pizza in the hotel lobby Sunday evening when Matt Harley and his three children walked out of the elevator. They wanted to get out of the room for a few minutes, check out the lobby and explore the hotel.

Harley was buying his kids a Gatorade and a snack from the lobby convenience area and was checking out at the front desk when he noticed that his son, one-year-old Marley, had suddenly disappeared.

"I noticed Marley wasn't at my side anymore and my other son told me that he never got off the elevator with us," Harley said. "I knew he had gotten off with us but went back to check anyways. When Marley wasn't in the elevator, I immediately ran down the hallway on every floor looking for him."

Harley walked hastily through the team area when head coach Kevin Dresser, not aware of the situation, asked if he wanted some leftover pizza. Harley replied that his youngest son was missing and that he was looking for him.

In what seemed like an instant, the entire Cyclone wrestling team was up and running around the hotel property looking for Marley. Strength coach Ben Durbin called 911 while Harley and the team franticly searched the property.

The fitness center, elevator, pool area, hallways, parking lots, under cars and behind bushes were all checked to no avail. The search lasted nearly 20 minutes and finally ended when 197-pounder Julien Broderson found a teary-eyed Marley sitting in the corner of the parking garage beneath the hotel.

Somehow, Marley had wandered down a back hallway, called an elevator and gotten off inside a gated, empty garage.

"I found Marley crying in the corner behind a gate," Broderson said. "I picked him up, told him it was going to be okay and that I was going to bring him back to his dad. He held onto me super tight the entire way."

Broderson, who recently became a father himself last summer, knew the urgency of the situation.

"I put myself in that dad's shoes immediately," Broderson said. "I can't even imagine what Matt was going through and I hope I don't ever feel the way he felt during that 20-or-so minutes. I texted Macie, my fiancé, afterwards and told her about the entire situation. It was crazy."

Harley says he is thankful to have Marley back safe and lucky the Iowa State wrestling team was nearby, ready to spring into action and assist with the search.

"The one silver lining of the whole situation was that the team was there to help look for Marley," Harley said. "I remember thinking to myself that I was thankful it was a wrestling team. I knew they would really put in a good effort to find Marley. All those guys were so helpful, and I could tell they really cared."

"Before Marley wandered off, he seemed so fascinated by the big guys sitting in the lobby and I think it was really comforting to him when one of them found him."

Players Mentioned

Julien Broderson

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics