STILLWATER, Okla. — Great athletes and coaches cast large shadows across their sports.

For Stillwater High wrestler Joe Smith,  he wrestles in the shadows of family.

The freshman 113-pounder is the eldest son of wrestling legend John Smith, a two-time gold medalist and five-time national championship coach at Oklahoma State. Then there’s his cousins — like Zach and Matt White and Chris Perry who litter the roster for the No. 1-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling program. Perry’s father was a two-time All-American wrestler.

He doesn’t see any pressure in living up to the family name. After all, his father has taught him to be his own man on the mat.

“I looked at all my cousins and all my uncles and kind of figured wrestling is what I wanted to do,” the high schooler said. “My dad never put any pressure on me as a wrestler. He always let me do things I wanted to do, but he definitely leads me in the right direction. He pretty much just let me take my own journey in this.”

Smith’s family have told him to carve his own path instead of following somebody else’s footsteps.

Still, the family tradition means his freshmen season isn’t a surprise. Smith capped an undefeated regular season with the Pioneers. He is ranked No. 2 in Class 6A in his weight class prior to the regional tournament Friday and Saturday.

The Oklahoma State wrestling coach said he hasn’t tried to put any pressure on his son to follow the wrestling rout. He didn’t start coaching his son until Joe was 12.

He can’t help but be a coach and a father when his son hits the mat at high school duals — as he can usually be heard yelling out moves and positions during Joe’s matches.

“It’s probably a lot harder on me to watch him wrestle than watch any of my (OSU) guys wrestle — I can tell you that,” the dad said. “I’m like any other crazy dad up there that wants to see their kid have success. I think the coaching side comes out, no question. I can’t keep my mouth shut. I’m just glad I haven’t cussed or something. I’m much more intense than I thought I would ever be when Joseph was young.”

The elder Smith said he and his son have a good relationship, and Joe Smith enjoys learning about the sport.

Joe said he understands his dad wants the best for him when he hears those instructions from the stands.

“There’s kind of that boundary between my dad and my coaches. My dad is trying to guide me up there and he gets pretty excited during the matches — but that’s every dad, not just mine,” Joe said. “But it’s not too bad, because my coaches usually have similar stuff to say as my dad would.”

Joe Smith’s coach has walked in his wrestler’s shoes. Pioneer coach Doug Chesbro is the son of Tommy Chesbro, who coached 14 years at Oklahoma State, leading the Cowboys to a national title and coaching 19 NCAA individual champions and eight Olympians.

The SHS freshman said it has been a bit of a blessing.

“He had a similar life as I’m going through, so it helps me a lot. He’s helping guide me,” he said. “We kind of have a little bit of a connection because of that similar lifestyle with both our dads being so big in wrestling.”

The unique situation doesn’t end there. Tommy Chesbro coached John Smith at OSU, and Doug is coaching Joe.

“I understand the position he is in with being the son of a coach, so I can talk with him from a different angle than a lot of people can,” said Doug, who also coached Chris Perry at SHS. “I’m not going to put pressure on him, I’m not going to expect more of him than what he’s able to do.”

If having a high school coach who understands the situation — and a college coach as a father — isn’t enough to help a young wrestler in the early stages of his high school career, Joe said his cousins also have been instrumental in his early success.

“Before the Big 4 Tournament, which I had a couple seniors in my bracket that were state champs and my cousin Chris (Perry) helped me for about an hour after practice one day with working on technique and stuff that he thought the kids were going to do on me,” said Joe, who ended up winning a Big 4 title and was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler. “That just shows the amount of support they have for me and they try to help me a lot. My cousins Matt and Zach are helping me a lot, too, telling me the mistakes they made in their high school career. It’s helpful because he helps teach me what things not to do.”

While winning multiple state championship may be enough for some wrestlers, Joe has higher aspirations. Having competed the last few summers at national meets, Joe understands what it will take if he perhaps once to find himself sporting an OSU singlet.

“I feel like I have a chance to win a state championship this year, but I’m thinking bigger than that. I want to win a Fargo (N.D.) national title at Nationals,” Joe said. “A lot of the kids that I wrestle don’t go anywhere in the summer and every summer since I was in fifth or sixth grade, I’ve gone all over the country to wrestle for experience.

“The first couple years I didn’t do too well because all the kids had experience on me, but now that I’ve been doing it for so long, I think that’s what’s been helping me this year. The national level is just a lot tougher.”

While college is still down the road, the future of Stillwater wrestling showcasing a Smith may not end with Joe. John said his 8-year-old has recently taken to the mat.

“My 8-year-old is wrestling and he’s having a lot of fun with it in Cowboy Wrestling Club. He hasn’t been on the winning side a lot and reminds me a lot of when Joseph was that age,” John said. “But I sure get a lot of laughs when I watch him wrestle. Obviously I’m not too serious about where he’s at right now.

“It’s more than wrestling, though. It’s a great way that you find you get closer as a father and son. And that’s more valuable to me than their wrestling.”