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14 Once in eighth grade, Lee's athletic focus was solely on wrestling. Larry Lee isn't the only parent to teach Spencer the importance of being humble. One aernoon, while Spencer was between wrestling practices, his mother stopped to drop off a snack and drink. Spencer was a freshman at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, and for some regrettable reason, he began to mix it up with Cathy. "Everyone is sitting around talking, relaxing, getting ready for the next part of practice," Lee said. "I start messing with her; judo is grip fighting, so I'm moving her and messing around and all of a sudden I launch her. I slammed her hard. She's 4-11, 106 pounds. I'm a 126-pounder in high school. My coaches were like, oh my god, he just slammed his mom." Game on. Cathy stayed on the mat as Spencer pounced. "I put her down hard, but she's tough," Spencer said. "She has been thrown her whole life, that's all judo is." Soon Cathy grabbed her son's T-shirt, hooked her legs around Spencer's head and whipped her high school-aged son over her head. Spencer's arm was straight; Cathy had an arm bar. A few seconds later, Spencer tapped out, the martial arts equivalent of begging for mercy. e wrestling room erupted into a chorus of "Ohhh Spenc, you just got tapped out by your mom." "She gets up and says, 'Don't mess with me' and walks off the mat like it was nothing," Spencer said. "She is awesome." University of Iowa freshman Spencer Lee locks up Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello in a 125-pound semifinal at the NCAA Championships on March 16 in Cleveland. (Photo by Darren Miller)