They were just kids, rambunctious brothers two years apart in age, rolling around and wrestling on the mats in the family basement on Valley Park Drive. Years later, Mac and Luke Stout made history, and they aren’t completely sure how to feel about that. Both had successful wrestling careers at Lebo before Luke matriculated to Princeton, where he is a senior. Mac is a redshirt sophomore at Pitt. Both wrestle at the 197-pound weight class, which led to an interesting situation last month.
In the second round of the NCAA championships in Philadelphia, the Stouts became the first brothers to face each other at that tournament. No. 6 seed Mac, using an escape and takedown in the second period, beat No. 11 seed Luke 4-2.
“We tried not making it bigger than it was, but, obviously, it was super emotional,” said Luke, whose loss sent him into the consolation bracket, where he fell two wins short of a medal. “The whole time during the match I kind of heard the announcer talking about it. It felt like all eyes were on us. After the match ended, there was big applause. Me and Mac hugged it out and it was super emotional.
“But as soon as it was over I couldn’t have been happier for him. We went up and saw our family, gave everybody a hug, made sure we were still buddies. It’s crazy that it happened and a super cool experience.”
Mac, who advanced to the quarterfinals off that win and finished seventh and as an All-American, was something of a reluctant participant. He told reporters immediately afterward that “it stinks” having to face a brother on a such a big stage.
A month’s worth of hindsight helped him soften his view some.“It would have been good if it could have been a fun match with a lot of action, but just with everything else on the line and wrestling your brother, it was something I wouldn’t wish we had to do,” Mac said.
“It was a cool experience to look back on,” he added. “I’m very grateful for it. Win or loss aside, I think both of us are able to look at it for what it was. It was cool for other people to witness and experience. We didn’t know it at the moment, but we ended up making history.”
History that he holds only in his memory bank. “I still haven’t watched the match. I don’t know if I will,” Mac said. “It’s just kind of weird. I’m happy that there could be some good out of it, but I’m also happy that it’s behind us and we’ll never have to do that again.”
The Stout brothers grew up in a wrestling family. Father Bryan was a four-time All-American at Clarion, and for a time, ran a gym where Luke and Mac trained. He spent many weekends traveling to meets, also involving their older brother, Kellen, who wrestled for Mt. Lebanon and Penn State before transferring to Pitt.
At Lebo, Luke was 153-16 with a state title and a second-place state finish. Mac was a two-time state medalist and was 133-17 in his career for the Blue Devils.
“We were around the sport our whole lives,” Luke said. “In middle school and high school, we took it a little more seriously. We were each other’s best [practice] partner. We had countless matches over the years.”
Sometimes, those were more contentious than others.“It was kind of a weird evolution,” Mac said. “We were very close when we were younger. Around middle school, high school, he got a little bigger than me and he beat me up really bad for a while. Then we started to get close again.
“Ever since we’ve wrestled later in high school and college, it was always like for training purposes. We never really went too hard. We got past the point of fighting. As little kids, were rolling around trying to take each other’s heads off. We matured.”
But they never envisioned facing each other in a sanctioned match at a national tournament.
Luke won a title at the inaugural Ivy League championships, and Mac won an ACC title. About a week before the NCAAs, the brackets were released, and they realized that if each won his first-round match — which is what happened — they would face each other.
“We kind of let it simmer for, like, a day, and then I think Mac texted me, like, how about that? We just laughed about it. How many annoying comments have you heard? People bugging you?” Luke said. “It was a big deal to a lot of people who were reaching out.”
They tried to keep it more low-key.
A new chapter in their wrestling relationship begins next school year. Luke, who is graduating from Princeton with a degree in sociology, will begin pursuit of a master’s degree at Pitt — and he has lined up a gig as a graduate assistant with the Panthers. Specifically, he will work with the heavier wrestlers, including Mac.
“I don’t think there are very many people that I would rather have as my coach or in my corner than him,” Mac said of Luke. “We’ve faced all the relationships you can have in the sport — we’ve been teammates, now competitors and now he’s going to be on the other side and be my coach. That’s a pretty cool thing to have.”
Watch the full match on YouTube: