River Falls High School senior Jordan Schwantz has always been athletic. She's been taller and stronger than most every girl in her class since middle school. In eighth grade, Schwantz was blistering balls with her bat on the softball field. She had a cannon for an arm. In youth travel basketball, the number of charging fouls were adding up like the fundraiser scoreboard on the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon back in the 1980's.  

I had seen Schwantz play basketball many times in middle school, as she was sandwiched in between grades of two of my daughters. It wasn't just the charging fouls that stood out, but she dove for balls on the floor and her knees and elbows were the color of Grimace from McDonald's. It did not enter her 13-year-old head to try and hide her cuts and bruises; she wore them as a badge of honor. They were her oval-shaped purple ribbons for heart and hustle on the court.

When Schwantz entered ninth grade and made the Wildcat girls' varsity basketball team, coming up with her nickname for the River Falls Sports YouTube broadcasts was as easy as a Lionel Ritchie Sunday morning.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan was a WWF professional wrestler, most famous for his patriotism and signature prop, a mammoth 2x4 he'd bring into the ring on TBS telecasts throughout the 1980's and early 1990's. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan's character was the hard-working every-man American and it led to him being inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan always gave a thumbs up and always yelled, "Hooooooooooo!"

"The Hacksaw" Jordan Schwantz nickname was born and it has stuck with her like Jujy Fruit candy to your teeth in the movie theater.

"Going after every single ball and diving on the floor and not being afraid of getting hurt fires the team up," said Schwanz.

There was a time when it was off-limits to praise a female athlete for being rough and tumble. That time is long gone and "The Hacksaw" Jordan Schwantz not only loves her nickname, when this year's Senior Superlative "Best Nickname" award was recently handed out, "The Hacksaw" won that competition, too.

"It does fit me pretty good," said Schwantz with a smile on her face donning a "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan T-shirt, "I think it's a cool nickname. I feel like a cool nickname has to really relate to the person and be catchy. It's fun to say."

The Wildcat senior boys have been calling Schwantz "Hacksaw" since the ninth grade.

"So does Lyla Kohel and a bunch of my parents' friends," said Schwantz.

Schwantz has an Instagram account named "the real hacksaw," complete with pictures of a welt on her forehead from basketball and her looking like a princess on prom wearing an elegant black dress. The slit on the side of her dress, of course, revealed a softball-sized bruise. That's because it came from a softball in a game against Menomonie. "The Hacksaw," it's no surprise, leads the Wildcats in the hit-by-pitch statistic.

"For some reason, this year I was just like a magnet," said Schwantz.

Her left knee was also red and scraped up with a strawberry from sliding.

Prior to prom week the past two seasons, River Falls Softball Head Coach Matt Smith has had to politely remind his team to continue to slide and play aggressive, even if it means mixing a red strawberry with a green prom dress for an unwelcomed Christmas-themed prom photo.

"I don't really care about that stuff," said Schwantz. "If I go to prom with a bruise on my leg, then I go to prom with a bruise on my leg."

With the recent nickname award at RFHS and cult-status around the Big Rivers Conference, one may understand how excited "The Hacksaw" was when, seemingly, out of nowhere, "The Hacksaw" Jim Duggan was making an appearance at UW-River Falls this past Saturday for an autograph meet and greet session.

The text from Schwantz to me three weeks ago read, "The real Hacksaw Jim Duggan is coming to River Falls. I need to meet him."

Meet him we did.

"That's crazy he came here to our hometown my senior year," said Schwanz. "I mean, what are the odds of that?"

Now 70-years old, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and his wife, Debra, are touring with an independent wrestling group and spending time with fans. "The Hacksaw" Jordan Schwantz spent a few minutes with her pro wrestling legend namesake, where he was signing 2x4 pieces of wood and 8x10 pieces of glossy pictures.

"That's really cool. I'm honored to share the nickname," said Duggan. "I'm looking forward to reading the story."

The two "Hacksaws" sharing a "thumbs up" photo at UWRF was a bright spot at the end of a tough week for Schwanz. She tore her ACL and meniscus in her right knee earlier in the week while diving for a foul ball against Chippewa Falls.

The Hacksaw missed the last two games of her high school career and the playoffs. On Senior Night this past Friday at First National Bank of River Falls Field, The Hacksaw, in her #22 uniform, took one last pre-game ground ball from Coach Smith at her shortstop position and made the throw to first base.

"I didn't think I was going to cry, but what Coach Smith did with the ground ball before the game really meant a lot to me," said Schwantz. "It was the last time I was going to be representing my town and River Falls High School.

"Lyla Kohel was crying and she looked over and saw a tear fall down my dad's face. I've never seen him cry. I'm from this town and I play for this town and I'm really sentimental all that is over. It doesn't seem real yet."

The Hacksaw has already signed a scholarship to play softball at Minnesota State next season, so her playing days are far from over. She's taking the knee injury with a true Hacksaw attitude.

"Everything happens for a reason," said Schwantz, "I know it's going to be painful and hard work, but I'll be better because of it."

As Alexander den Heijer said, "Champions don't show up to get everything they want; they show up to give everything they have."

"You think I did the nickname proud?" asked Hacksaw.  

Like a champion, Hacksaw. Like a champion.