A Columbia native and former Republic-Times sports editor recently published a book dedicated to wrestling and the love he and others have come to feel for the sport.

Jeremy Housewright, author of “For the Love of the Show,” was born and raised in Columbia, though he and his family now live in St. Clair, Mo.

He graduated from Columbia High School in 2000, pursued a journalism degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and came right out of school to work for the Republic-Times.

Housewright later turned his attention to teaching, attending Missouri Baptist University for his masters and doctorate in education administration.

He’s been teaching for the past 16 years, but has also continued down the writing path. Housewright operates the entertainment site ReviewSTL.com and also serves as a freelance sports writer and photographer.

Housewright offered some insight into how his career developed over the years, particularly in regard to his interest in sports.

He recalled poring over the Baseball Almanac as a kid and, as he described, picking up the sports section in the newspaper to read at just 5 years old – specifically focusing on the story which came after the Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series to the Mets.

“I was so interested in the whole Bill Buckner booting the ball,” Housewright said. “My parents always used to tell me I would memorize baseball stats as a little kid, and I can remember doing that.”

Housewright spoke quite fondly of his grandfather, who would happily take his grandson to $5 afternoon Cardinals baseball games despite his own disinterest in the sport, sitting in the leftfield nosebleed seats just so they could spend time together.

Though baseball was Housewright’s self-described first love, he was also obsessed with football as a kid. He recalled watching Arizona Cardinals games with his grandpa as well as betting with him on the results of games they read about in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Housewright always found himself 25 cents richer no matter the outcome.

Housewright was also quite the writer, even in his youth. He noted how it was an especially important way for him to express himself.

“I always loved to write,” Housewright said. “I was a real shy kid, so I would just write. That was the way I would get my feelings across… So writing always came naturally to me.”

All these interests would later lead to his journalism career, which really began at CHS as he covered high school football games for the Clarion Journal.

While Housewright spoke extensively about his love for sports in general, he spoke even longer and more passionately about wrestling in particular.

He recalled sitting in front of the TV religiously for wrestling each week, with Hulk Hogan being the biggest draw for him as a kid.

Just like with baseball and football, his grandfather nurtured that love for wrestling, taking him to a local show every few months.

Housewright further recalled a number of personal anecdotes, one of which concerned a match between Hogan and King Kong Bundy in which Bundy smashed into Hogan from the rope.

Housewright described how he was unable to sleep later that night as he was so invested in the match that he had genuinely believed Hogan had died.

His interest waned a bit as a teenager, as he became rather self-conscious given the stigma surrounding wrestling – Housewright said the idea that wrestling is for unintelligent or “white trash” audiences has changed significantly over the years.

The interest was rekindled in high school, however, as he found his crowd of wrestling fans and developed a new interest with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who Housewright said was likely his favorite wrestler of all-time.

Housewright summarized his interest in the sport. He noted how he had mocked the soap operas his female family members watched only to realize that, for him, wrestling scratched a very similar dramatic itch.

“It’s been something that I’ve always been drawn to,” Housewright said. “There’s things I don’t like about it, but there’s a lot more that I really have a strong passion for. It’s good storytelling… When it’s done right, I think a lot of people would enjoy it.”

It would be years until his wrestling obsession ultimately created “For the Love of the Show.” Housewright recalled how his peers in college regularly urged him to write a book given his writing ability.

Though he tried to put a number of projects together over the years, he found himself running out of steam just a few pages in. For some time, his urge to write was satisfied purely by his freelance work and ReviewSTL.

It was somewhat recently that he once again felt drawn toward a long-form writing project, this time sparked by several encounters he’d had with fellow wrestling fans over the years.

Housewright recalled attending a World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame ceremony in Orlando, Fla., where he was able to make friends he still stays in touch with today.

He had a similar experience going to a show in Las Vegas where he was able to interact with numerous wrestling fans.

Housewright also mentioned an article he had written a few years ago on Kyle Scarborough, the artist who created the design for Bray Wyatt – a WWE wrestler who passed away earlier this year – and his “The Fiend” persona.

These interactions, the bonds he was able to make thanks entirely to the passion he and others have for wrestling, seemed to be a strong subject for a book.

“I started just thinking about, I have this story I want to tell about meeting all these great people,” Housewright said. “What do other people have to tell? Surely there’s gotta be people out there who’ve been affected by this form of entertainment like I have. Otherwise you wouldn’t have 100,000 fans that go to Wrestlemania. What attracts people to this entertainment? Why is it so big?”

Housewright put together “For the Love of the Show” to discuss some of these questions, describing how he and others have become so enthralled with the sport.

He further described some of the stories he’s heard that have contributed to the book, from a precocious young girl showing her knowledge about the sport to the many ways certain performers have served as positive, influential representation for audience members.

“Some of the stories I tell are very inspirational,” Housewright said. “And that was the whole point of the book. That’s the thing I keep telling people. Wrestling fans are gonna love the book because they’re gonna know what I’m talking about. But I think fans of any sport or entertainment will enjoy it because it’s not all just about wrestling. It’s about people who share a common bond and have a passion for something.”

“Passion” was a word Housewright emphasized quite a bit as he described the book, whether he was describing his own emotions hollering at the TV during a show or hearing about a wrestling fan who got an authentic championship belt tattoo.

“This form of entertainment, this sport if we want to call it that, it’s not just for entertainment,” Housewright said. “It transcends that. It can be a motivator for people to have success, so that’s what I try to get across in the story.”

Housewright feels great pride in his efforts – not only for writing the book but also doing his own marketing for it – and is also quite hopeful about the book’s performance.

The first-time book author expressed hope that he was able to capture what wrestling means to himself and so many others – from the superfans who dress like their favorite performers to the still-enthusiastic audience members like him who regularly find themselves glued to their TVs during a match, forgetting about the world for a few hours.

Ultimately, Housewright is happy to be able to share stories about the love of wrestling, both from others and himself.

“Obviously I’d like the book to sell. That is kind of important to me, and I want people to enjoy it,” Housewright said. “I put a lot into it. I’m not just telling other people’s stories; I’m telling mine. It’s very sentimental to me. Anyone who knows me knows how close my grandfather and I were. If it wasn’t for him taking me to those matches as a kid, there’s no way I would be as invested in professional wrestling as I am now.”

“For the Love of the Show: Pro Wrestling Fans Tell Their Stories,” is now available on Amazon, with preorders from Barnes & Noble available and set to release Nov. 22.