Duke Burk doesn’t get the attention that fellow seniors Jake Varner and David Zabriskie get, but that doesn’t stop the 174-pounder from excelling in the sport of wrestling. The shaggy-haired native of Peoria, Ill., doesn’t concern himself with things like media coverage, but would rather take a humble approach to his role on the ISU wrestling team.

“They’ve done things in order for the media to want to talk to them,” Burk said of his teammates. “Jake being a three-time All-American, national champ, world team member; then Dave being a two-time All-American; and you can go on with [Nick] Gallick being a two-time All-American, things like that.

“They’ve earned that right to be a big deal and for people to want to talk to them about stuff. If you start worrying about the attention that you get, then you start worrying about the wrong things. So I don’t really worry about that stuff.”

ISU wrestling coach Kevin Jackson says Burk is a great wrestler, regardless of the lack of attention he gets from the media and wrestling community.

“He was a match away from being an All-American over the last couple years,” Jackson said. “So he’s going to be an intricate part of what we try to do for us to perform at the highest level, and that’s winning an NCAA championship. Our expectations for Duke are very high.”

His real name, given at birth, is Ryan Dillon Burk. However, his parents gave him the nickname “Duke” — a nickname that has continued to define him throughout his entire life.

“When my parents found out they were having a boy, my dad wanted to name me ‘John’ because he’s a John Wayne fan,” Burk said. “My mom said no to that, so they named me ‘Ryan’ and they just nicknamed me ‘Duke.’ All my dad’s friends and [other] people started calling me ‘Duke,’ so it just stuck.”

Burk grew up in Peoria, Ill., attending Peoria Notre Dame Catholic High School where he was coached by his father. Burk’s father, Kevin, had been the wrestling coach at Notre Dame High for over 30 years and is still coaching there today. Duke cites that he and his older brother, Danny, got into the sport of wrestling because of their father’s influence.

“He was the main reason that my brother and I got into [wrestling],” Burk said. “My dad has been my mentor my whole life. So whenever I have problems, I look to him for a lot of [guidance], and same with my brother because they know what I’m going through and they know me the best out of anybody.”

In high school, Duke went on to complete three straight seasons with a perfect conference record, compiling a record of 30–0 and was named Wrestler of the Year by the Peoria Journal Star.

Duke went on to wrestle at Northern Illinois to join Danny on the Huskies’ wrestling team. After redshirting his first year, he posted a record of 10–0 and won two tournaments as a redshirt freshman at 184 pounds. The following season, he moved down to 174 pounds, taking the spot left by Danny, who had graduated.

That year, the Huskies traveled to Ames to take on Iowa State in a dual meet at Hilton Coliseum. Burk recorded the only win for the Huskies, a major decision over Iowa State’s Mitch Artist, 14–2, as the Cyclones — ranked No. 3 at the time — crushed the Huskies in the dual, 39–4. This was his first encounter against his soon-to-be teammates and his first taste of ISU wrestling.

Burk transferred to Iowa State before his junior season, a decision that was not made with wrestling strictly in mind.

“The main reason I came [to Iowa State] was the teaching department had just reinstated history and that’s what I was in, so that kind of just helped me out with that,” Burk said. “The wrestling just kind of came along with it.”

In his first year at Iowa State, he posted a record of 19–9 while winning two tournaments. In the Grand View Open, he recorded three major decisions, one technical fall and one pin. Burk transferred his dominance to the Duhawk Open, where he recorded three technical falls with an average fall time of 4:30.

Burk went on to qualify for the 2009 NCAA Championships, where he went 2–2 at 174 pounds.

The transfer made a good first impression with the ISU wrestling program, not only proving himself as an intrepid wrestler, but also as a great guy and teammate.

“He fits into the team because he’s a good guy, everyone likes him, he communicates real well and he’s the perfect teammate to his teammates,” Jackson said. “He plays a strong role, so we’re happy to have him on our team.”

One of Burk’s roommates and closest friends, Jon Reader, shares a close bond with Burk that translates into cutthroat competition between the two.

“Every time we walk in to the [wrestling] room and when we’re in there scrapping with each other, it’s more of an ‘iron sharpens iron’ type thing,” Reader said. “It’s not always a nice situation. We’re going to get after each other and we’re going to hold each other accountable when we’re in there.”

Reader, who is ranked No. 3 at 165 pounds, knew Burk would make a big impact from the start as he entered the ISU wrestling program.

“As soon as he came here, [we knew] he was going to play a pivotal role starting in the lineup at 174,” Reader said. “He’s a great guy and he’s very loyal to this program. He’s just a good person on and off the mat.”

Burk and Reader continually push each other to the limit in practice because of their intense nature; they even refer to themselves as “the tag team.”

“He’s just an intense person overall,” Burk said. “He pushes me as hard as somebody could push somebody just because of how intense he is and how hard he wrestles. People notice how hard he wrestles, and it’s good because he pushes you mentally and physically just by the way he wrestles and continues to wrestle.”

Burk entered his senior season ranked 12th in the nation at 174 pounds. He successfully managed to jump one spot in the rankings to 11th after compiling a 6–0 record before losing to Iowa’s Jay Borschel on Dec. 6 by a decision of 10–4. Duke has yet to beat Borschel, the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 174 pounds.

Burk’s shining moment of his senior campaign, so far, was his winning of the Harold Nichols Open in Ames almost a month ago. In that meet, he recorded two technical falls with an average fall time of 5:58 and one major decision before defeating fellow Cyclone Chris Spangler, 3–1, to take first.

“It was tough because that was kind of another wrestle-off, too,” said Spangler, a redshirt freshman. “He wrestled a good match and I think I kind of did everything I did to win that match as well. We both wrestled really well.”

Although Burk aspires to be a history teacher and wrestling coach after he graduates from Iowa State, his main focus right now lies within the upcoming tests of his senior season.

“There’s two national titles — one for me and one for the team,” Burk said. “Team-wise, there’s room to improve. But our team is set to win a national title if we keep improving with the things Coach Jackson is preaching and the way guys are picking it up. Individually, people wouldn’t put me in the national title picture, but that’s why you get things done yourself.

“You can only focus on things you can help or you can control. If I control the way I work out, by the time the middle of March rolls around, a national title will be well within my reach.”