Freedom High wrestler who escaped Taliban lands college opportunity

LUTZ — Befitting the sport he has embraced since childhood, Bashir Rostami’s wrestling life has been a grueling odyssey of takedowns, gut wrenches and one perilous escape.

But it has culminated with a college opportunity.

Rostami, whose family’s narrow escape from the Taliban — and ultimate arrival in Tampa — was chronicled in a 2023 Tampa Bay Times story, has pinned down the elusive scholarship that had eluded him since a controversial disqualification derailed his prep career.

The former Freedom High standout will compete for Newberry College, a Division II program in South Carolina. Rostami, a 19-year-old Afghanistan native, has a full course load this semester and began weight training with his team Tuesday morning.

“I’m so happy,” Rostami said in a phone interview Monday. “I’m getting close to my goal and my dream.”

Only three years earlier, he was close to capture by the Taliban.

One of seven children, Rostami was still living in Afghanistan when the nation’s president, Ashraf Ghani, relinquished power to the Taliban in August 2021. The Islamic fundamentalist group ultimately captured Kabul — the country’s capital — and commandeered its international airport.

At the time of the Taliban takeover, Rostami’s older sister, Malalai, was employed as an air-traffic controller — working with the U.S. military — at the airport. The first female to hold such a position at that airport, she faced nearly certain death if the Taliban learned of her occupation.

Yet through her connections with U.S. military officers, she made it through the throng of Afghans attempting to hastily evacuate the country and helped her widowed mother and four of her siblings — including Rostami — board a flight out of the country after nearly a week sequestered inside the airport terminal.

The ensuing journey took them from Qatar to Germany to Washington, D.C., to an Air Force Base in New Mexico before finally ending in Tampa. Rostami enrolled at Freedom and amassed a 29-1 record for the Patriots wrestling team in the 2022-2023 season. But a controversial disqualification late in the season — for taking an open-handed swipe at a Strawberry Crest foe — resulted in a four-match suspension.

As a result, he missed the district tournament, denying him a chance to compete for a state title.

As Rostami sought college opportunities, Strawberry Crest coach Blake Olson reached out to Newberry on Rostami’s behalf.

“Obviously, (Olson) was like, ‘Listen, my kid was wrestling dirty, my kid should’ve been disqualified. Bashir didn’t do anything wrong, and you need to be on Bashir,’” Newberry assistant Bryant Blanton said.

As Rostami completed an English-speaking course at Hillsborough Community College, Dr. Scott Paton — a Freedom team parent who became a surrogate father of sorts to Rostami — worked to ensure he’d be eligible for enrollment and student aid. The pair visited Newberry together, assuring school officials Rostami had been granted asylum and was in the process of getting approved for a green card.

“I was so praying to go to college,” Rostami said. “And also I was waiting.”

Shortly before the start of the 2023-2024 academic year, Rostami’s family learned he had been granted a $10,000 athletic scholarship, with roughly another $8,000 via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Meantime, Paton established a GoFundMe account on behalf of Rostami, whose family resides in a small apartment near USF.

“So in just two or three days, everything set up like, very quick and everybody was surprised,” Malalai Rostami said.

Rostami likely will redshirt for the Wolves this season while navigating a course load that includes College Algebra, First-Year Composition and Theatre Appreciation. He resides in a standard dorm room with a Wolves football player.

“I’m doing good, but the homework is kind of hard,” he said. “But my teammates are helping me.”

Blanton, who won an individual national title for Newberry in 2010, said Rostami possesses the skill, power and passion to win a national championship.

“Obviously, his story’s phenomenal,” Blanton said.

“There’s all the feel-good parts of it, but at the end of the day, he’s a talented wrestler who trained and put a lot of years and effort and hard work into refining his craft without really getting the opportunity to showcase that at the highest level in high school. ... I think just having sort of a diamond in the rough; he flew under everyone’s radar.”

Including the Taliban’s. Three years later, Rostami is resuming his quest to be a world wrestling champion.

“I’m just super excited for what he could mean to our program,” Blanton said. “He’s going to be successful in whatever he does in life, but hopefully that starts right here at Newberry College in winning a national title and being an All-American and hopefully setting himself up.”

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls