Today's wrestlers, coaches and fans may be startled at how different prep wrestling was 80 years ago, compared to what we see nowadays.
While we don't have access to time travel, InterMat can provide an idea of what high school wrestling was like in one high school in Minnesota eight decades ago.
In the December issue of The Guillotine -- the monthly publication that covers amateur wrestling in the state of Minnesota -- long-time "View from the Matbird Seat" columnist Bruce Bartels shared information from documents he recently discovered for the first season of wrestling at Osakis High School in Osakis, Minn., a town of approximately 1,700 located just off I-94 about halfway between the Twin Cities and Fargo, N.D.
A handout for a 1936 wrestling event at Osakis featured this startling request:
"In all fairness to the contestants, the audience is asked to refrain from cheering any of the boys during the bout."
The rules from 80 years ago may be equally startling to today's wrestlers and fans. For starters, championship bouts were ten minutes, while all others lasted six ... unless, of course, they ended in a fall. As for pins ... "a fall takes place when an opponent's shoulders are held in contact with the mat for an appreciable length of time." (Who determines what's "appreciable"? The referee? Or the poor kid who's in the pinning predicament?) As in college wrestling at the time, there was no system for awarding points for escapes or takedowns or other specific action. According to the Okasis wrestling event program, "If no fall takes place, the wrestler showing the greater wrestling ability will be awarded the match by a decision of the referee."
Bartels' column also provided a list of "legal" and "illegal" holds from 1936. Among the legal holds: half Nelson and crotch, three-quarter Nelson, hammer lock, double-arm lock, hook scissors, and grapevine and underarm. Illegal holds included the twisting hammer lock, over scissors, full Nelson, strangle hold, and body slams.
The 1947 Perry (Oklahoma) High School wrestling team, pictured here, wore uniforms like those worn by the Osakis (Minnesota) High School wrestling team team 80 years agoWhile these wrestling uniforms may seem odd now, wrestlers at a number of high schools and colleges wore the trunks/no tights/no shirts look onto the mat right up to World War II ... including Oklahoma State three-time NCAA champ Stanley Henson, who celebrated his 100th birthday at the end of November. (For photos and info on old-school wrestling uniforms before today's singlet, check out this InterMat feature.)
Despite all the changes in rules and uniforms since 1936, thankfully, one thing that hasn't changed: Osakis High School still has a wrestling program.
Thanks to Bruce Bartels and The Guillotine for unearthing this fascinating look back at one high school wrestling program from eight decades ago.
To subscribe to The Guillotine, visit their website.
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