Carlton Haselrig

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

8 minutes ago, Jim L said:

LOL. I went down the same rabbit hole and spent too much time looking at Wikipedia. I did notice that the lack of results theUS had for about 20 years and  the recent outstanding results,. Bodes well for the future

Part of the problem was that in many of those years, we didn't even bother sending a team.  Askren talks about winning an age-group team trials and then USA didn't even send the team.

[Sheerstress]

22 hours ago, blueandgold said:

He’s the only six-time NCAA champion in college wrestling history and yet I hardly hear his name in discussion for best heavyweights or wrestlers overall. I’m also curious to know, is his success the reason for the college division (D2 & D3) being excluded from future NCAA Division I tournaments?

I don't recall him in particular being the reason for the college division being excluded from the Div. I tournament.  

Personally, I liked seeing the D2 and 3 guys at the big dance, simply because it showed that whoever won it was truly the best NCAA wrester in the country.  The people who didn't like it were probably the Div I coaches.  Specifically, they didn't like it when guys like Haselrig, who were the best in their weight, but came from schools that had no chance of winning the team title, might knock one of their athletes into the consolation bracket or even out of the tournament, and significantly affect the team placings.  

As for his place among the great heavies, I thought he was very comparable to Baumgartner, who was about 6 years older than him.  He had the same profile of a solid heavyweight who had amazing strength (someone once described it was like trying to take down tree trunks when getting to his legs), speed and overall athleticism.  He won his first Div. I title as a sophomore in 1987 when he wasn't favored (Tom Erikson was the top seed but got upset by Dean Hall in the semis), and then went unbeaten for the rest of his career (only non-win was a draw to Joel Greenlee).  He was a great competitor, but never had any truly epic collegiate matches.  I believe he did enter the US Open at least once before deciding to go the NFL route where he was All Pro for years despite never having played college ball. 

So he should definitely be considered among the best collegiate heavyweight wrestlers of all time.  I think he probably doesn't get quite as much attention as some others these days because no international career, more focus on football, and the substance abuse issues in the years following.

 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

26 minutes ago, Sheerstress said:

I don't recall him in particular being the reason for the college division being excluded from the Div. I tournament.  

As a D2 wrestler who wrestled against UPJ during Haselrig's era, I never heard a thing about him being the reason the rule was changed.  I even had a training partner who was one of the last D2 guys to qualify.

I could 100% be wrong, but I generally feel as if this claim is somewhat revisionist history.