GOATs who were pinned in college

[Dawai]

Pat Smith was pinned his freshman year at Ok St by NCAA Division II champion Dan Russell of Portland State on Jan. 5, 1990. It was, reportedly, the first time in Pat's life he had been pinned.

[JimmyCinnabon]

1 hour ago, ionel said:

pretty sure not, you could pin yourself before Heil

I know, but he's the reason for the danger rule.

[gromit]

this is the GOAT pin no-call, IMHO

[JimmyCinnabon]

1 hour ago, Dawai said:

Pat Smith was pinned his freshman year at Ok St by NCAA Division II champion Dan Russell of Portland State on Jan. 5, 1990. It was, reportedly, the first time in Pat's life he had been pinned.

Every single person who has ever wrestled has been pinned. I would venture to guess every wrestler was pinned before they finished their first year. 

[PNWfan]

4 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Thinking about some GOAT college wrestlers who got pinned:

1. David Taylor (Bubba Jenkins in the finals)
2. Spencer Lee (by Ramos and Piccininini)
3. Kyle Snyder (by Gadsen)
4. Imar (by Joseph in the finals, Nolf)
5. Brett Metcalf (by Caldwell)
6. Myles Martin (by Nickal in the finals)

Who else am I missing?

 

Who are some GOATs who never got pinned in college?

Ruth, Dake, Retherford, Nolf, Nickal, Steveson, Cox?

 

David Taylor getting pinned by Bubba Jenkins really stands out to me. Couldn't believe when Bubba got that inside cradle locked up and was able to roll it through and stick DT on the biggest stage in wrestling.

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

52 minutes ago, gromit said:

this is the GOAT pin no-call, IMHO

Dean Heil was in this position for 20 seconds vs Jimmy Gulibon.  No TD, no back points, no pin called.  The next season they instituted the Dean Heil rule and Heil ended up not making the podium after winning two NCAA titles in a row.

[ionel]

58 minutes ago, JimmyCinnabon said:

I know, but he's the reason for the danger rule.

but not what you said.

[jchapman]

King Cole pinned Mocco

[jchapman]

I'm pretty sure Gene Mills pinned Bobby Weaver.  Both were 1980 Olympic teammates and Weaver had already won a World Silver at the time.

[AgaveMaria]

Dan Hodge?

Yojo Uetake?

Dan Gable?

Cael?

All "greatest" at the time.

Not sure any of the 4 timers lately fit that definition.

[mspart]

5 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Were Gable, Pat Smith, Stieber or Askren ever pinned?

By Gable I assume Dan Gable.   No I don't think he was ever pinned in competition.   Maybe in practice.   He was undefeated in HS and college until he lost int he finals his last year.   He then went international and was WC and OC.  

mspart

[AgaveMaria]

55 minutes ago, mspart said:

By Gable I assume Dan Gable.   No I don't think he was ever pinned in competition.   Maybe in practice.   He was undefeated in HS and college until he lost int he finals his last year.   He then went international and was WC and OC.  

mspart

Sorry, none I wrote were pinned in college competition.

All were "Greatest of All Time" in their era.

Dan Gable maybe questionable as he lost the final match his Senior year but went to greatest heights on the International circuit.

 

[ionel]

2 minutes ago, AgaveMaria said:

All were "Greatest of All Time" in their era.

 

so a GOATITE

[JimmyCinnabon]

15 hours ago, ionel said:

but not what you said.

You got me.

[BloodRound]

16 hours ago, gromit said:

this is the GOAT pin no-call, IMHO

I'm glad the danger rule came into play to save us from the nightmare that would have been watching a third Dean Heil final.

[11986]

16 hours ago, mspart said:

By Gable I assume Dan Gable.   No I don't think he was ever pinned in competition.   Maybe in practice.   He was undefeated in HS and college until he lost int he finals his last year.   He then went international and was WC and OC.  

mspart

Dan Gable was pinned at Olympic or world team trials one year. think it was '68 Olympic trials but not positive. 

Edited February 20 by 11986

[11986]

found it, Dan Gable was pinned in competition, '68 trials-

You learn not to get greedy - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com

'He still had to beat Huff. Though both defeated NCAA champion Dan Gable in their first round-robin matches, Douglas had only decisioned Gable 11-1, whereas Huff had pinned him in 1:10.' 

 

Edited February 20 by 11986

[The Kid]

22 hours ago, Pinnacle said:

What is Myles Martin the GOAT of? 

He is the goat of beating Bo twice.  Neither one is a goat.

[alex1fly]

Lee pinned by Piccinnini was one of the most hyped moments of my sports life

[11986]

17 hours ago, jchapman said:

I'm pretty sure Gene Mills pinned Bobby Weaver.  Both were 1980 Olympic teammates and Weaver had already won a World Silver at the time.

yep '81 EIWA finals. 

[mspart]

1 hour ago, 11986 said:

found it, Dan Gable was pinned in competition, '68 trials-

You learn not to get greedy - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com

'He still had to beat Huff. Though both defeated NCAA champion Dan Gable in their first round-robin matches, Douglas had only decisioned Gable 11-1, whereas Huff had pinned him in 1:10.' 

 

Wow!!   Thank you for the history lesson.   I never knew.   I knew Douglas beat him, but never knew abou the pin.   Very interesting.  He overcame!!

mspart

[jdalu75]

Just looking at collegiate competition -- Mike Frick and Mark Lieberman, who could be considered the best collegiate wrestlers at the time, were both pinned in duals; Frick by Army's Jack Schoonover, Liebs by Syracuse's John Janiak.  Just two weeks apart, come to think of it, in 1975.  Darryl Burley was never pinned.  Neither was Mike Caruso, who remained the only 3x EIWA, 3x NCAA champ until Dake (3/4) and Yianni (4/4) came along.

[Pinnacle]

2 hours ago, The Kid said:

He is the goat of beating Bo twice.  Neither one is a goat.

Cael, Casey Cunningham, and Matt Brown beat up on Bo Nickal all the time. Much more than Myles. 

[Cornell Kevin]

On 2/19/2025 at 12:31 PM, GimJustafan said:

Yianni D 

don't believe he was ever pinned 

Yianni D was never pinned correct. 

He was 115-2.  Only 2 losses..

True freshman year was up 4-1 on Jayden Eierman. with riding time locked in with 30 sec to go.  Very questionable reversal call for Eierman which they reviewed.  Eierman then cut him making it 5-3 Yianni (6-3 with riding time).  Yianni had no stall warnings and instead of just avoiding him the last 15 seconds, Yianni took a very ill advised shot, got cradled and lost 9-6.  Yianni would defeat Eierman the next 3x they wrestled. 
 

Other loss I was unfortunate to be at vs Austin Gomez. This came 9 months after Yianni had just majored him in Wisconsin.  Yianni’s 1st match of the year after just winning a world silver and a couple weeks prior to wrestling 65kg (143 lbs) at the world cup.  First period Yianni in deep on two singles (“watch his knee watch his knee” both stopped for potential dangerous).  It all came down to one seat belt position which Gomez is best at.  Final 9-5. That ended his 75 match win streak which left him two shy of Kyle Dake at 77. Had he been able to pull that match out (or not wrestled it at all as he was originally supposed to not wrestle till after the world cup cause he was keeping his weight down to 65kg) he would have had a steak of 95/96.  Woulda coulda shoulda right?

 

 

Yianni has not only not been bonused in HS or college, he also had never been pinned to tech falled ever in Freestyle which is quite amazing if you think about it having wrestled 80 senior level matches.  

FYi 

Yianni HS record was 243-3 with his only 3 losses coming as an under weighed 7th grader. From that point on (8th grade thru Junior year) He would then whip off a state record 221 straight wins and 4 state titles before missing his senior year to have surgeries on both elbows. Had he not he would have absolutely won a 5th state title and won another 40+ matches. 

High school record. 243-3                                        NCAA record.           115-2

Overall folk style  358-5

** He has no red shirt losses either as he had no official red shirt as Cornell being in IVY doesn’t allow it and he had no Folk matches in his two olympic shirt years*+

While I am on the Yianni topic I hear a lot of “well it took him 8 years to win those 4 titles.”  That’s bs 

He was at Cornell for 6 years and he won his first two titles as a true freshman and true sophomore.  That God he took an olympic shirt the next year because the ncaa canceled due to covid so he would have been SOL. Then thank God the olympics were postponed allowing him to take another olympic shirt cause the IVY league canceled their season and again he would have been SOL. He then came back to finish his junior and senior year. So he was in school only one year longer than the 4xers prior to him (besides Dake who did it in 4 years) and it wasn’t as if he had a choice.  

 

Ok sorry for running off on Yianni tangent on that one. 

 

 

 

[lu_alum]

On 2/19/2025 at 8:38 AM, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Who are some GOATs who never got pinned in college?

This is so grammatically incorrect.