Best 3x NCAA Champ ever…

[Eagle26]

Hard to follow the scoring. I honestly don’t see anything that would make you think Yagla was the better wrestler other than maybe being so close to the escape at the end. Should’ve been a Dec for Kemp IMO

[juniorvarsity]

19 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

College: Nolf. Folkstyle savant. I always said he was a freestyle enigma but probably would have medaled at least once if he could have bypassed JB/Dake/Imar at the right weight right year.

Senior: Nickal. He should have been given a fair shake in 2019 at 86kg. I truly believe he would have won worlds. He was that good and it's a shame he (and we) didn't get to see it through 

So weird to me that he didn't go 86kg. Never saw a legitimate reason for why. Him going 97kg at one point so bizarre, especially considering he was gonna give up wrestling after Olympics.

[jeffrideal]

3 hours ago, DrPWKnappy said:

My vote is for Gray Simons. 1960-1962. From

little Lock Haven. 

I was looking for this, I was going to say same thing.  

[Eagle26]

57 minutes ago, juniorvarsity said:

So weird to me that he didn't go 86kg. Never saw a legitimate reason for why. Him going 97kg at one point so bizarre, especially considering he was gonna give up wrestling after Olympics.

The why was David Taylor. DT never revealed his injury to his teammate until it was too late so we were left with Downey as our rep. I think that’s  what he means by wasn’t given a fair shake

[scourge165]

16 hours ago, peanut said:

My opinion is that wrestlers today are better than wrestlers from the past in part because technique has evolved (which is in part due to the internet). So it’s apples and oranges where today’s wrestlers have an advantage.

If you could teleport all heavies to today, I think Steveson beats them all without much trouble, except perhaps Neal might give him trouble. 

I think Haselrig could give Stevenson a run and then Tommy Rowlands...but HWT is different. It's changed the least.

 

But yes, I look at the quality of Wrestling and the top Wrestlers just in the 20 years it's been since I Wrestled and it's improved so much. 

Add another 20 years, it's a bigger jump.

This is also why I try and look at what guys did vs their peers and hwo dominant they were relative to the rest of the field.

Some guys who are different are Lincoln Mcllravy. I think he could scrap with any 141/149 we've seen. 

 

Hell, I remember when taking a guy down and letting them up was called "poor sportsmanship." 

 

My All-Time 3X Champ Team vs my 2000 until Now All-Time Team, just for fun. I just went with the last two sets of weight classes. I know Uetake wrestled 130 but...

David Taylor is the only guy with less than 3 Titles. 

Rules Modern Day scoring. So for example, I think Abas would take Specer down a few times...but I think Spencer would turn him. Comes down to who has gas left in the tank, so I'm going with 2020 Lee, I think he was healthiest that year.

118-Abas-125-Lee(Abas could also scramble) -I'll take a HEALTHY Lee in a 15-14 type match 0-3
126-Uetake/133-Stieber? I really don't know. Uetake Dec 3-3
134-Brands/141-Dake(worst weight, but fit the best)-Dake(also not his best weight) 3-6
142-Mcllravy/149-Zain -I'm going Mcllravy here, but the match goes about 59 minutes due to OT and...LOTS of Blood time. 6-6
150-Mark Churella/157-Jason Nolf I definitely underrate Nolf. Nolf wins Dec 6-9
 158-Lee Kemp/165-David Taylor -Taylor. Gotta lean to Taylor given his high scoring page 6-12
167-Schultz(he won one at '67) or Hodge/174-Staroci -Going Starocci in a 5-4 Match 6-15
177- Hodge/184-Brooks Brooks just because I don't believe you turn him 6-18
190-Banach/197-Cael? I guess you can take your pick for weight Cael by major 6-22
UNL-Haselrig-HWT-Gable Stevenson(I agree, Neal, Haselrig could compete) Gable Dec 6-25

I know some people are going to dislike some of these, but I just don't know the 1950s/1960s guys well enough and 1930s and 1940s was so different.

The dream matchups are totally pointless a I've already said I think the level of Wrestling is better so obviously I clearly have a recency bias.

 

Tell me where Im wrong(I'm sure most of the results will be wrong. 

[jchapman]

3 hours ago, scourge165 said:

I think Haselrig could give Stevenson a run and then Tommy Rowlands...but HWT is different. It's changed the least.

 

But yes, I look at the quality of Wrestling and the top Wrestlers just in the 20 years it's been since I Wrestled and it's improved so much. 

Add another 20 years, it's a bigger jump.

This is also why I try and look at what guys did vs their peers and hwo dominant they were relative to the rest of the field.

Some guys who are different are Lincoln Mcllravy. I think he could scrap with any 141/149 we've seen. 

 

Hell, I remember when taking a guy down and letting them up was called "poor sportsmanship." 

 

My All-Time 3X Champ Team vs my 2000 until Now All-Time Team, just for fun. I just went with the last two sets of weight classes. I know Uetake wrestled 130 but...

David Taylor is the only guy with less than 3 Titles. 

Rules Modern Day scoring. So for example, I think Abas would take Specer down a few times...but I think Spencer would turn him. Comes down to who has gas left in the tank, so I'm going with 2020 Lee, I think he was healthiest that year.

118-Abas-125-Lee(Abas could also scramble) -I'll take a HEALTHY Lee in a 15-14 type match 0-3
126-Uetake/133-Stieber? I really don't know. Uetake Dec 3-3
134-Brands/141-Dake(worst weight, but fit the best)-Dake(also not his best weight) 3-6
142-Mcllravy/149-Zain -I'm going Mcllravy here, but the match goes about 59 minutes due to OT and...LOTS of Blood time. 6-6
150-Mark Churella/157-Jason Nolf I definitely underrate Nolf. Nolf wins Dec 6-9
 158-Lee Kemp/165-David Taylor -Taylor. Gotta lean to Taylor given his high scoring page 6-12
167-Schultz(he won one at '67) or Hodge/174-Staroci -Going Starocci in a 5-4 Match 6-15
177- Hodge/184-Brooks Brooks just because I don't believe you turn him 6-18
190-Banach/197-Cael? I guess you can take your pick for weight Cael by major 6-22
UNL-Haselrig-HWT-Gable Stevenson(I agree, Neal, Haselrig could compete) Gable Dec 6-25

I know some people are going to dislike some of these, but I just don't know the 1950s/1960s guys well enough and 1930s and 1940s was so different.

The dream matchups are totally pointless a I've already said I think the level of Wrestling is better so obviously I clearly have a recency bias.

 

Tell me where Im wrong(I'm sure most of the results will be wrong. 

Taylor is not a 3Xer

[scourge165]

8 minutes ago, jchapman said:

Taylor is not a 3Xer

Yeah...I said that in a couple ways;

3 hours ago, scourge165 said:

My All-Time 3X Champ Team vs my 2000 until Now All-Time Team, just for fun. I just went with the last two sets of weight classes. I know Uetake wrestled 130 but...

So it's my all-time 3X Champs vs the best Wrestlers from ~2000 until now. Every Wrestler-Wrestled from 2000 on;

 

3 hours ago, scourge165 said:

David Taylor is the only guy with less than 3 Titles. 

And then...this.

Everyone else was a 3X Champ and then...the 4X Champs in the modern era. 

 

Additionally, all the 3X Champs are in Bold and the 4X Champs are in italics with their name underlined...and Taylor's is neither. 

[lisa morales]

Uetake was pudgy.  

[The Kid]

118 Rick Bonomo. 3x champ

[JimmyCinnabon]

On 3/18/2025 at 9:02 PM, Alces Alces Gigas said:

Some of those old timers were special!

40s 50s and 60s had some real studs.     

70s as well!

 

Recent guy that's gets forgotten is Greg Jones  

Jimmy Jackson is another on that is often forgotten 

 

 

My brother’s claim to fame is losing in high school to Greg Jones in OT. On a stall point. 

Edited 14 hours ago by JimmyCinnabon

[Konquest]

IMHO, the mother of all hypothetical dream matches would be McIllravy vs. Nolf.