Beat Me Once, Shame on You. Beat Me Twice, Shame on Me.

[grogs84]

Can't let @Wrestleknownothing have all the fun.

Let’s kick things off with a head-scratcher from the NCAA archives…

Nash Tillman wrestled in three NCAA tournaments, competed in five matches, but faced only three different opponents.

But here’s the real trivia bomb: He lost to the same opponent in consecutive matches, not just once, but TWICE, in back-to-back years—each time against a different guy!

The Breakdown:

Year	Weight	Round	Opponent	School	Result	Score
1964	147	champ 32	Dino Boni	Pittsburgh (Pa)	Win	5-3 (dec)
1964	147	champ 16	Veryl Long	Iowa State	Loss	0-4 (dec)
1965	147	champ 32	Veryl Long	Iowa State	Loss	1-2 (dec)
1965	147	consi 8 #2	Loren Miller	San Jose State (Ca)	Loss	Fall 4:44
1966	145	champ 32	Loren Miller	San Jose State (Ca)	Loss	1-2 (dec)

 

• In ‘64 and ‘65, Nash’s tournament run ended with back-to-back losses to Veryl Long.

• In ‘65 and ‘66, he finished with consecutive losses to Loren Miller!

Has anyone else ever had a string of losses to the same opponent in consecutive NCAA tournaments? Or is Nash Tillman in a league of his own?

I would have thought having consecutive losses to the same opponent would be very rare, however, since 1929 it seems to have happened around 90 times (still doing some validating on some). Any guesses for recent wrestlers who fall into this bucket?

Edited yesterday at 12:39 PM by grogs84

[grogs84]

The time of repechage was rough for some. Steve Pivac lost to the same opponent in the first round of the 1975 and 1976 tournaments. He's opponent never made it far enough for Pivac to be pulled back into repechage.

[Wrestleknownothing]

There were three examples last year.

Tyler Wells (Minnesota) losing to Evan Frost (Iow State) in the blood round in 2024 at 133 followed by an opening round loss in 2025.

These matches are also notable because Frost won them both without scoring a takedown (2-1 and 2-0)

Maximus Hale (Penn) losing to Dylan Fishback (NC State) in the first round of the 2024 consolation bracket at 184 (1-4 SV) followed by an opening round loss in 2025 (3-10).

Jordan Greer (Ohio) losing to Seth Nevills (Maryland) in the consolation pigtail at heavy in 2024 followed by an opening round loss in 2025 (0-5).

Edited yesterday at 01:46 PM by Wrestleknownothing

[Wrestleknownothing]

I have some favorites in this category.

First the "Fool Me Twice Gorriaran" goes to.....

NC State's Tab Thacker who flattened Washington State's Wendell Ellis twice in a row (for Ellis) in a total of 4:32

Other finalists include Maryland's Hudson Taylor who pancaked West Virginia's Jared Villers on consecutive occasions, Iowa State's Gordon Hassman who felled by pin Lehigh's Harley Ferguson III twice on the run, and Iowa's Bruce Kinseth with pinfelled by pinfall Millersville's Frank Presley.

And the "Wait, I Gained Weight To Avoid You Award" goes to...

We have a tie.

Ohio's Joey Calhoun went from 142 in 1994 to 150 in 1995 to avoid Illinois' Steve Marianetti, but a corn fed Marianetti found him anyway.

NC State's Tommy Davis took full advantage of the weight changes in 1999. After taking it on the chin from Doug Schwab in 1998 at 126, he decided to go full feed in 1999 and jump to 141 only to find freakin' Doug Schwab waiting there. Well, at least he was able to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas that season.

[bnwtwg]

3 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Ohio's Joey Calhoun went from 142 in 1994 to 150 in 1995 to avoid Illinois' Steve Marianetti, but a corn fed Marianetti found him anyway.

Joey Calhoun's 1995 season was a sacrifice at the alter of the anti-Iowa gods. Without his loss, the world would have never enjoyed one of the greatest NCAA upsets of all time.

Edited 20 hours ago by bnwtwg
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