InterMat Staff

The Cadet National Duals started today in York, Pa. The Greco-Roman competition will be conducted today and tomorrow, with freestyle to be wrestled on Friday and Saturday. The opening day of each tournament is four double-elimination brackets (with true second) to determine the tiered pools in which each team will compete on Day 2. The top two teams in each bracket will compete in the Gold/Silver pool, and compete for the tournament championship. Teams placing third and fourth will compete in the Bronze/Copper pool, and so forth. Within each pool, teams will wrestle three dual meets and then a crossover dual meet for placement. In order for a team to win the national title, they need to finish top two in their first day bracket. Then, they need to be on top of the standings after a three-match round-robin (generally speaking that entails going 3-0), and then win a crossover match against the top team in the other pool. Cadet eligible wrestlers have 2000 and 2001 birthdates. This means that the eligible pool of wrestlers is virtually all Class of 2019 prospects, along with some prospects from the Class of 2018 and the Class of 2020. Illinois has swept the Greco-Roman and freestyle titles the previous three years and four of the previous five (2011, 2013-2015). In all, the Land of Lincoln seeks a sixth straight Greco-Roman title and a fourth straight freestyle title. Based on the information posted to Track Wrestling as of Tuesday night, Washington is the top seed in the Greco-Roman competition. The other top seeds in Day 1 preliminary brackets are Pennsylvania Blue (their first team), Illinois, and Minnesota; in last year's final, it was Illinois over Washington. The top seeded Washington team features wrestlers that finished top three in the scholastic state tournament this past year as starters in eight of the seventeen weight classes. This includes state champions Alexander Cruz (120) and Adrian St. Germain (152); state runners-up include returning Cadet double All-Americans in Chase Tebbets (100) and Blake Haney (113). Christopher Foca (Bergen Catholic, Pa.) was a Beast of the East champion this past season (Photo/Rob Preston)A very talented New Jersey Red team is their most direct threat in Wednesday's preliminary bracket. Their roster features five state medalists from the past scholastic season: Carmen Ferrante (120), Patrick Glory (132), Gerard Angelo (138), Michael O'Malley (152), and Zach Delvecchio (220). Other notable roster talent includes impact incoming freshman Anthony Clark (100) and Beast of the East champion Christopher Foca (160). Pennsylvania is the second seed, anchoring bracket B. Three state medalists feature on the team: Beau Bayless (106), Edmund Ruth (152), and Josh Stillings (160). Returning Cadet Greco All-American J.J. Wilson (113) and the nation's top rising freshman in Beau Bartlett (126) are also present. Others to watch include incoming freshman Connor Kievman (120) and state qualifier Carnell Andrews (132). Within the preliminary bracket, Michigan Red is the most direct threat to Pennsylvania. A trio of state champions anchor this lineup, Corey Gamet (113), Kevin Davenport (126), and Cameron Amine (138). Also on the roster are four others that placed in the top four at state in the high school season: Nick Freeman (132), Layne Malczewski (145), Brian Case (152), and Ryan Ringler (170). Another one to note is Cadet folkstyle champion Andrew Chambal (94). Defending champions Illinois feature a rather solid roster with four wrestlers that placed top three at their high school state tournament: state champion Tyler Delaware (120), state runner-up Donnell Washington (132) and Will Lewan (138), along with state third place finishers Dalton Jensen (145). Also present are state medalists Zach Braunagel (170) and Jace Punke (220). Three others to watch are returning Cadet Greco All-American Christian Goin (94) as well as Cadet folkstyle champions Sergio Villalobos (195) and Roland Tucker (285). A rather loaded Iowa team is also present in Pool C with Illinois, presuming the brackets on Track Wrestling are correct. State champion Brody Teske (120) is the anchor wrestler, along with state runner-up Eric Faught (100), while three others placed third at state - Gable Fox (113), Zane Mulder (145), and Logan Schumacher (182). Also present are Cadet folkstyle champion Cullan Schreiver (88) and nationally ranked Class of 2019 wrestler Cade Devos (120). Five other wrestlers also earned state medals this year in the high school season: Gabe Ruepke (126), Harlan Steffensmeier (138), Lucas Roland (145), Tad Griffith (160), and Spencer Trenary (285). Minnesota, which won both titles at the Schoolboy level last week near Indianapolis, is the top seed in Pool D (i.e. preliminary bracket). The Gopher State team features eight wrestlers that finished in the top three at the state tournament this past season, anchored by state champion Anthony Jackson (152); runners-up include Jake Svihel (106), Cael Carlson (120), Tyler Eischens (138), and Caden Steffen (170); while Israel Navarro (113), Sebas Swiggum (126), and Brock Luthens (132) finished third. Two other state medalists reside in the upper-weights, Robert Striggow (182) and Tyler Buesgens (195). Oklahoma had the same amount of seeding points as did the Minnesota squad, but have the second seed in Pool D. They have seven state medalists in the lineup, anchored by state champion Zane Coleman (152); the trio of state runners-up include Braden Elrod (113), Colton Denney (145), and Hunter Jump (152); rounding it out are Reece Witcroft (120), Caleb Wise (160), and Montana Phillips (285). Also on the roster is nationally ranked incoming freshman Dustin Plott (138). The freestyle competition will start on Friday with similar type of rosters for each team, though some other wrestlers are likely to be in play for a few of the teams.

The Bellarmine Knights are coming to the rescue of the St. Catharine University wrestling program. Earlier this month, InterMat reported that St. Catharine -- a tiny college located in central Kentucky -- had announced it was closing its doors at the end of summer. Another area school had announced it was absorbing three men's sports programs ... but not wrestling. Now those St. Catharine wrestlers have a new home, as Bellarmine University will be "essentially absorbing the former Saint Catharine College team," to quote the announcement made by the Louisville-based school Tuesday afternoon. "Upon the announcement of the imminent closing of Saint Catharine College, Bellarmine University's administration and trustees began exploring programs that could be transitioned from Saint Catharine to Bellarmine to the mutual benefit of both," said Bellarmine Interim President Doris Tegart. "The wrestling team fills that bill and is a natural fit for our athletics program." Bellarmine's decision to absorb the St. Catharine mat program is good news for the staff and wrestlers at the soon-to-be-closed school. The Patriots' head wrestling coach Spencer Adams and assistant coach Gary Canter will remain coaches at Bellarmine, and all former SCC team members wishing to transfer will be retained as well. In addition, Bellarmine will honor the commitment to all of the St. Catharine signees for the 2016-17 season, provided they meet Bellarmine admission standards, according to the Bellarmine announcement. Wrestling will become Bellarmine's 22d intercollegiate sport -- and the tenth men's sport. The new Knights wrestling program will compete in NCAA Division II. The St. Catharine's program had wrestled in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) with 41 team members. "Although wrestling wasn't originally in our short-range plans, St. Catharine's closing certainly made starting a new program a viable and logical option," said Bellarmine Director of Athletics Scott Wiegandt. "Taking over an existing program allows us to hit the ground running while allowing Coach Adams to build on the inroads he made since founding the program at St. Catharine two years ago." "On behalf of myself, my coaching staff, our SCC student athletes, and their families I want to sincerely thank the board of trustees, president Tegart, Scott Wiegandt, and the entire Bellarmine University family for all that they have done to save our program," said wrestling coach Adams. "I am ecstatic to start this new journey and bring the great sport of wrestling to Bellarmine University. I look forward to working with Scott Wiegandt and the rest of the Bellarmine University family in efforts to build an outstanding program that is nationally recognized both on and off the mat. This is also a great day for the sport of wrestling in the state of Kentucky as Bellarmine University makes history in adding the only NCAA II wrestling program in the state. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to start yet another wrestling program and to provide my student athletes with a bright future here at Bellarmine University." With Bellarmine and Drury University both launching wrestling programs in the 2016-17 season, the Great Lakes Valley Conference now has seven member institutions sponsoring the sport, which exceeds the NCAA's criteria for a conference to sponsor a championship. Other league members competing in wrestling include: Indianapolis, Maryville, McKendree, Truman State, and Wisconsin-Parkside. An official announcement from the league office regarding sport sponsorship is expected this month. https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/15092 Founded in 1950, Bellarmine (pronounced BEL-ur-men) University is a private, Catholic, four-year school located just outside downtown Louisville. Bellarmine has an enrollment of approximately 3,600 students.

The honors and achievements keep adding up for wrestler Kyle Snyder, as Ohio State has named him the Male Athlete of the Year, the Columbus-based university announced Monday. Catherine Shields of the Ohio State rowing team was named Female Athlete of the Year. Both Shields and Snyder are now on the ballot for Big Ten Athlete of the Year which will be determined later this summer. Snyder, who just completed his sophomore year wrestling for the Buckeyes, was crowned heavyweight champ at both the 2016 Big Ten conference championships and the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, where he defeated two-time defending champ Nick Gwiazdowski of North Carolina State in overtime, ending the Wolfpack big man's 88-match winning streak. Snyder compiled a perfect 11-0 record this year. Eight of Snyder's wins resulted in bonus points by scoring a fall, technical fall or major decision. He scored 20 points in seven bouts, averaging 18.6 points per match. Kyle Snyder and Nick Gwiazdowski battle in the NCAA finals at heavyweight (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Snyder's success on the mat goes far beyond his collegiate career. In world freestyle competition, the Woodbine, Md. native will be wrestling for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August, having defeated 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner to earn that spot on the team. Just this past weekend, Snyder was a perfect 4-0 at the 2016 World Cup freestyle competition in Los Angeles. In addition, Snyder is a U.S. Open champion, U.S. Team Trials champion, and Pan Am Games gold medalist. For all these accomplishments, Snyder is now No. 1 in the UWW (United World Wrestling) freestyle world rankings at 97 kilograms/213 pounds. For his wrestling accomplishments, Snyder has earned a number of honors this year. He was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2016 NCAAs. Snyder was also a finalist for the Dan Hodge Trophy, considered the Heisman Trophy of college wrestling. This spring, Snyder was named USA Wrestling's Freestyle Wrestler of the Year. It is the third straight year a wrestler has been named the Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year, an award first established in 1982. Snyder follows four-time NCAA champ Logan Stieber, who earned that honor in both 2014 and 2015. Current Buckeye assistant wrestling coach J Jaggers was the school's Male Athlete of the Year in 2009.

Brennan Ryan has been named head wrestling coach at Ohio's Mount Saint Joseph University, as Ryan confirmed the Cincinnati school's announcement on his Facebook page Monday. Ryan replaces MSJ head coach Dustin Baynes, who resigned in March after three seasons. Ryan brings high school and collegiate coaching experience from programs in southwest Ohio to the Lions. His prep coaching background encompasses stints at Mason High School, Lakota West High School, Madeira High School, and Roger Bacon High School, all within the greater Cincinnati area. In addition, he spent a number of years as an assistant coach at Mt. St. Joseph in the past. Brennan RyanMost recently, Ryan was the assistant wrestling coach at Mason High for the past two seasons, where they compiled a dual record of 40-3. Mason also won the GMC Championship in wrestling both years Ryan was there and finished as the Division I City Poll Champions once. Ryan is returning to Mount St. Joseph, where he served as assistant coach from 2007-2011, an era which the school's official announcement of his hiring described as "some of the best years in the program's history." During his stint as the assistant coach at MSJ, the program won 4 HCAC conference titles, finished in the top five at the NCAA Regionals four times, had two NCAA national qualifiers, had an individual NCAA runner-up, and had four Academic All-Americans. Ryan himself was voted NCAA Mid-States Conference Assistant Coach of the Year at the end of the 2009-10 season. "There is a strong connection between Coach Ryan and the alumni in the area, many of whom are involved in youth and high school wrestling programs, which will be important as we rebuild the program through the recruitment process," MSJ athletic director Steve Radcliffe said. The former Mount St. Joseph assistant coach is looking forward to taking the helm at his former employer, and helping to return it to its past glory. "I am excited to be returning to MSJ after being away for five years," Ryan said. "To have the opportunity to be a head coach at the college level is a very humbling honor. This program has a rich tradition over the last couple of decades, and with that comes a responsibility to work to bring the program back to being able to compete on a national level on a consistent basis." Mount Saint Joseph University is a private, Catholic, four-year college located in western Cincinnati. Founded in 1920 as the College of Mount St. Joseph, the school now has an enrollment of approximately 2,300 students. The MSJ Lions wrestling program -- as well as the school's other intercollegiate sports -- all compete in NCAA Division III.

A former Rutgers football player who was one of five team members arrested in 2015 for a brawl has been accepted onto the Scarlet Knights wrestling program. Razohnn Gross Razohnn Gross, a two-time New Jersey high school state wrestling champion at 195 pounds, will be a walk-on for the Rutgers mat program, where he will compete for the starting spot at heavyweight with rising junior Ralph Normandia at heavyweight in 2016-17. Gross was a walk-on for the Scarlet Knights football squad when he was charged with participating in an assault in April 2015 in New Brunswick, New Jersey over a parking space that left the victim with a broken jaw, police said. Last month, Gross was granted permission to enter the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, according to court records, which means he avoided jail time and was put on probation as a first-time offender. If he completes the terms of his sentence without getting into further legal trouble, the charges would be removed from his record. "All that stuff kind of was dropped and he was back in the school,'' Rutgers head wrestling coach Scott Goodale told NJ.com, website for a number of New Jersey newspapers, including the Newark Star-Ledger. "If he's back in school, what's he doing? He was doing nothing (athletics-wise).'' Goodale stressed that he did his due diligence before inviting Gross to come out for wrestling at Rutgers. "We've done our background with him and we've talked to all the right people, all the important people inside the university,'' Goodale said. "We feel good about it. He's been in our room working really, really hard. Nothing is guaranteed. He'll have an opportunity to make our team. That's as far as we'll go for now. ... We'll give him a second chance. He'll have a short leash, but I don't foresee any problems. He's very appreciative and he's working hard.'' "I will say this: He is super athletic and he's super strong and it seems like there is a passion,'' Goodale said of Gross, who he had recruited the two-sport athlete "a little bit" before the Franklin Park native chose to play football at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey. "But everybody has passion in the spring and the summer. I need to see the passion in November, when it's on the line. I think he misses it. I think this is what he should've been doing it all along. He should've been with us from the get-go.'' NJ.com described Gross as "one of New Jersey's best wrestlers from 2011 to 2013." In his high school career, Gross tallied a 127-18 record, four District 5 titles and three Region 2 championships, winning back-to-back NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association) titles at 195 pounds in 2012 and 2013. Interestingly, one of the wrestlers Gross will be joining on the Rutgers wrestling roster: Anthony Messner, who Gross beat in the 2013 finals. Some wrestling fans may have a sense of déjà vu in reading about coach Goodale welcoming a former New Jersey mat champ who had a brush with the law after high school. Andrew Campolattano, four-time NJSIAA titlewinner who transferred to Rutgers after being dismissed from Ohio State two years ago over drug trafficking charges (which were later dropped). Campolattano ended up leaving the Scarlet Knights wrestling program to concentrate on academics. He recently graduated with a 3.2 grade-point-average, according to Goodale.

Now you can look like Shute from "Vision Quest" -- without pumping iron or stepping onto the mat. All you need is a unique T-shirt now available online at a brand-new, official website set up by Frank Jasper, the former wrestler/actor who played the undefeated state champion wrestler Brian Shute in the classic 1985 movie "Vision Quest." Wrestling fans can select from two unique "from the movie to the mat" designs. The "Shute" model features the iconic image of the muscular, menacing wrestler climbing the bleachers with a log across the back of his shoulders, with the word "Shute" written in a gold, hand-written script. Crafted of "Next Level" Tri-blend fabric, the "Shute" is available in black, red or gray, in sizes medium, large, XL, XXL or XXXL. The "Mat Monster" design shows Shute in a singlet with headgear, with red type that says "The Mat Monster." This shirt -- made from comfortable "Next Level" Tri-blend fabric -- is available in black or gray, in sizes medium, large, XL and XXL. Each shirt is priced at $25 each plus shipping and handling. A portion of the profit will be donated to wrestling community programs, Jasper told InterMat. If you need another reason to purchase from ShuteShirts.com: these shirts are the only ones available online direct from the guy who played Shute in the movie about a high school wrestler (Louden Swain, played by Matthew Modine) on a quest to beat the undefeated state champ. (You wouldn't want to make Shute mad by buying from someone else, would you?) Brian Shute trainingThe shirts made their debut at this weekend's 2016 World Cup freestyle wrestling event at the Forum in Los Angeles, according to Jasper. In addition to the new shirts, the new ShuteShirts.com website also has photos of Frank Jasper as Shute from "Vision Quest" … as well as links to media coverage of the former wrestler-turned-actor who is now operating Osani Holistic Health Care in Pacific Palisades, Calif. just outside Los Angeles. Additional features are in development for the website, including training tips, according to Jasper. Want to learn more about the guy who brought Shute to life in "Vision Quest"? Check out this April 2016 profile of Frank Jasper on InterMat.

Joey Davis, undefeated four-time NCAA Division II wrestling champ for Notre Dame College in Ohio, has signed a pro contract with the mixed martial arts organization Bellator, his hometown newspaper, the Compton Herald, reported Friday, and InterMat confirmed Saturday night. Joey Davis (Photo/Notre Dame College)"Nicknamed 'Iceman,' Davis, a four-time Division II NCAA champion at 184 pounds, plans on fighting in Bellator's 170-pound division," according to the Herald. "He will train at Antonio McKee's Body Shop gym." Davis told InterMat, "I'll say this I'm happy to join my family AJ McKee and Aaron Pico and Ed Ruth and try and make some more history God willing. I am truly blessed and grateful for this opportunity Bellator has given me. I have a great team and coach with Antonio McKee who's been my coach since I was 7 years old. He is awesome. We have Chase Gormley, Emanuel Newton, Bubba Jenkins, Kimbo Slice Jr., all who are talented so we will see." Davis completed his collegiate mat career in March by winning his fourth national title at the 2016 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, closing with a perfect 131-0 overall record. With that championship, Davis became only the third college wrestler in NCAA competition to compile four national titles along with a perfect record ... and the first in Division II. The other two flawless four-timers: Cael Sanderson, who earned four Division I titles for Iowa State, and a 159-0 mark ... and Marcus LeVesseur of Augsburg College, tallying four D3 crowns, and a 155-0 record. In recent months, a number of athletes with amateur wrestling backgrounds have signed with Bellator MMA, including Aaron Pico; former Central Michigan heavyweight Jared Trice; Tyrell Fortune, heavyweight champ for the now-defunct wrestling program at Grand Canyon University; and Ed Ruth, three-time NCAA titlewinner for Penn State. Other past college mat stars now competing in Bellator include Chris Honeycutt, Paul Bradley, Mo Lawal, Phil Davis, Darrion Caldwell, and Bubba Jenkins.

LOS ANGELES -- Despite some amazing performances, the U.S. freestyle wrestling team lost two matches in the final day of the World Cup to finish in fourth place. Against Iran and Georgia, both matches ended with each team winning four bouts, but with USA earning fewer classification points and losing on criteria. There was a palpable anticipation at the Forum in Inglewood heading into the matchup between USA and Iran Sunday morning. Iran had won the last four World Cup titles and was a heavy favorite going into this weekend. The likelihood of Iran winning Pool B and advancing to the final became even greater when it was announced earlier this week that two members of USA's freestyle team would not be making the event. Two-time world bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev had been battling injuries and standing Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Jordan Burroughs stayed in Nebraska with his wife to witness the delivery of his daughter, Ora. Without these two starters, it seemed like USA would struggle with success this weekend, but a strong first-day performance gave hope to USA Wrestling fans that they could stand atop the podium. Against Iran, the classification points came out to 17-15. The meet was decided at heavyweight where Olympic champion Jake Varner bumped up to 125 kilos and couldn't defeat Iran's Parviz Hadi, currently ranked 4th in the world at heavyweight. The meet was filled with back and forth action and exciting wrestling throughout. At 57 kilos, Daniel Dennis held a 2-1 lead over 2013 World Champ Hassan Rahimi, who remained composed and scored three takedowns second period to win 7-2. Masoud Esmaeeilpour earned four step-out points against Tony Ramos in the first period to go on to an 8-2 victory. Frank Molinaro celebrates after beating two-time world medalist Sayed Mohammadi of Iran (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Team USA earned an upset at 65 kilos when Frank Molinaro overcame a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 over two time-world medalist Sayed Mohammadi. Mohammadi is currently ranked seventh in the world. "At that point (after the first period) I was a little bit nervous," said Molinaro. "I was like 'I'm too far behind. What am I going to do here?' But it comes down to what are you fighting for?" When asked how he scored the two takedowns, Molinaro said. "He stopped A. He stopped B. He stopped C. So I went to D." USA tied up the dual meet score 2-2 with a 5-2 win by James Green over Mostafa Hosseinkhani. The bout was tied 2-2, but Green was losing on criteria. He forced the action and got a shot clock point. When Hosseinkhani came after him in the closing seconds, Green countered and put the match away. "If I kept moving and clearing ties, I knew I could open him up," Said Green. "It's not really a strategy, it's just that you've got to keep marinating the guy. Wear that guy down, open him up and you get the takedowns." After a win by Iran at 74 kilos, USA tied up the team score again when J'den Cox beat No. 5 Ranked Alireza Karimi 6-2. Cox gave up the opening takedown, but kept his cool. "I just thought about it in compartments," said Cox. "I got taken down. The next thing is let's not give up four, only two. Get to your shot. I'm really good with my legs. I'm really good on defense. I waited for an opening for the last takedown and I took it." USA followed up Cox's win with and 8-1 victory by standing World Champ Kyle Snyder, but after that match, even though USA had a 4-3 match lead, the classification points were tied 14-14 meaning that everything would come down to heavyweight. Against Georgia in the bronze-medal match, Daniel Dennis opened the scoring against standing world champ Vladimer Khinchegashvili with a takedown followed by two gut wrenches. Behind 6-0, Khinchegashvili came back with a takedown and turn followed by a sequence in which Dennis got pinned. Ramos fell behind early against Beka Lomtadze but hit a wild four-point throw late in the second period to seemingly go ahead 5-4. A challenge and video review resulted in Lomtadze also scoring two points on the sequence, which gave him the win. Needing a win desperately, Team USA witnessed a remarkable comeback from Frank Molinaro as he defeated Zurabi Lakobishvili 4-4 on criteria. "I just think my persistence and being on him and got me that win," said Molinaro. "Not any particular skill. Just working hard." Molinaro finished 4-0 on the weekend. James Green was undefeated at the Freestyle World Cup (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Georgia's Davit Tlashadze, ranked No. 6 in the world, had been impressive at 70 kilos in the first three sessions but USA's James Green plowed through him with a 10-0 technical fall. "A lot of Europeans wrestle each other," said Green. "They don't get to wrestle guys like me that move around and bang on their heads. He wasn't used to it so I took advantage of it."' Alex Dieringer rebounded from a tough loss in the morning to win 10-1 over Jakob Makarashvili, ranked 14th in the world. "I just kept of the pressure the whole match," said Dieringer. "Sometimes foreigners break when you do that." Despite a late match rally, 86 kilos wrestler J'den Cox was unable to overcome a 4-0 first period deficit, and suffered his first loss of the weekend to Dato Marsagishvili 7-4. "When J'den is moving, he's got some magic in him," said U.S. coach Bruce Burnett. "But that guy tied him up. And he got started a little bit late." World champ Kyle Snyder electrified the crowd with a takedown in the last five seconds to beat Elizbar Odikadze 3-3 on criteria. "I've been there a couple times this year," said Synder. "It kind of stinks to be in that position, but I'm getting more used to it, wrestling tough guys." The win put Team USA up 4 matches to 3, but Georgia had the number one ranked heavyweight in the world, Geno Petriashvili, who defeated American Zack Rey 6-2. The win gave Georgia the victory 17-16 on criteria. "We've got to get better," said Burnett. "We got outsmarted in some of those matches. But at the same time we had some great performances. Right now we've got about 69 days to get ready for Rio. If you don't learn from this and you make the same mistakes again, then shame on you." 3rd Place Match United States 4 (16), Georgia 4 (17) 57 kilos: Vladimer Khinchegashvili (Georgia) fall Daniel Dennis (United States), 2:32 61 kilos: Beka Lomtadze (Georgia) dec. Tony Ramos (United States), 8-5 65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Zurab Iakobishvili (Georgia), 4-4 70 kilos: James Green (United States) tech. fall David Tlashadze (Georgia), 10-0 74 kilos: Alex Dieringer (United States) dec. Yakob Makarashvili (Georgia), 10-1 86 kilos: Dato Marsigashvili (Georgia) dec. J'den Cox (United States), 7-4 97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) dec. Elizbar Odikadze (Georgia), 3-3 125 kilos: Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) dec. Zack Rey (United States), 6-2 Pool Final United States 4 (15), Iran 4 (17) 57 kilos: Hassan Rahimi (Iran) dec. Daniel Dennis (United States), 7-2 61 kilos: Masoud Esmaeilpourjouybari (Iran) dec. Tony Ramos (United States), 8-2 65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Sayed Mohammadi (Iran), 4-3 70 kilos: James Green (United States) dec. Moustafa Hosseinkhani (Iran), 5-2 74 kilos: Hassan Yazdanicharati (Iran) tech. fall Alex Dieringer (United States), 10-0 86 kilos: J'den Cox (United States) dec. Alireza Karimimachiani (Iran), 6-2 97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) dec. Abbas Tahan (Iran), 8-1 125 kilos: Parviz Hadi (Iran) dec. Jake Varner (United States), 3-1

LOS ANGELES -- It was a near perfect day for the U.S. freestyle wrestling team on Day 1 of the Freestyle World Cup in Los Angeles. The Americans defeated India in the first session 7-1 and shut out Azerbaijan in the second session 8-0. "I feel really good about what we accomplished today," said coach Bruce Burnett. "Hopefully we can build on that and come back tomorrow strong. We started off scoring a lot of points and continued that effort." Alex Dieringer, filling in for Jordan Burroughs, went 1-1 at 74 kilos on the opening day of the Freestyle World Cup in Los Angeles (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)In the first session, Team USA was impressive up and down the lineup. America's lone loss came at 74 kilos, where 2016 Hodge Trophy winner Alex Dieringer lost on criteria 4-4 to Rana Paraveen. Dieringer held a 3-0 lead after the first period but Paraveen scored two takedowns to go ahead 4-3. Dieringer tied the score with a pushout, but was losing on criteria. In the closing seconds of the second period, Dieringer seemingly scored a takedown but it was subsequently waved off. Team USA requested a video review and the crowd erupted when the monitor showed Paraveen's knee had touched the mat (takedown criteria) - but the score was upheld. "It was a screwy call," said Dieringer. "He for sure touched his knee in that match. You can't leave it in the hands of the judges. I shouldn't have given up those two takedowns in the second period." After competing at 57 kilos for USA for the past two years, Tony Ramos earned his first win at 61 kilos, defeating India's Bajrang 3-3 on criteria. Bajrang was fifth at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas last September. "I feel like I've gone up a whole level. More creative. More mat savvy. It's my new training situation. New motivation. New mind. " Despite his success at 61 kilos, he isn't sure if he will remain at the weight class and try and make the team to compete in the world championships in December (for non-Olympic weights). "Undecided," he said. "Right now, I'm leaning more towards 'no' but I've got to figure it out." A tight match was expected against Azerbaijan after they lost a close match to four-time reigning World Cup champion Iran in a meet which came down to heavyweight, but USA won all eight matches. Daniel Dennis looked methodical as he rolled to a second period 10-0 tech fall of Makhmud Magomedov. "It's just walking down the path that is going to lead you to your goal. This is just another step," said Dennis about the World Cup. "It's fun in a competition like this where you know who your next opponent is going to be." James Green, who won 10-0 in both his bouts said he felt strong back at 70 kilos, where he was a world bronze medalist last fall. After trying to make the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team at 65 kilos, James Green said he felt better back at 70 kilos "Now I'm feeling good again," Green said after his second win of the day. "Lot of pop, lot of motion. Just back to my old ways. It feels great." J'den Cox defeated world No. 3 Aleksandr Gostiyev at 86 kilos (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Perhaps the match of the day belonged to J'den Cox. Down 2-0 heading into the second period, Cox came back to defeat the No. 3 wrestler in the world at 86 kilos, Aleksandr Gostiyev 3-2. Standing World champ Kyle Snyder also won a close match, 2-1, over Aslan Alborov. "Being able to win those one point matches and control the match at the end and come away with the victory. Those one-point wins become very important," said Coach Burnett. "That's a big lift for us and we feel really good about where we are right now." On the day, Team USA outscored its opponents 101-17. USA will face Iran for their final dual meet within their pool Sunday morning and will wrestle for either the bronze or gold medal match in the fourth and final session. Perhaps what's most surprising about USA's dominance at the World Cup is that is has been accomplished without America's best freestyle wrestler. Four-time gold medalist Jordan Burroughs had to skip the event at the last minute in order to be with his wife as she gave birth to their second child. Ora Burroughs was born at 4:45 a.m. on Saturday. United States 8, Azerbaijan 0 57 kilos: Daniel Dennis (United States) tech. fall Makhmud Magomedov (Azerbaijan), 10-0 61 kilos: Tony Ramos (United States) dec. Akhmednabi Gvarzatilov (Azerbaijan), 10-4 65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Magomed Muslimov (Azerbaijan), 4-1 70 kilos: James Green (United States) tech. fall Gadzhimurad Omarov (Azerbaijan), 10-0 74 kilos: Alex Dieringer (United States) dec. Ashraf Aliyev (Azerbaijan), 8-0 86 kilos: J'den Cox (United States) dec. Alexander Gostiev (Azerbaijan), 3-2 97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) dec. Aslanbek Alborov (Azerbaijan), 2-1 125 kilos: Jake Varner (United States) tech. fall Said Gamidov (Azerbaijan), 10-0 United States 7, India 1 57 kilos: Daniel Dennis (United States) forfeit (India) 61 kilos: Tony Ramos (United States) dec. Bajrang (India), 3-3 65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Rajneesh (India), 5-0 70 kilos: James Green (United States) tech. fall Vinod Kumar (India), 10-0 74 kilos: Parveen Rana (India) dec. Alex Dieringer (United States), 4-4 86 kilos: J'den Cox (United States) tech. fall Pawan Kumar (India), 13-2 97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) tech. fall Kadian Satywart (India), 10-0 125 kilos: Jake Varner (United States) forfeit (India)

JaMarr Billman may be returning to his high school alma mater to become the head wrestling coach at Easton Area High School, according to news reports Friday from two Pennsylvania newspapers, the Allentown Morning Call and the Easton Express-Times. Billman was a two-time Pennsylvania state champ at Easton before going on to Penn State, then Lock Haven University. The two Lehigh Valley newspapers presented the "return of Billman" news with varying degrees of confidence. The Express-Times opened its story with this assertive statement: "Easton's new wrestling coach definitely comes from the Red Rovers family. "Jamarr Billman will succeed Steve Powell as the head wrestling coach at Easton Area High School, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation." The Morning Call was a bit hedgier, making it clear that any announcement regarding Billman's hiring would have to wait at least a week. Easton's athletic director, Jim Pokrivsak, would not name names, but said, "All I can say is we contacted a candidate about the job. We had 17 applicants and two withdrew. We interviewed five of them and brought two back for second interviews. "We should get confirmation back from the candidate about whether he's going to take the position by Monday or Tuesday for sure. And then as long as he's approved by the school board [at its June 21 meeting], everything should be fine. Until then, everything is tentative. So we're not done with the process." Neither paper was able to reach Billman for comment. Billman does not have head coaching experience, but has served as an assistant coach at Wilson Area High School, and prior to that, as an assistant under Powell at Easton. Billman graduated from Easton in 1997, where he was a three-time District 11 champ and two-time Northeast Region champ. In addition, he was a four-time PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) placewinner, winning back-to-back state titles in 1996 and 1997. Billman launched his collegiate career at Penn State, where he was Big Ten freshman of the year, placing fifth at 142 pounds at the 1998 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. He then transferred to Lock Haven where he completed a 61-7 record and finished fifth in the NCAA championships at 149 pounds in 2001 and 2002, becoming a three-time NCAA All-American. Billman's overall collegiate record was 117-13.

Yet another University of Oklahoma mat alum has joined the coaching staff at Northwestern University, as former Sooner champ Cody Brewer is now the volunteer assistant for the Wildcats. Cody Brewer was a four-time All-American and 2015 NCAA champion (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Brewer, 2015 NCAA Division I titlewinner for Oklahoma, joins fellow former Sooners Matt Storniolo (head coach) and Andrew Howe (assistant coach) at the Big Ten school located in Evanston, Illinois. In addition to claiming the 133-pound crown at the 2015 Nationals, Brewer was a four-time Big 12 finalist, winning the conference title twice. The Kansas City, Missouri native completed his career with a 95-22 record, getting bonus points in 68 of those wins. Beyond success on the mat, Brewer was twice named to the All-Big 12 Academic First Team. "It is not often that you get to announce the addition of a four-time All-American and national champ to a coaching staff, and we have done that twice in a month," Storniolo said, referring to Andrew Howe, who joined the Northwestern staff in mid-May. "Cody is excited to have the opportunity to join the Wildcat family, and we are excited to welcome him. He will make an immediate impact on the Northwestern wrestling program."

Cloud County Community College is adding men's wrestling to its roster of intercollegiate sports, the two-year Kansas school announced Thursday . In addition to the new Thunderbird wrestling program, Cloud County is bringing back its women's soccer program which had been eliminated a couple years ago. The mat T-Birds will first take to the mat during the 2017-18 season. They will join six other schools in the Jayhawk Conference with wrestling: Colby, Barton, Neosho, Pratt, Labette County, and Northwest Tech. All compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). "We are always looking at ways to enhance the "community" in Cloud County Community College,” said Cloud County President Danette Toone. "When we looked at the athletic programs in our local USDs (Unified School Districts), we saw how prevalent wrestling is. After that the decision was easy. We are excited to give these young north central Kansans a great opportunity to continue their education." "With the popularity of the sport in our service area as well as the state of Kansas, we feel the wrestling program will provide opportunity for new student engagement as well as growth for the college," said Cloud County Director of Athletics Matt Bechard. A search for the first head wrestling coach in Cloud County history will begin in July. All inquiries regarding the wrestling program should be directed to Matt Bechard, at mbechard@cloud.edu. Established in 1965, Cloud County Community College has two campuses in Kansas, one in Concordia, the other in Junction City. Total enrollment for CCCC is approximately 4,500 students.

Matt Oney is moving up in college wrestling in more ways than one, heading northward from west Texas to north-central Kansas to go from being an assistant coach at the Lone Star State's Wayland Baptist University to become head coach at Kansas Wesley University. Oney will succeed Jimmy May, who announced his resignation last month. Oney brings valuable, winning coaching experience at both the college and high school levels to the KWU Coyotes. In the past two years as an assistant coach at Wayland Baptist, Oney helped guide both the men's and women's mat programs. During his tenure at the Plainview, Texas school, Oney mentored the Pioneer women to finish eighth in the WCWA (Women's College Wrestling Association) championships with four All-Americans and one scholar-athlete ... while the Wayland men finished 11th at the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) National Championships with five NAIA All-Americans and one scholar-athlete. Before Wayland Baptist, Oney taught math and coached wrestling for 21 years at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. During his time there he coached nine state championship teams, including six consecutive team titles for the boys and a three-year consecutive run for the girls. "Matt stood out to us because of his coaching experience," Kansas Wesleyan Director of Athletics Mike Hermann said. "But even more so because of his passion for the sport of wrestling. He had a long, successful history coaching wrestling at the high school level in Hawaii and had developed an impressive network of coaching contacts from his national and international experiences." "Matt jumped into college coaching two years ago and has made an impact at Wayland Baptist, a relatively new program that has enhanced its national reputation in wrestling during Matt's few years on the staff," Hermann continued. "I'm confident that Matt will contribute to our campus quickly and will insure that our wrestlers have an outstanding student-athlete experience. He is an ideal choice to lead our program into its first full competitive season." "Matt is a terrific hire for Kansas Wesleyan," National Wrestling Coaches Association Executive Director Mike Moyer said. "He is one of the bright, shining up-and-coming coaches in the profession. He represents the gold standard in educational athletics. He is a graduate of our CEO Leadership Academy, and was even selected by his peers to receive a scholarship to the program. I am really happy for Matt and Kansas Wesleyan has a great coach on board in him." Oney, who was a four-year letter-winning wrestler and two-time NCAA Division III Scholar All-American at Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, has high goals as he takes the helm of the Coyote wrestling program. "My goals for this program are to create an environment where the development of the student-athletes, in all facets of life, is accomplished at the highest level possible for each athlete," Oney said. "Guiding them to perform to the best of which they are capable of in every situation will allow them to reach their full potential as individuals and as a team. When they are able to accomplish that, being a witness to what their collective greatness leads them to will be a very rewarding experience for us all." Founded in 1886, Kansas Wesleyan University is a private four-year college located in Salina, Kansas. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Kansas Wesleyan has an enrollment of approximately 850 students. The Coyote wrestling team competes in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).

Ziad Kharbush, former Brown University wrestler who died May 21, is being honored with a benefit fundraiser in his honor this Saturday in Livonia, Michigan outside Detroit, the local community newspaper reported Wednesday . Ziad KharbushAll proceeds from the benefit for the wrestler also known affectionately as "Zee" or "Z" will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) in memory of Kharbush, who died from unexpected complications of Type I diabetes while in Dubai working for the healthcare consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers. "Please join us in celebrating the life of Zee and helping us raise as much money as we can for Juvenile Diabetes in his name," according to a message for the event on Facebook. "Ziad left a great mark on this world and everyone he knew. His smile will always be embedded in our minds and his laughter will forever carry in our hearts. Ziad was an amazing son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew and friend to everyone and will be truly missed. We hope to bring everyone together to celebrate his life and bring awareness to the disease." The event, which will be held at 34063 Gable Dr., Livonia will include a raffle with numerous donated prizes including a golf package, tickets to sporting events and gift certificates. The hosts for Saturday's gathering have asked for a $20 per person minimum contribution from attendees; tickets include dinner and drinks for the entire evening. Those interested in attending should contact Mary Ellen Clancy at 248-946-2728; or email meclancy61@att.net. For those unable to attend in person, donations may be made to a memorial fund established in Ziad Kharbush's name, with proceeds going to the JDRF . "He was one of the happiest and most positive people to be around," said Ziad Kharbush's sister, Maisa (Kharbush) Mooney. "He was diagnosed at age 15 with Type 1 diabetes and he was constantly pushing to better himself and spread awareness of juvenile diabetes/ Type 1 diabetes, and prove to the world that even despite having this disease, he could do great things." Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Kharbush, 26, was a two-year starter in the Brown University wrestling program. He graduated from the Providence, Rhode Island-based school in 2013, then relocating to Dubai. Prior to attending Brown, Kharbush was a two-time state placer at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Livonia, finishing fourth his senior year at the 2008 MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) Division 1 wrestling finals in the 171-pound weight class while finishing with 46-4 overall record. Funeral services for Kharbush were held on Saturday, May 29 at United Memorial Gardens in Plymouth, Michigan.

I was in Colorado Springs early last week and had the chance to sit-in on a few practices including now-members of the University World Team. And wow … just wow … what a stable of studs coming through USA Wrestling. I'm not sure why this crop seems so much more talented than those in years past, but as I watched technique and live session I was struck with the thought that a lot of the guys I was watching had the talent to be future Olympic and world champions. And this isn't fanboy behavior. I've been fortunate to watch a lot of international wrestling over the past several years, from practice to competition, and what I saw last week in Colorado Springs struck me as some of the best yet. Some of my perspective was shaded by the consideration of their "potential," but the raw talent level was simply undeniable and awesome. Zain Retherford is a hammer who haunts my thoughts. Imar is a generational type of talent with the winner's attitude that'll extend past the NCAA. Kyle Snyder is a transformative figure in USA Wrestling who beat the defending Olympic champion in back-to-back years en route to winning a world title and making the Olympic team. There others that impressed but simply put I will watch the University World Championships with a lot of red, white and blue-themed optimism. To your questions … Q: Bill Zadick was hired over Kenny Monday and Lou Rosselli to lead the U.S. freestyle program. Did USA Wrestling get it right? -- Mike C. Bill Zadick coaches Kyle Snyder in the gold-medal match at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Foley: The USA Wrestling head coaching position is about much more than simple name ID and is dissimilar to many traditional coaching jobs in what it asks of occupants. Before Zeke Jones and Bruce Burnett the main goal of the head coach was to convince the various stars to live at the training facility, sleep in dorms and take international tours. The new model will be one of development -- to attract younger wrestlers to the camps earlier in the careers, let them discover what the place is about, develop skills and get them on the freestyle path. For that job Zadick was most qualified given his understanding of the development program and his thoughts on where it may lead. I'm also sure that Lou Rosselli could have followed through on that mission as well, but Zadick (who I think is the man) has a much better vision given that current role and years of experience. Also, I think that right coach needed to understand what the modern wrestler is getting from his club programs and find ways to supplement their training rather than remove them from their surroundings. From what I can tell, being at "home" in their respective college towns has assisted both Kyle Snyder and Jordan Burroughs. Q: Is Brock Lesnar's return to the UFC merely a publicity stunt to sell PPV subscriptions? Or is he a real threat to become the UFC heavyweight champion again? -- Mike C. Foley: Everything the UFC does is a publicity stunt to sell PPVs! Brock Lesnar is a more transparent move to grab PPV buys, but it's not a move outside of the promotion's recent history of moves. I'd normally be very vocal in stating the obvious -- that Brock can't win the heavyweight crown -- but with so many big stars getting knocked out at heavyweight I suppose anything could happen. Then again, no, there is no chance that even a series of softball fights would lead Brock Lesnar to another UFC championship. Q: When will countries buy in to the World Cup as a real long-term option? Will there be qualifiers beside the World Championships? -- @wrestlingnomad Foley: I'm not sure what you mean by "long-term" option, but I do think that there are difficulties in hosting the World Cup concurrently with the Olympic Games. For example, while the United States, Iran and Turkey are using this as a warmup for Rio 2016 the Russians are staying inside the borders. That could affect the quality of the competition overall, but I don't think it's discouraging viewership. Q: I want to hear some more technical in-depth talk about Fresno State. What are the big hurdles? Who do you think will be on the staff? How long until they're contending individually and maybe as a team? What do you think their singlets will look like? -- Ben R. Foley: I like that you started with wanting to hear about the technical in-depth and then trailed off with a sartorial inquiry into their color and design of their singlet! Love the focus. The coaching staff could be anyone, but I think that Fresno State will certainly have two years of recruiting before they are allowed to compete at the Division I level in 2017-2018. That's going to mean a tough start for the program as they are starting from scratch -- no existing wrestlers or mentality, only that distant memory of the program's glory years in the 1990s. I think I'd be aggressive in projecting an All-American before the 2020 NCAA Championships. For now, the team title will be a 15-20 year goal for the program. Not sure even Cael Sanderson could put all the keys for victory in place with any more efficiency than that. Q: What's the biggest thing that watching international wrestling from every angle has taught you? What is the 'key' to wrestling? I wouldn't/you don't need to tie it into American wrestling. God knows when you say anything critical the Anons of the community dig in ridiculously. -- Ben R. Foley: The Anons already love to dig in, so I don't mind pushing all in! From what I've seen there are typically a few factors at play with the very top competitors from around the world. The first is that they have tight family relationships and rely on those for emotional support during their career. Someone to cheer you up is an important factor to keeping it on an even keel as your wrestling (unavoidably) goes sideways at times. Another VERY consistent theme seems to be faith. Whether Christianity, Islam or Hinduism wrestlers at the highest level tend to have a lot of faith in their God. Just an observation. In terms of training I've seen that most of the world's top wrestlers don't train with insane in-the-room intensity, or that those moments are much more rare than we see and feel in America. For example, I was in Germany this week shooting a documentary on Greco-Roman world champion Frank Stäbler and watched his practice routine. Last week I was in Colorado Springs filming world champion Kyle Snyder for another documentary and saw his practice routine. These guys aren't relying on aggression to solve their on-the-mat issues, but are instead intensely focused on technique, strength, conditioning and situational live. More with Frank and older wrestlers, but there is WAY less head-banging than you may imagine -- and Frank is known for his conditioning and aggressiveness on the mat. Were I to head up a program I'd love to foster that type of mentality and training schedule as I think it keeps wrestlers much healthier and more psychologically capable to manage longer careers.

Although Los Angeles has hosted the Freestyle World Cup since 2014, this weekend there is a different attitude about the event. For the past two years the World Cup has taken place earlier (April in 2015 and March in 2014) and with wrestling for the Olympics occurring in August (a month earlier than the World Championships in non-Olympic years) this year's World Cup is most certainly a late tune-up for Rio -- a chance to gauge performances, test out techniques and get a feel for opponents before the final phase of making adjustments in pursuit of Olympic glory. The eight teams participating fall into two camps about how to approach the event. Iran, Georgia, Mongolia and the USA are sending what looks to be their strongest lineups. Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan are leaving many of their top athletes at home. Traditionally, Russia never sends their strongest team to the World Cup, and given the success that they continuously demonstrate at the World Championships and Olympics, it's hard to argue with that strategy. Russia knows how to peak and they also know how to plan for individual opponents -- opponents that they clearly get good intel on at events like the World Cup. For Russia, the event may be the deciding factor on determining two of their athletes for the Olympic team. Because of controversy in the officiating at the Russian Nationals, Victor Lebedev (57 kilos) announced he will not be competing in Rio. A good World Cup by 57-kilo Gadzhimurad Rashidov would allow him to make his case to be the Olympian for Russia. Similarly, 2014 world champ Abdusalam Gadisov (97 kilos) did not compete at Russian Nationals. The weight was won by Anzor Boltukaev, who was very impressive. Gadisov will be at the World Cup while Boltukaev will not. A strong run by Gadisov this weekend could return him to the Olympic stage or at least set up a wrestle-off with Boltukaev. While Iran has always taken the World Cup seriously, it being in Los Angeles, which has such a high population of Iranian-Americans, seems to elevate the status of the event even more. During the final World Cup match for the past two years, the inside of the Forum could easily be mistaken for a stadium in Tehran. Aside from the injured Reza Yazdani at 97 kilos, Iran will once again bring their strongest team and a full roster of backups, which will make them the favorite to win their fifth World Cup in a row. Georgia shocked everyone by winning the European Championships over Russia earlier this year. 57-kilo world champ Vladimir Khinchegashvili bumped up to 61 kilos and defeated fellow 2015 world champ Haji Aliev of Azerbaijan decisively. And at heavyweight Geno Petriashvili came from behind to defeat 2014 and 2105 world champ Taha Akgül of Turkey, who looked unbeatable at Worlds in Las Vegas. Georgia has Russia right off the bat in the first session and, surprisingly should be considered a favorite over them. Although Team USA boasts two standing world champions and two more world medalists, the squad is mostly unseasoned and many questions will get answered this weekend. In general, America has gotten better at transitioning college wrestlers from folkstyle to freestyle, but it is still a transition -- and it can only be made through match experience. At 57 kilos, Daniel Dennis has looked great since dropping down from 61 kilos. He won the U.S. Open, Olympic Trials and indeed seems like a complete freestyle wrestler. How complete will become apparent in the first session when he faces 2013 world silver medalist Amit Kumar of India. In Session III, he will get and even bigger test from four-time world medalist Hassan Rahimi of Iran. At 61 kilos, it's unclear if USA will send out Nahshon Garrett or two-time World Team member Tony Ramos. Most likely, it will be a combination of the two. They will get stiff competition from India, Azerbaijan and Iran in the first three rounds. It was recently announced that a World Championship will be held for non-Olympic weights in December. So for the World Cup, athletes at 61 kilos and 70 kilos are not just wrestling to help out their teams and their countries, but to gear up for the quest to become a world champion. Frank Molinaro came out on top at an absolutely loaded 65-kilo weight class at the Olympic Team Trials -- ahead of many athletes who were picked to finish higher. He defeated Kellen Russell, Brent Metcalf, logan steiber and aaron pico to become champion. He then competed in both remaining Olympic qualifying tournaments and punched his ticket to Rio when two previous qualifiers tested positive on drug tests. Every match Molinaro gets will help him prepare for the Olympics. His biggest test will come against Seyed Mohammadi of Iran in the third session. 2015 world bronze medalist James Green will return to 70 kilos after lackluster results dropping to 65 kilos to try to make the 2016 Olympic Team. Green was probably just too big for the lighter weight class and with the opportunity to be a world champ later this year will probably fully commit to the higher weight class. Jordan Burroughs celebrates after picking up a woiin against Iran at the World Cup (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)If America is to win the World Cup this weekend, it will in no doubt be in part to the energy provided by USA Wrestling's golden child Jordan Burroughs. The four-time gold medalist stands 124-2 in freestyle competition and remains at the peak of his wrestling game. Burroughs is definitely team-oriented and uses his talents to elevate those around him. At 86 kilos, J'den Cox has been enjoyable to follow. Still with a year of NCAA eligibility left, Cox appears to be a much more experienced senior level freestyler than he actually is. He constantly demonstrates intelligent wrestling, creates action when he needs to, scrambles out of dangerous positions and never loses his cool. Cox seems to be developing at a rapid pace and the ceiling of his potential is unknown. It should become much clearer in the third round when he faces Alireza Karimi of Iran, the 2015 bronze medalist and the 2014 junior world champion. Yes, Kyle Snyder may be the world champ at 97 kilos, but he's still got two years of college eligibility left and is far from being done improving. Moreover, although Snyder won the World Championships he can hardly rest on his laurels as he had two international losses this winter in Russia. A rematch with Gadisov this weekend would be huge for both athletes. The big question with two-time world bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev (125 kilos) is how his back will hold up through the Olympics. He made the 2015 World tTeam, but then withdrew prior to the event due to injury. After returning from injury he won the Pan Am Games and the Olympic Trials. Will he wrestle in all four matches this weekend? It's impossible to predict, but most certainly backup Zack Rey will step in to keep Dlagnev as healthy as possible for Rio. Said Gamidov of Azerbaijan could be a good test for him in the second round.

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Former Kent State All-American Ian Miller (pictured above, in gold) has joined the Oregon State wrestling program as the volunteer assistant coach, head coach Jim Zalesky announced Thursday. Ian Miller battles Isaiah Martinez in the NCAA semifinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)A native of Oak Harbor, Ohio, Miller was a three-time All-American and a four-time NCAA qualifier at 157 pounds. He is the only wrestler in KSU history with three top-6 finishes at the NCAA championships. Miller placed sixth at the 2016 NCAAs, fifth at the 2015 NCAAs and fourth at the 2014 NCAAs. He was a three-time Mid-American Conference champion, the 2012 MAC Freshman of the Year, and ranks third all-time at KSU in wins (138) and fourth in pins (36). “We have known Ian for a long time, he attended our camps when he was in high school, and we have followed his career,” Zalesky said. “We were looking for a middleweight coach after Troy [Steiner] left” in May to become the new head coach at Fresno State. “Ian fills that void. He's a three-time All-American, he has a winner's mentality, and he will be a good workout partner, and he really wants to coach. “He's done some good things, some of them unconventional, that I would like to see added to our coaching staff. “He will really help our program. He will be a tough workout partner, so when our middleweights come into the room they'd better be ready to go.” This past season, he advanced to the NCAA semifinals and finished 23-2 overall, with 11 bonus-point wins and individual titles at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Navy Classic. He gave up just one takedown all season. Miller also has experience at national and international meets in the 70- and 74-kilogram weight classes. He placed second at 2015 FILA University Nationals; was the champion and the Outstanding Wrestler at the 2014 FILA University Nationals; placed fourth at ASICS University Nationals, and won the championship at 2012 ASICS University Nationals. He was the Ohio Division II state champion as a junior, the runner-up as a senior and the third-place finisher as a sophomore at Oak Harbor High School. He was The Open Mat's No. 2 national recruit at 152 pounds as a senior. Miller succeeds Devin Mellon, who has returned to the staff at the University of Missouri, his alma mater, after spending the 2015-16 season at OSU. For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/OSU_Wrestling or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateWrestling.

It must be devastating for a college wrestler who has learned that your wrestling program has been given the axe. Now, imagine a situation where your school has announced it's being closed, taking its wrestling program with it. That's the case with St. Catharine College and its NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) wrestling program. The tiny four-year college located southwest of Lexington, Kentucky announced earlier this month it was closing its doors for good in July. Just this week, newspapers headlines throughout the Bluegrass State trumpeted the news that Midway University was hiring coaches for men's sports programs at St. Catharine's. Score one for wrestling, right? Not so fast. Midway's offer is truly generous -- and groundbreaking, as the school situated halfway between Lexington and Louisville has been a women-only school until now. However, the offer only extends to St. Catharine's men's basketball, soccer and baseball coaches. That leaves most other St. Catharine College athletes without a school. Not just wrestlers, but also men's bowling, cross country, golf, swimming, tennis and track ... as well as all athletes from all women's intercollegiate sports. Why is St. Catharine College closing its doors after 85 years? Officials at the school, located in Springfield, Kentucky in the heart of the Bluegrass, cited declining enrollment and unmanageable debt as the main causes for the decision made June 1. St. Catharine's, a Roman Catholic school affiliated with the Dominican Sisters of Peace, have a $5 million deficit brought on by the construction of new residences halls, a health-sciences building, and a new library. Additionally, the college's dispute with the government over withheld student aid resulted in enrollment declining from 600 students to 475 for the fall 2016 semester. Students at St. Catharine College are being offered "teach-out agreements” -- articulation agreements to allow students' college credits to easily transfer to other designated schools, along with tuition rates similar to what St. Catharine students have been paying. In addition to Midway University, other Kentucky-based schools involved in this program include Bellarmine University in Louisville, Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky State University in Frankfort and Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro. None of these schools offers intercollegiate wrestling. There are three NAIA wrestling programs in the state of Kentucky: Campbellsville University in Campbellsville; Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia; and University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky.

The Tiger is now a Bull, as Le'Roy Barnes, who just graduated from the University of Missouri, has been hired as an assistant coach at the University at Buffalo, the Bulls head coach John Stutzman announced Monday. Barnes, who won the 2016 Mid-American Conference title at 157 pounds just three months ago for the Mizzou Tigers, will remain in the same conference with his new coaching job, as Buffalo also wrestles in the MAC. Le'Roy Barnes (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Barnes launched his wrestling career at Belton High School in Missouri, where he was a two-time Missouri state championship placer. He then spent two years at Neosho County Community College in Kansas where, as a sophomore, he won the 2013 NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) title after placing third at the 2012 NJCAAs as a freshman. Barnes then transferred to Missouri, where, after a redshirt season, he competed for the Tigers for two complete seasons. After wrestling at 141 as a junior, Barnes moved up to 157 his senior year, where he compiled a 26-11 record, won the MAC title, and qualified for the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. During his time at Missouri, the Tigers won consecutive MAC team titles, and placed among the top five in the team standings at the NCAAs. "Le'Roy is a tremendous hire for our program and comes highly recommended from Coach [Brian] Smith at Missouri," Stutzman said. "Having wrestled for Missouri and being a part of a program that has won multiple MAC Championships while producing National Champions, All-Americans and Olympians, his knowledge and energy is exactly what we need right now to continue moving our program forward. I am excited to bring him to Buffalo." "The best thing about Le'Roy is that he believes in what we are doing here as he has seen the progress from the other side," Stutzman added. Barnes is eager to move into his first collegiate coaching position. "I'm excited to work with the wrestling team here at Buffalo," Barnes said. "The coaching staff is extremely motivated, the athletes are bought in and the administration gives this program what it needs to be successful. This team is headed in a great direction and I'm excited to contribute to that."

The AAU Scholastic Duals (aka, Disney Duals) commence this weekend near Orlando, Florida, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex located at Disney World. The event features four different competitions, two tiers each in a pair of competition categories. The District divisions (all-star and developmental) are open tournaments for any wrestlers within a geographical area, while the Community divisions (split based on school enrollment) are restricted to competitors that attend(ed) the same school with allowance for three wrestlers not from that school. Starting on Sunday, June 12, and coming to conclusion on Wednesday, June 15, are the District divisions. The all-star competition is the elite level open team event that features some teams which look and feel like squads you saw at the NHSCA Duals (also folkstyle) last month and the Cadet/Junior Duals (Greco-Roman and freestyle) later this month. On the other hand, the developmental division is restricted to wrestlers who did not place at their high school state tournament this season. The Community divisions start on Tuesday, June 14, and will end next Friday, June 17. There are two divisions of competition, split based on the student body size of the registered schools; however, squads can choose to wrestle up in Division 1 even if they have enrollment size commensurate to being in Division 2. While roster information is not public at this time, one can make some informed guesses about who the primary contending teams could be in the District all-star and Community divisions. In what was an excellent move for the event, results and related information were available on Trackwrestling last year. It seems that this year's events will have results on Track Wrestling. However, we will have to confirm that closer to the event. Last year Young Guns won their third straight Disney Duals titleThe Young Guns Black team coached by Jody Strittmatter out of Western Pennsylvania has dominated its way to the championship in the District All-Star Division each of the previous three years. Until proven otherwise, they are the team to beat. Keep in mind that with just two wrestlers from outside their traditional footprint, they finished runner-up at the NHSCA Duals last month in a tournament where many of the elite teams had wrestlers from multiple areas of the country. Last year's runner-up in the District All-Star Division was the Mid-Atlantic Blue squad, a club team that was the last to win the Disney Duals prior to the three-year Young Guns Black run. They are a perennially strong team in this event, featuring wrestlers mostly from the Lehigh Valley and other parts of central/eastern Pennsylvania. The six other squads to earn a placement finish in the top bracket are all committed to return for this year's edition of the event (based on registration as of June 1st): CFWA-South Florida Lightning, Team Ohio Mafia, Team Iowa Black (runners-up in 2014), Ohio Grapplers, Michigan Blue, and Brawlers Elite Thunder. Others to watch in this event include Ozark Team STL (last year's name, slightly different this year), Team Vision Quest Colorado, Illinois Outsiders (possibly a similar entry to the one that won the NWCA Scholastic Duals in April), Contenders Elite, and Indiana Gorillas. This year's Community Division(s) will receive a boost, as multiple Indiana teams will return to the field after not participating last year due to the timing of their state association's "dead/no-contact period" in relation to the Disney Duals. An addition note of caution when doing pre-analysis of this competition is that schools have varying strategies in terms of their team rosters: some schools may not have stronger wrestlers present due to them being on a District All-Star team or participation in the Cadet Duals, some schools choose to include graduated seniors while others do not, and some schools may choose to use "outside wrestlers" to bolster the overall team talent while others don't procure as strong "outside wrestlers". The two-time returning champions in Community Division 1 are the Dakota (Illinois) Wrestling Nation. However, the teams to beat "on paper" would be a pair of schools that ended the 2015-16 season nationally ranked, No. 33 Brownsburg (Ind.) and No. 37 Olentangy Liberty (Ohio); Olentangy Liberty's entry is named Liberty Patriots. The Bulldogs qualified seven for their state tournament, five of them underclassmen; while Olentangy Liberty had eight state qualifiers, seven of them underclassmen. Last year's event runner-up was PA Rampage, which is an entry consisting of primarily Central Dauphin wrestlers. That school qualified six for the state tournament in a loaded classification, four of which were underclassmen. The 2014 runners-up Avon (Ind.) return to the tournament this year, and their team was top ten in the Indiana state tournament this past season with four of five state qualifiers being underclassmen. Other teams to watch include Brandon (Fla.), Mason (Ohio) -- entry is Ohio Comets, Penn (Ind.) -- entry is XTreme Gold, along with Social Circle (Ga.) -- champions of Division 2 last year. Leading the way in Division 2 is Oak Harbor (Ohio) -- Oak Harbor Rockets, the runner-up in this tournament the previous two years. As a high school program, they qualified eight to the state tournament and return six of those for 2016-17; the Rockets will also enter as a joint pre-season favorite in Ohio's small-school division. Team Montana Sidney has finished third in this tournament the previous two seasons.

Amateur wrestlers are among the best conditioned, best-built athletes of any sport. It's always been the case. Nowadays, wrestlers benefit from weight work using sophisticated workout equipment and routines, smarter nutrition, scientifically-developed nutritional supplements and other advances to enhance wrestler strength, speed, endurance and recovery. All these advances weren't available to wrestlers of the past. Yet how is it possible that a number of the mat athletes of the 1960s and earlier could possess incredible strength and impressive physiques that, if they were wrestling today, would still generate positive buzz at a tournament and on social media? It occurred to me that it was time to take a look at this topic, in light of responses to photos I've posted of past college mat greats (including Dan Hodge as an Oklahoma Sooner wrestler in the mid-1950s, in honor of his 84th birthday in mid-May) ... and in my recent tribute to Sherwyn Thorson, 1962 NCAA heavyweight champ for the Iowa Hawkeyes, who passed away this spring at age 75. Thorson breaks open the weight room The late Sherwyn Thorson owns a number of enduring distinctions in his amateur athletic career at Iowa. He was the Hawkeyes' first NCAA heavyweight wrestling champ. What's more, Thorson was the only U of Iowa athlete to earn All-American honors in both wrestling and football ... and perhaps the only athlete from any NCAA school in history to do both, according to the Iowa sports website BlackHeartsGoldPants.com. And ...Thorson was one of the first to be open about working out with weights. Known affectionately by the nickname Thumper, Thorson was a physical specimen who was very agile for a big man, having grown from being a 138-pound wrestler as a high school freshman into a 235-pounder at Iowa. Yet the Fort Dodge, Iowa native apparently felt he was a bit undersized for both sports, so he hit the weight room. Sherwyn Thorson"I went at the weights hard my junior year when a professor failed me in a course that I know I did well in. He told me he considered me a paid professional athlete and just wasn't going to give me a passing grade," Thorson told the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame upon his induction into that Hall which honors wrestlers born in the state of Iowa. That prof's accusation motivated Thorson to go all-out to be even more successful against larger opponents in wrestling and football ... and that plan included weightlifting. It apparently worked, as Thorson concluded his collegiate mat career by winning the heavyweight title at the 1962 NCAAs by pinning Wisconsin's Roger Pillath, the guy who put his shoulders to the mat at the Big Ten championship finals two weeks earlier. Thorson then went on to a successful career in professional football in Canada. Weight room: once off-limits to wrestlers During Thorson's time -- and long before that -- most wrestling coaches forbid their athletes from pumping iron. "It'll make you muscle-bound!" was the conventional wisdom of the time. However, the 1960s was a time of revolution and innovation in amateur wrestling, with wider use of foam-core mats (widely known by one brand name, Resilite), digital scoreboards, protective headgear, and specialized shoes designed specifically for wrestling (rather than simply wearing "sneakers"). Some wrestling coaches started to see how amateur athletes in other sports -- such as swimming, and track and field -- were gaining benefits of weight work, becoming faster, more agile, with greater endurance ... without becoming "muscle-bound." So how did wrestlers who competed more than 50 years ago gain strength and muscle that still looks impressive to many of today's wrestlers and fans? In some cases, it's a matter of great genes. However, there are some common environmental issues that helped make some wrestlers known for their power and/or their powerful physiques. InterMat has singled out some examples of accomplished wrestlers of the past who were also known for their strength and/or strong physiques. Some of these guys may have been blessed by choosing their parents carefully, so to speak. Others may have earned their muscles from hard work on the farm, in the oil fields, or other demanding physical labor. A couple overcame incredible physical challenges to build themselves into high-achieving mat champs. Note: The focus of this article is on wrestlers who competed more than 60 years ago, in the era before weight-room workouts were the norm ... so you won't find Brock Lesnar, Kenny Monday, Kevin Randleman, Mark Johnson, Lee Kemp or other more recent wrestlers known for their muscular strength and/or muscularity in this InterMat Rewind feature. And ... note that all the photos featured in this article are of these wrestlers in their uniforms of the time. Prior to today's singlets becoming the standard uniform about 45-50 years ago, many high school and college wrestlers competed in trunks and/or tights, with shirts optional. The NCAA started requiring all collegiate wrestlers to wear shirts in the mid-1960s. Jack VanBebber Looking at photos of Jack VanBebber in his wrestling prime, it's not obvious that he would belong in an article about wrestlers with impressive physiques and/or incredible strength. Yet this athlete overcame a near-fatal accident as a child to become one of the most accomplished wrestlers of the 1930s competing at Oklahoma State and on the international stage. Jack VanBebber Oklahoma State wrestling accomplishments: Three-time NCAA champ (1929-31) at 165 pounds. Overall college record of 21-0, with 9 falls. Beyond the Cowboys: VanBebber won a gold medal in freestyle at (weight class) at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, despite being punched by his Canadian opponent in one match. In the finals, the farm boy from north-central Oklahoma managed to beat a three-time Olympic medalist to claim gold of his own. Overcoming a near-fatal injury: When he was six years old, Jack VanBebber fell off a wagon and was run over by one of the wheels, severely injuring his chest. Immediately after the accident, doctors didn't think he would survive ... or, at best, would be an invalid the rest of his life. However, as he slowly recovered, doctors encouraged him to get some exercise such as walking ... but forbade him from participating in sports. That all changed in junior high school when a playground bully picked a fight with him. He and the bully were taken to the school's football/wrestling coach, who made the two boys put on boxing gloves and "settle their differences." VanBebber got knocked down, but the coach liked how VanBebber worked to defend himself, and encouraged him to consider going out for wrestling once he came to high school. The coach gave VanBebber a workout regime which included walking, jogging and doing more strenuous farm chores such as lifting hay bales. Over time, VanBebber became stronger and healthier; the coach finally allowed him to go out for wrestling, but only if he would join the football team too. VanBebber's long-term workout regime prior to taking up sports -- along with participation in both football and wrestling in high school -- helped his wrestling career in college and beyond. While at Oklahoma State wrestling for the legendary coach Ed Gallagher, at times VanBebber needed to have one-on-one workouts with an assistant coach because his class schedule interfered with the regularly-scheduled team workouts. A grueling schedule: In addition to wrestling practices and a demanding class schedule, VanBebber was forced to take up multiple part-time jobs to earn money for his education and expenses during the beginning of the Great Depression, which hit the state of Oklahoma particularly hard. It's almost exhausting to read about one of VanBebber's typical days in his memoir "A Distant Flame"; here's his schedule as a freshman: "My day began at 3:45 in the morning when I left for the dairy barn. That milk delivering turned out to be challenging track work ... The milk delivered, I legged it to my morning classes. (After lunch) from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 I attended classes. From 4:00 to 5:00 I swept classrooms at Whitehurst Hall. I double-timed it to the gym for an hour of wrestling." After going back to where he lived for evening study, late at night VanBebber went to wash dishes and pots and pans at a local diner for a free meal. These jobs not only helped build VanBebber's bank account; they also helped make the wrestler stronger physically and mentally ... which served him in his academic and athletic endeavors. All that helped VanBebber develop a level of physical conditioning and stick-to-it-ness which was critical to his success at the 1932 Olympics. However, the former Cowboy almost didn't make it to one of his matches. He had been given the wrong schedule, and was taking a nap at the Olympic Village when he was told he needed to be at the arena -- which was miles away -- in one hour. Unable to find transportation, VanBebber started running ... and barely made it to the arena in time for his match. Thanks to his incredible conditioning -- and years of running going back to grade school -- he won his match, and the gold medal. VanBebber's athletic accomplishments and inspiring life story of overcoming near-fatal injuries led Associated Press in 1950 to declare him one of the Top Ten athletes of the first half of the 20th century. Stanley Henson At age 98, Stanley Henson is not only one of the oldest NCAA wrestling champs still alive, but also arguably the most accomplished college mat star of the 1930s, despite battling ongoing issues with his shoulder throughout his athletic career. No less an expert than wrestling historian Mike Chapman said this of Henson: "All the old-timers I talk to consider him -- without exception -- one of the top four or five wrestlers of all time." Oklahoma State wrestling record: Three-time NCAA champ (1937-39). Overall college record of 31-1 record, with 12 pins. Named Outstanding Wrestler at the 1937 NCAAs, the first sophomore to earn that honor. Beyond the Cowboys: Henson barely missed out on qualifying to wrestle for the U.S. at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was an odds-on favorite to earn a gold medal at the 1940 Olympics, which never took place because of the threat of World War II. During the war, Henson served in the Navy on the USS San Francisco in the Pacific. After five years as a physical instructor and wrestling assistant at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Henson attended medical school in Maryland and trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for four years before moving to Fort Collins, Colorado to work as a surgeon, becoming the first doctor to perform open-heart surgery at the local hospital. In addition, he was a pioneer in the field of sports medicine. Henson was welcomed into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1978. A rugged wrestling work ethic: As a self-described "skinny little kid," Henson first went out for wrestling in junior high in Tulsa, Oklahoma without much success ... and, in fact, quit. At Tulsa Central High, legendary coach Art Griffith encouraged him to participate in the sport. Henson learned the value of hard work, vowing never to leave the wrestling room as long as a teammate remained who needed a workout partner. He even worked out with guys much larger and more experienced, but believed he was learning skills and gaining valuable experience. Henson also learned of a wrestler who ran four miles a day ... so he did that, twice a day. It all led to three Oklahoma high school state titles, and interest from a number of college wrestling programs, including the top program at the time, Oklahoma State. Hard at work at home on the farm ... Henson grew up on a farm, so daily chores were a fact of life, including a cow that needed to be milked twice a day. "My dad made it clear that the cow came first, and wrestling came second," Henson wrote. "I didn't realize at the time, but I was developing strong hands and forearms that were also a real asset to me in wrestling." ... and in the oil fields: Henson's father was a general contractor in the Oklahoma oil fields ... and Stanley and his brother worked on his dad's crews during summers off from high school and college. Being a rig builder was hard work, and dangerous, too. "We dug cellars, ran concrete, and set pumping units," said Henson. "It was hard work, but not as dangerous as rig building ... I didn't mind because I was building muscle and endurance which would pay off during the next wrestling season." "We didn't lift weights in those days, but we spent all that summer (1938) swinging a 16-pound sledge, driving stakes into the ground for a rod line that ran several pumping units. After that summer, Joe (McDonald, Oklahoma State teammate) said he felt so strong that he thought he could 'crush' his opponents with his hands." Stanley HensonThat strength and endurance paid off in the wrestling ring. (Yes, back in the 1930s, Oklahoma State was one of a number of college teams that wrestled in a roped-off ring like those in boxing or pro wrestling. Rings were outlawed by the NCAA in 1942.) During a critical match, Stanley Henson suffered a dislocated shoulder. With the help of a physician in the audience, he was able to re-set the shoulder during a time-out, continued wrestling, and won the match, avenging his only collegiate loss. A photo-ready physique: In 1939, Stanley Henson was featured prominently in a three-page photo spread for Life magazine on the Oklahoma State wrestling program. Henson was one of the Cowboys picked to demonstrate various holds. A competing coach weighs in: Charlie Mayser, legendary coach at Iowa State in the 1930s, said, "(Henson) is positively the greatest wrestler to come along in generations, and I've seen some of the best." The Cyclone coach later said, "That Henson -- he's just not human!" Dan Hodge Dan Allen Hodge is one old-school wrestler who is well-known and respected even among today's wrestlers of all ages. After all, the now 84-year-old mat legend has been seen on NCAA telecasts demonstrating his strength by crushing apples on live TV, makes appearances at major youth tournaments, and lends his name to the Hodge Trophy, presented each year to the top college wrestler in America. Sixty years ago, Hodge was THE most admired and feared college wrestler in the country largely for his pinning prowess. The Oklahoma Sooner mat champ earned nicknames like "Dangerous Dan" and "Homicide Hodge." Even as a youngster, Hodge could walk across a football field on his hands, and even do a one-hand stand for long periods of time ... demonstrating incredible strength and balance. University of Oklahoma wrestling accomplishments: Three-time Big Seven champ (1955-57); three-time NCAA champ (same years), all at 177 pounds. Twice named Outstanding Wrestler at the NCAAs (1956, 1957). Undefeated in college, with a 46-0 record, with 36 pins, giving him a 78% pin percentage that still ranks among the highest ever in college wrestling. Dan Hodge Beyond the Sooners: Hodge was twice a member of the U.S. Olympic men's freestyle team. As a 19-year-old Navy sailor, Hodge represented his country at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where he was pinned in the second round and did not place. At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Hodge made it to the finals, where he was caught in a rolling fall in a highly questionable call ... but earned a silver medal. After college, Hodge became a boxer ... but, disgusted with the shady dealings of that sport, then switched to professional wrestling, where he had a career that spanned nearly two decades, until he was in a near-fatal car wreck in 1976. A tough life for a kid: Dan Hodge grew up on a farm outside Perry, Oklahoma in the 1930s and 40s -- tough times, thanks to the tail end of the Dust Bowl drought and the Great Depression. As a farm boy, he picked cotton, dragging 40-50-pound bags of the cotton across the fields. Hodge also helped harvest wheat, and milked cows. Life beyond the field and barn was rugged for Hodge, too. His father left the family; their farm house burned to the ground, causing serious injuries physically and psychologically to his mother. Hodge was sent to live with his grandfather who beat him regularly. He ran away from the abuse, where he found refuge -- and a home, and some extra income -- living at the Perry fire station, keeping the fire trucks and station clean. He also worked at a local gas station. He also found refuge as a wrestler at the storied Perry High School wrestling program. One college rival remembers wrestling Hodge: Gary Kurdelmeier, future champ and later head wrestling coach at University of Iowa, tangled with Hodge a couple times during his collegiate career. In a 1976 interview with historian Mike Chapman, Kurdelmeier described one of those matches where he actually held the Sooner scoreless in the first period: "I knew all about Hodge, of course, and was pretty nervous. I was doing OK with him on my feet, but I ran into a little trouble with him when we went to the mat. Dan was very, very strong, of course, but it was more than that. He had good balance and exceptional leverage and knew where he was all the time. He just kind of positioned me onto my back and I seemed to go along with him, though I certainly didn't want to." In talking about Hodge's renowned grip strength, Kurdelmeier also mentioned having black-and-blue marks on his wrists and arms for days after tussling with "Dangerous Dan." Sports Illustrated weighs in: Dan Hodge owns the distinction of being the only amateur wrestler to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine as an amateur wrestler in the magazine's more than 60-year history. In their April 1, 1957 cover story, the magazine describes in great detail his Bedlam Series bout with Jimmy Harding of Oklahoma State. Hodge managed to bring the Cowboy to the mat, applying a double grapevine. "Now Harding was powerless from the waist down and on his back," SI reported. "The double arm bar was easy: both of Harding's arms were up over his head in agonizing parallel, squeezed and held vice-like -- not the 'punishment' hold of pro wrestling but a preliminary in Dan's book for the pin. Then Dan increased the grapevine pressure. The muscles where shoulders make a V at the base of the neck bunched. His legs stiffened and he pushed down, down, down. All his strength was focused on the man beneath him, striving for the moment when a wordless surrender passes from his opponent -- when resistance is gone and muscles relax ... It was all over and Dan Hodge was standing in the middle of the mat, his arm raised in victory. It had taken 50 seconds." Video: Dan Hodge pins a college opponent in less than a minute Doug Blubaugh Douglas Morlan Blubaugh grew up on a farm outside Tonkawa, Oklahoma ... and, even late in life, described himself as a "farm boy." Yet this lifelong farmer achieved greatness as a wrestler in high school, in college and at the Olympics. Like fellow Oklahoma farm boy Dan Hodge, Blubaugh was another mat champ of the past who was recognized and beloved by younger wrestlers because he was still participating in wrestling instructional camps right up until his tragic death when his motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck in his hometown in May 2011. Oklahoma State wrestling accomplishments: Three-time NCAA All-American (1955-57); 1957 NCAA champ at 157. Overall record of 27-3-1, with 2 pins. Beyond the Cowboys: Blubaugh earned a place on the freestyle team for the 1960 Olympics in a rugged series of a dozen bouts with fellow Oklahoma State wrestler Phil Kinyon. In Rome, Blubaugh made headlines by pinning defending World champion Emam Ali Habibi of Iran. In addition, Blubaugh was named Outstanding Wrestler of the year for his Olympic achievements. Doug Blubaugh A rock-like physique: At least two individuals from the wrestling community used stone-related metaphors to describe how Doug Blubaugh was put together. "When I first met him, he was a physical specimen. Carved out of rock," said Jack Duncan, a coach who was introduced to Blubaugh in 1961 at a wrestling camp at Michigan State where the gold medalist was a clinician. Wayne Baughman, a three-time Olympian, NCAA champ for the Oklahoma Sooners, and, for nearly three decades head coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy, said, "The first time I remember seeing Doug was when he came to OU to train for the '60 Olympic team. He looked like he was chiseled from a block of granite. He had muscles everywhere, even on his fingers." A muscular work ethic from the farm: In a 2010 interview with InterMat for a feature on the 1960 Olympics, Doug Blubaugh said, "Thank God I grew up on a wheat farm in Oklahoma that didn't have electricity or running water 'til during World War II. Doing farm chores built a work ethic. It was hard work. I never lifted weights -- couldn't afford them -- but hefted bales of hay. Strength from working on a farm is different; you get 'endurance strength' from farm work." Pre-Olympic strength vs. U.S. Olympic Trials rival Phil Kinyon: One prime example of Doug Blubaugh's toughness: his series of freestyle matches with Phil Kinyon, a U.S. Navy veteran who was enrolled at Oklahoma State at the time. (More about Kinyon later.) The two Cowboys of different eras (mid 1950s for Blubaugh; early '60s for Kinyon) were on a collision course to see who would wrestle for the U.S. at the 1960 Olympics. Russ Camilleri, San Jose State mat alum who earned a place on the 1960 Olympic team, said of the Blubaugh-Kinyon matches: "Both were compact, muscular and strong ... They had wrestled each other so often, they knew each other well. Despite the matches ending in draws without a score, they were NOT boring matches. Plenty of tough action." In his 2011 tribute to Blubaugh for Amateur Wrestling News, Oklahoma's Baughman shared his memories of the Blubaugh/Kinyon battles: "After having battled to numerous draws in previous matches, a winner/U.S. team member had to be determined. The mat was placed under the biggest shade tree on campus, removed from the entire athletic complex. The battle was waged. It was not pretty, or a disappointment to anyone in attendance, except Kinyon and (Myron) Roderick [Oklahoma State head coach]; and they certainly had nothing to be ashamed of. It was like two raging rams charging directly into each other over and over. At the end of the match, Doug was bleeding profusely from his face and forehead and Kinyon's eye was swollen shut. Doug won but it could have gone either way." Pre-Olympic strength in workouts: Baughman shared his memories of practice sessions helping Blubaugh prepare for the 1960 Olympics: "I thought I'd been sentenced to death when Port Robertson [Oklahoma wrestling coach] made me Doug's primary workout partner even though I weighed 180 compared to Doug's 160. Doug's style was extremely aggressive. He had the hardest head literally, and somewhat figuratively, of anyone I've ever wrestled; and, because of his poor vision, he kept in right in your face. I walked off the mat after every workout feeling as if I'd been the beat up with a jackhammer. I had continuous scrapes, cuts and bruises. He also had the toughest bottom defense I have ever encountered. He was like trying to turn or move a fireplug." Olympic strength in "The Epic Struggle": At the 1960 Olympics, Doug Blubaugh faced Iran's Emam Ali Habibi, multi-time World champion and 1956 Olympic gold medalist known as "The Tiger of Mazandaran" (his hometown). Here's Blubaugh's account: "At the start of my match with Habibi, he comes right after me and knocks me on my butt. I get out of it, get up and boom, he does it again. Once more, I get out of it but am now behind by five points. I tell myself he can't do that to me a third time, so when he comes after me again, I flip him onto his back, hold him tightly while he is vainly bridging, and pin him." Respected wrestling historian Dan Sayenga added a bit more detail to the match captured in posters titled "The Epic Struggle": "(Blubaugh) drew from every reserve of strength, balance, willpower, and technique in his body. Suddenly the audience gasped in amazement. Doug reversed out of the bridge, and the Iranian was on his own back!" "'I knew the bout wouldn't go 12 minutes,' he said later. "One of us had to get pinned." "He clamped with all his might against Habibi's high-arch bridge. The fall was signaled in less than three minutes." Blubaugh called on his "endurance strength" gained from toiling on the farm to pin Habibi at 2:37 of the bout ... then went on to win two more matches that day to earn his gold medal. Video: Doug Blubaugh pins Habibi at the 1960 Olympics Les Anderson Starting in the early 1950s, Leslie A. Anderson established an enduring career in wrestling that spanned decades which included on-the-mat success in high school and at Iowa State, a long-time coaching career at his college alma, and as creator of instructional books and videos, establishing TheWrestlingSite.com ... despite doctors' orders to give up the sport when he was in high school. Iowa State wrestling accomplishments: Two-time Big Eight champ. Three-time NCAA All-American, winning the 130-pound title at the 1958 NCAAs, and the championship at 137 at the 1960 NCAAs. Overall record of 50-3-1. Les Anderson Beyond wrestling for the Cyclones: In addition to folkstyle wrestling, Les Anderson also competed in freestyle. He placed fifth at the 1956 U.S. Olympic Trials; four years later, he was an alternate for the 1960 Olympic team which competed in Rome. A life in coaching: Les Anderson's professional life was centered on wrestling. After graduating from Iowa State in 1960, he launched his coaching career at Blue Earth High School in Minnesota, making it one of the top ten programs in the state. In 1964, Anderson returned to Iowa State to serve as assistant coach to Harold Nichols for a decade before becoming head coach at University of Washington until that program was eliminated. Anderson came back to ISU in 1977, where he continued to assist Nichols until his retirement ... then worked with Jim Gibbons after he was named head coach. During Anderson's time on the coaching staff, the Cyclones were five-time NCAA team titlewinners, placing second six times, and coming in third four times. A diagnosis that nearly ended a career: At Clarion High School in north-central Iowa, Anderson crafted a near-perfect career for coach Dale Brand. Anderson's only loss in high school was in the 119-pound finals at the 1955 state championships, having won the title at 103 in 1954. Anderson's mat career nearly ended in high school, having been diagnosed with polio, an acute viral infectious disease spread from person-to-person that causes inflammation of the spinal cord and brain, sometimes causing paralysis in limbs and muscles used in breathing. Anderson spent time in an iron lung as part of his therapy to overcome the potential ravages of polio which hit him between his junior and senior years of high school. In fact, his doctors had urged Anderson to give up wrestling, but he persevered, finding great success at Iowa State. An Iowa farm boy: Les Anderson grew up on a farm outside Clarion. Included among the photos as part of a 2007 roast to honor the former Iowa State wrestler/coach are images of a young Les out on the farm, driving a tractor, riding his horse Trigger, and wrestling in the front yard with one of his two brothers. Anderson was a key contributor to keeping the family farm running smoothly ... and, in fact, this became an issue more than once. When Les was first asked to go out for wrestling in high school by coach Brand, the coach came out to the farm for supper to reassure the family that their son would make it home from wrestling practice in time to keep up with his chores. Les Anderson's parents were also concerned about their son leaving the farm to go to Iowa State. In fact, Anderson left college for a year to return home to help out with running the farm. Phil Kinyon Phil Kinyon had a long, successful amateur wrestling career that spanned more than a decade, taking him from Stillwater High School in the early 1950s to Oklahoma State in the early 60s ... with stops along the way wrestling freestyle for the U.S. Navy (being featured in a full-page photo in Life magazine tussling with a Russian wrestler in 1958), and even a year on the wrestling team at UCLA before completing his college career back home with the Cowboys. Phil Kinyon Oklahoma State wrestling accomplishments: Three-time Big 8 champ (1961-63) at 157 pounds, three-time NCAA finalist, winning the 157 crown at 1961 NCAAs. Oklahoma State record: 39-3-4, with two pins. Iron sharpens iron into gold x 2: We've already read how Phil Kinyon battled Doug Blubaugh in a series of a dozen matches to determine spot on freestyle team for 1960 Olympics. Kinyon, gracious in defeat, turned his attention to help another Oklahoma State mat alum and eventual gold medalist, Shelby Wilson, prepare for the Games. As Wilson said in a 2007 interview with InterMat, "That summer, I linked up with Phil Kinyon. I owe him a lot. We went at each other every day. We worked out, ran, worked his farm, then would wrestle two twelve-minute matches. That's where I perfected my moves." "Phil was a very important part of my Olympic victory and without him, I'm not sure what would have happened." With that, Kinyon was instrumental in helping two of the three U.S. gold medalists -- Doug Blubaugh, and Shelby Wilson -- achieve greatness at the Rome Olympics. (The third who earned gold in 1960 was Terry McCann, a Chicago native and University of Iowa mat champ.) Before college: At Stillwater High School, Phillip Kinyon must have been considered to be a "big man on campus" -- one of those guys who participated in a wide range of activities. As a wrestler, Kinyon earned back-to-back Oklahoma high school state titles in 1953 and '54, played football, was senior class vice-president, sang in Glee Club, and a member of the Future Farmers of America. "Best Physique" in high school ... and beyond: Phil Kinyon was named "Best Physique" at Stillwater High School at least twice, according to the Pioneer yearbook. Back then, Stillwater wrestlers competed shirtless ... and from the photos, it was easy to see that Kinyon was put together, even as a teenager. Throughout his wrestling career, Kinyon was compact, muscular, and strong. One of this writer's favorite photos that shows off Kinyon's strength and ripped physique features the Cowboy carrying Oregon State's Fritz Fivian high over his head on the way to the 157-pound title at the 1961 NCAAs in Fivian's home gym. Phil KinyonBased on photos and film this writer has seen of Kinyon in college, the old-time phrase "hairy-chested he-man" seems appropriate. Or, as a fellow collegiate wrestler of the early 60s said of Kinyon, "He was hairy as a bear and built like a brick s***house." A wrestling historian weighs in: The late wrestling historian Jay Hammond told this writer that Kinyon was so feared in college, some would-be opponents would drop down a weight or move up just to avoid him. Hammond also considered Kinyon's loss as defending champ to unseeded, unheralded Jack Flasche of Northern Colorado in the 157 finals at the 1962 NCAAs to be among the three biggest upsets in NCAA finals history, right behind Dan Gable losing to Larry Owings at the 1970 NCAAs, and Darrion Caldwell upsetting defending champ Brent Metcalf at the 2009 NCAA finals. A second historian weighs in: Wrestling writer and historian Mike Chapman shared memories of the first time he saw two Cowboys described in this article: Joe James (more about him later) and Phil Kinyon. "My first impression of great wresting strength came as a senior in high school in Waterloo, Iowa, way back in 1962. I saw Oklahoma State for the first time, and was awestruck by the presence of two Cowboys in particular. At 157 was Phil Kinyon, a marvelous physical specimen. Phil won the NCAA title at 157 pounds as a sophomore in 1961, and was runner-up the next two years. At 191 that year, was the sensational Joe James, sporting a physique that almost defies description. Both Kinyon and James were lean and rippling with muscle. Like anatomy charts. It wasn't until year later that I learned that both Kinyon and James could do ONE-HAND CHINS. Pure one-hand chins, with one arm firmly behind the back ..." Joe James Joe James, the first African-American to step onto the mat for the storied Oklahoma State wrestling program (coming to Stillwater in 1960), was an accomplished mat champ who is better known for his incredible physique and physical strength. Words like "Adonis", "physical specimen" and "carved from granite" were used by sportswriters and fans to describe James. Joe James Oklahoma State wrestling accomplishments: Two-time Big Eight champ, three-time NCAA All-American (heavyweight champ at 1964 NCAAs). 1963 Pan-American Games gold medalist. Oklahoma State record: 51-3-2, with 14 falls. Before college: As a student at what was then called Tilden Tech High School in Chicago, James placed third at the 1960 Illinois state championships. Dennis McCabe, 1963 Midlands champ who made it to state as a suburban Chicago high school wrestler at the time, said, "He had the Chicago city heavyweight title, and, even in high school, he was 6' 3" and 220 pounds. As soon as he took off his jacket, the crowd went 'ooh.' They were blown away by his incredible physique. Most had never seen anything like it." One Cowboy teammate weighs in: Jack Brisco -- a 1965 NCAA champ at 191 who went on to a pro wrestling career -- shared his memories of his Oklahoma State teammate in Mike Chapman's book "Wrestling Tough": "Joe had the widest shoulders and smallest waist of any athlete I have ever seen ... He was about as cut as anyone who ever stepped on to the mat. The most amazing thing about Joe was that he was all-natural; he never lifted a weight in his life, back then." Another Cowboy teammate weighs in: Bill Harlow -- 1966 NCAA champ at 191, and just inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member of the Class of 2016 -- recalled Joe James in a 2009 WrestlingReport.com interview: "The first day I went into the varsity room I got there about 45 minutes early. The room had a pull-up bar around the corner and someone just kept doing pull ups. Eventually the person stopped and began doing a ridiculous number of pushups. I was just standing there taking in the atmosphere of being in the room when the person said "Hey, are you a wrestler?" I remember thinking he can't be talking to me. He was about 6'3" tall and 220 pounds of 7% body fat ... Joe begins walking towards me and I nod my head indicating that I was a wrestler. I was thinking, "Oh geez, he is going to kill me." "Joe just wanted someone to drill with," Harlow continued. "He was incredibly patient with me and had a phenomenal grasp of wrestling technique. He was the best teacher I ever had. I was at practice early for the rest of the year. Joe was one of the reasons I progressed so fast." A TV network weighs in: Joe James won the heavyweight title at the 1964 NCAAs at Cornell University. It was only the second championships to be nationally televised. The story goes that ABC-TV told winning wrestlers to be sure to put on their robes or warm-ups for their post-match interviews ... all except James, who was reportedly told to stay in uniform so viewers could see his musculature. Curley Culp Mention the name Curley Culp to most Americans, and they think of a NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame honoree with an enduring career on the gridiron in high school, college and the pros that spanned from the early 1960s into the early 80s. However, Culp was also a major force in amateur wrestling because of his agility -- and muscular strength and physique -- on the mat, too, at Yuma High School where he won back-to-back Arizona state titles at heavyweight in 1963 and 1964, then at Arizona State. Curley Culp Arizona State wrestling career: Three-time WAC (Western Athletic Conference) champ. Two-time NCAA qualifier, winning the heavyweight title at the 1967 NCAAs with a pin in less than a minute in the finals. The Sun Devil big man also pinned down the Gorriaran Award, presented to the wrestler who racked up the most falls in the least amount of time at the championships. Overall record of 84-9-4. Beyond the mat: Culp played defensive tackle at Arizona State, then in the NFL with a career that spanned 14 seasons and 179 games. Culp played for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1968-74, then for the Houston Oilers from 1974-80, concluding his career with one season for the Detroit Lions (1980-81). Among his NFL career highlights: a six-time Pro Bowl selection, 1975 Defensive Player of the Year honors, and a participant in Super Bowl IV. Culp was welcomed into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in August 2013. Farm boy strength: Born on a farm outside Yuma, Curley Culp gained his strength doing farm chores which served him well as a defensive lineman for his high school football team ... and as a wrestler, where he won back-to-back state heavyweight titles in 1963 and 1964. "Many athletes nowadays gain size and strength through weightlifting. Not Curley. He attained physical strength through physical labor -- namely, helping his dad in Yuma, Ariz. with work on the farm," according to an article in a 1967 Arizona State football program. "His father raised pigs and contracted for garbage with many firms in Yuma. Many are the 50-gallon barrels of garbage toted by Curley. He also has pitched watermelons and worked at an ice plant which accounts for his 18" neck and biceps to match." His high school wrestling coach weighs in: "(Culp) had a body build that was just unbelievable," said Pat Patterson, Culp's mat coach at Yuma High. "He had muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles ..." His hometown paper weighs in: In an article prior to Curley Culp being welcomed into the Canton Hall of Fame, the Yuma Sun newspaper wrote, "Once Culp, a heavyweight, shed his robe, the opposing crowd would voice a collective gasp that resonated throughout the gymnasium." "Football coach Al Alvarez confirmed that description, saying, 'When it was his turn to wrestle, he'd take his robe off and everybody stood in awe at his physique and how big he was and how he went about his business.'" An NCAA opponent weighs in: Frank Paquin, Lehigh heavyweight who battled Curley Culp at the 1967 NCAAs -- and the only one not to be pinned -- described the eventual champ in a 2013 interview with the Canton Repository, saying, "His arms were literally the size of legs, and believe me, they were all muscle ... I have to say that I never experienced human strength to the level of Curley Culp. It wasn't that he was a great technical wrestler. His strategy was just to get his hands on his opponent and destroy him with his strength." On-the-field show of strength: In both wrestling and football, Culp was well-regarded for his incredible strength ... and physical toughness. The story goes that he was so strong, he broke the helmets of three Sun Devil teammates during football practice. Strength ... with character: In both high school and college, Curley Culp was a well-rounded, well-liked student-athlete. At Yuma High, Culp was an A student, National Honor Society member, and elected president of his school's Future Farmers of America. In addition, Culp was a Who's Who Among Student Leaders in High Schools of America honoree, American Legion Student of the Year, and a delegate to Arizona Boys' State in 1964. Little wonder that Culp was highly recruited by a number of colleges. He chose Arizona State because he could play football and wrestle. Judging from the Arizona State yearbooks which featured Culp prominently in photo and text, he truly was a "Big Man on Campus" beyond his 6' 2", 265-pound physique. As a senior, he was voted Homecoming King ... and named "Boy With The Best Smile." Hope you've enjoyed this look at some of the strong men of college wrestling of the past who got that way without lifting weights or other modern-day developments. If you think we missed anyone, let us know.

With the passing of Muhammad Ali this weekend, the world lost a legendary boxing champion, a fighter for social justice, and a man who lived the last 30 years of his life battling Parkinson's disease. Many in amateur wrestling may not realize that our sport lost a giant to the same debilitating disease 75 years ago: Ed Gallagher, legendary head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State, who lost a long battle with Parkinson's at age 53. Meet coach Gallagher Edward Clark Gallagher coached the Cowboys from roughly World War I (1916) to just before America entered World War II (1940). In that timespan of 24 years, Gallagher guided the wrestling program at Oklahoma A&M (as the school in Stillwater was called until the late 1950s) to 19 undefeated seasons, winning eleven NCAA team titles. The Cowboys lassoed a 138-5-4 overall record for an amazing .952 winning percentage (a greater win ratio than most all-time great college mat coaches can claim). Gallagher coached 22 wrestlers to earn 37 individual national championships; seventeen of his Cowboys wrestled in Olympic competition, with three winning gold medals. Because of these accomplishments, Ed Gallagher's name adorns the arena at Oklahoma State ... and he was named one of three "Best Wrestling Coaches" in an online poll of wrestling fans for the NCAA 75th Anniversary Team honors in 2005. (The other two coaches so honored: Iowa State's Harold Nichols, and University of Iowa's Dan Gable.) Ed GallagherGallagher and his wrestlers achieved these impressive honors despite the fact that the coach had never wrestled (though he was a track star and played football in college) ... and, that, throughout the last ten years of his life, dealt with Parkinson's, a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, often including tremors, that affected Ali, actor Michael J. Fox, and approximately one million others. "Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time," according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation website . "Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson's disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms." Back in Gallagher's time, there were no treatment options ... or at least, none which were proven or widely available. Coach Gallagher traveled to Europe with his son who was a physician, for the stated purpose of watching the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but also to seek out potential treatments from a doctor in Austria. A Cowboy wrestler weighs in on his coach's condition One individual who was on the front lines of Gallagher's battle with Parkinson's was Stanley Henson, a three-time NCAA champ for Oklahoma State (1937-39), with a near-perfect 31-1 record, including 12 falls. Henson, now age 98 and a retired surgeon living in Colorado, is considered by historians to be one of the greatest college wrestlers of the pre-World War II era; some have gone as far to say Henson would rank among the all-time greats of any era. Ed Gallagher with one of his OSU wrestlersHere's how Henson described his relationship with his coach, who he (and other Cowboy wrestlers) always referred to as "Mr. Gallagher" as a show of respect: "Mr. Gallagher had Parkinson's disease, which is a progressive nervous disorder, characterized by rigidity of the arms, a shaking tremor of the hands, a partial facial paralysis, and a walk leaning forward as though to propel himself. He had stopped driving his car, and he could hardly talk. He would sometimes sit on his hands during a match to keep them still. When we shook his hand before going out to the mat, we would take hold of it carefully and gently. It seemed so fragile." "Mr. Gallagher had trouble caring for himself because of his illness. During my senior year, I was captain of the team. I drove him in his car. I roomed with him on trips and dined with him. When he ordered a meal, I would order the same thing. I would then cut the meat in small pieces, butter the bread, put his glass straw in the milk, and then just exchange plates with as little fanfare as possible. "He accepted it without comment. How it must have hurt, but he never complained. He knew we all loved him. "Mr. Gallagher was a sweet and gentle little Irishman who had us mesmerized without him or us even knowing it. As one of his wrestlers said, 'He made us wrestle better than we could.' You just couldn't lose for him." Optimism right up to the end Oklahoma State wrestling fans may not have fully realized what Stanley Henson and his fellow Cowboy wrestlers knew all too well about the mostly private battle that their coach was waging against Parkinson's. Most newspaper accounts and other publications covering the Oklahoma State wrestling program and its coach in the 1930s did not mention Ed Gallagher's condition ... or, if they did, tried to present an upbeat, optimistic picture of the situation. For example, the 1940 Redskin yearbook concluded its report on the 1939-40 season with this upbeat message: "With two intercollegiate champions and several intercollegiate runners-up returning, Coach Gallagher should have little trouble turning out another national championship for Oklahoma A&M College for 1940-1941." A year earlier, the printed program made available to fans attending the February 1939 Gallagher Day dedication of the building that was later named in Gallagher Hall was no less optimistic. Randle Perdue, sportswriter and long-time friend, wrote, "The big news about Ed Gallagher is that he is improving in health! In recent weeks he has found a new medicine, the results of long search by his son, Dr. Clarence Gallagher, and evidently it is effective. Ed has gained nearly twenty pounds in weight. He is more cheerful, more hopeful. He is optimistic about the future. In fact, he has made a date to go quail hunting next fall. It will be his first in about five years. When Ed gets back to quail hunting, it will be the Ed Gallagher of old." True to Randle Perdue's prediction, coach Gallagher did get to take a hunting trip to Colorado in August 1940 ... very much against the wishes of his wife, Austella. When he returned, he became ill with pneumonia ... and died in a hospital in Oklahoma City, just one week shy of his 54th birthday. Ed Gallagher's funeral was held in the brand-new building that had been dedicated just 18 months earlier on Gallagher Day with a dual meet featuring Oklahoma State vs. then Big Ten power Indiana University. Thousands showed up for the service which included a number of his former Cowboy wrestlers, including a good number who had become college wrestling coaches themselves. Newspapers around the country referred to Gallagher as "the Dean of Collegiate Wrestling" and "the Knute Rockne of the Mats" (referring to the legendary Notre Dame football coach killed in a plane crash a few years' earlier). While Ed Gallagher has been dead for 75 years, his legacy lives on. The building dedicated in 1939 is still the home for Oklahoma State wrestling, having been significantly expanded and upgraded in 2001, and with a new name, Gallagher-Iba Arena. What's more, the school continues to give the Gallagher Award to a Cowboy mat great of the past.