History of Collegiate Wrestling - The 20th Century: American Wrestling Becomes "Collegiate"

The 20th Century: American Wrestling Becomes "Collegiate"

In 1903, the first intercollegiate dual meet took place between Yale University and Columbia University. Under the leadership of wrestling coaches Charles Mayser at Iowa State University, William "Billy" Sheridan from Lehigh University, Dr. Raymond G. Clapp from the University of Nebraska, and Hugo M. Otopalik at Iowa State University, collegiate wrestling began to gain ground in varsity athletics. The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association held its first tournament in 1905, which soon sparked many more wrestling tournaments for both college and university students and high school students. The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association remained under student leadership for over 30 years. Edward Clark Gallagher, a football and track and field athlete at Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University), launched wrestling as an official varsity sport just before World War I and with his team launched a dynasty, with undefeated matches from 1921-1931. When Oklahoma A&M College hosted the national AAU championship in 1925, Gallagher's varsity team won the team championship. Also, his junior varsity teams and unattached entries placed second. The two groups won almost all of the medals at that championship.

In 1927, Clapp published the rules for collegiate wrestling, and the next year, the first NCAA Wrestling Team Championship took place on March 30 to March 31 on the campus of Iowa State College. 40 wrestlers from 16 colleges participated, and it was among the first national championships sponspored by the NCAA, the second national championship after outdoor track and field in 1921 (and the third postseason NCAA meet after both outdoor track and field and swimming in 1924). Oklahoma State University won that first championship, which was an unofficial one, and later won the first official championship in 1929. Oklahoma State would win 27 of the first 45 Wrestling Team Championships in the Division I category, including seven straight between 1937 and 1946. In 1953, Penn State University became the first team outside of the Midwest to be awarded the national championship. One of the prominent champions during that period was Myron Roderick who won three straight individual championship as a wrestler at Oklahoma State (from 1954 to 1956. Later as a coach, Roderick would lead his teams to seven championships between 1958 and 1968.

The rules of collegiate wrestling developed by Raymond G. Clapp, which were eventually adopted by the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, marked a sharp contrast to the freestyle wrestling rules of the International Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF) and the AAU. From then on, collegiate wrestling emerged as a distinctly American sport. Yet American collegiate wrestlers made smooth transitions in the international styles, being able to win Olympic medals in freestyle wrestling at various games. College and high school wrestling grew especially after the standardization of the NCAA wrestling rules, which applied early on to both collegiate and scholastic wrestling (with high school modifications). More colleges, universities, and junior colleges began offering dual meets and tournaments, including championships and having organized wrestling seasons. There were breaks in wrestling seasons because of World War I and World War II, but in the high schools especially, state association wrestling championships sprung up in different regions throughout the 1930s and 1940s. As amateur wrestling grew after World War II, various collegiate athletic conferences also increased the number and quality of their wrestling competition. The pattern soon developed in which more wrestlers would make the progression of wrestling in high school, being recruited by college coaches, and then entering collegiate competition.

For most of the 20th century, collegiate wrestling was the most popular form of amateur wrestling in the country, especially in the Midwest and the Southwest. Wrestling matches in the United States were early on particularly long, particularly among those in the Greco-Roman style. The matches most often took place in rings that were 20 feet square and set apart by three ropes. Some schools, such as Oklahoma State University, even had the wrestling rings raised on a platform, much like that of a boxing ring. Although the rules of the AAU called for the referee to determine a winner after 15 minutes of wrestling if no fall occurred, the matches of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association were finished by falls, even if it meant an hour or more of wrestling. By 1911, collegiate wrestling rules allowed the referee to determine a win in the absence of a fall after 15 minutes. The time limits have steadily decreased over the years of the 20th century. Yet for more than forty years into the 20th century, freestyle and its American counterpart collegiate wrestling did not have a scoring system. The introduction of a point system by Oklahoma State University wrestling coach Art Griffith that gained acceptance in 1941 influenced the international styles as well. The following year, collegiate wrestling would mandatorily take place on open mats laid flat on the gymnasium floor; the rings and ropes were now illegal. This further made collegiate wrestling distinct from its professional counterpart, which would soon become more entertainment than sport.

The 1960s and 1970s saw major developments in collegiate wrestling, with the emergence of the United States Wrestling Federation (USWF) (later called the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) and now known as USA Wrestling (USAW)). The USWF, with its membership of coaches, educators, and officials, became recognized eventually as the official governing body of American wrestling and as the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee, in place of the Amateur Athletic Union. Soon, the Division II wrestling team championship was established in 1963. Western State (Colorado) won the first team championship in that division. The Division III wrestling team championship was established in 1974 with Wilkes University winning the first team championship.

Collegiate wrestlers in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s as usual made strides in the international styles, but were more well known for their scholastic and collegiate wrestling achievements. These wrestlers include Dan Gable, who won the Olympic gold medal in 1972 and was the Olympic freestyle coach in 1984, but was more famous for his 15 team championships as coach at the University of Iowa. John Smith also won gold medals at the Goodwill Games against a Soviet in Moscow and at the Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992. He is best known however for his two NCAA championships and his 90 straight victories for Oklahoma State University, where he later became a championship-winning coach. Ed and Lou Banach together won five individual NCAA championships for Iowa and were able to win gold medals at the 1984 Olympics. Wade Schalles of Clarion University earned a record of 821 victories, with 530 falls, which earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as amateur wrestling's "all-time winning and pinning leader." Other high-achieving collegiate wrestlers who have had national, international, and Olympic wrestling championship careers include Robin Reed, Kenny Monday, Cael Sanderson, Temoer Terry, and Bruce Baumgartner.

Today, on the collegiate level, several universities are known for regularly having competitive wrestling teams. The Iowa Hawkeyes (University of Iowa) wrestling team, the Oklahoma State Cowboys (Oklahoma State University) wrestling team, the Iowa State Cyclones (Iowa State University) wrestling team, and the Oklahoma Sooners (University of Oklahoma) wrestling team are four of the most storied and honored programs in the country and have won the majority of NCAA wrestling team championships. Other wrestling programs that were or are at the top include the wrestling teams of the Minnesota Golden Gophers (University of Minnesota), Ohio State Buckeyes (The Ohio State University), the Oregon State Beavers (Oregon State University), the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (Lehigh University), the Penn State Nittany Lions (Pennsylvania State University), the Pittsburgh Panthers (University of Pittsburgh), the UNO Mavericks (University of Nebraska at Omaha), the Northwestern Wildcats (Northwestern University), the Northern Iowa Panthers (University of Northern Iowa), Augsburg College, and Wartburg College. Collegiate wrestling teams compete for the NCAA wrestling championship each year. The NCAA awards individual championships in the 10 weight classes, as well as a team title. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum is located in Waterloo, Iowa. The Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma is host to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. Today, the various state high school associations also host annual wrestling championships for individuals and for teams.