Best Hawk to never win a title

[so cal hawkfan]

With Gilmans recent Olympic and World success, it still resonates with me that somehow as good as he is he never won it all at NCAAs.

I recently watched an old Hawkeye duel meet video Iowa v Okie state where Mark Ironside absolutely demolished Jamil Kelly. Kelly never won a title at NCAAs. Kelly would eventually earn a silver medal at the Olympics.

Obviously there are a lot of examples, so who are the best Hawks that never won a title? Feel free to include non Hawks that had a lot of international success or multiple NCAA AAs without titles.

 

[GG121AND2]

Zap

 

[Boomhawk52]

zap

 

[PSU Mike]

PDIII?

 

[tosal563]

grothus...

 

[fan_4_life]

Brandon Sorensen

 

[el dub]

Montel M?

 

[Boomhawk52]

Mena was a good one

 

[crablegs1]

Mena was a good one

I was going to post Mena as well.

Dennis was an Olympian.

Zadick also an Olympian and world silver. It’s still hard to imagine Zadick losing. I was young, but thought he was unbeatable.

 

[jrod65]

Gotta be Zap - 3 time finalist. 109-8-1 record

next is probably DeAnna with finishes of 3,6,2,2. 4 time BIG 10 champ, 122-18-2

 

[dmlawdad]

Mike DeAnna wrestled for the University of Iowa from 1976-1981. DeAnna was the 5th wrestler in Big Ten Conference history to win 4 Big Ten Conference titles. He was a 4X All-American for Iowa Wrestling, compiling a 122-18 record.

 

[jrod65]

Feel free to include non Hawks that had a lot of international success or multiple NCAA AAs without titles.

a couple non-Hawkeyes:

Sam Hazewinkel 3/3/3/2

Mike McMullan 3/2/3/3

Gerry Abas 6/2/2/2

 

[pablow]

Certainly Kevin Jackson - Olympic Gold and two world titles.

 

[Keeker16]

Zaputil. Feel like I read a story about him and tattoos marking the heartbreak which was gut wrenching.

 

[wasdt21]

rulon

 

[Boomhawk52]

Zaputil. Feel like I read a story about him and tattoos marking the heartbreak which was gut wrenching.

it is. He is such a great guy too.

 

[Jrjt0518]

Zap and or mena!!!! No wrong choice with either!!!

 

[IAChief32]

Gotta be Zap - 3 time finalist. 109-8-1 record

next is probably DeAnna with finishes of 3,6,2,2. 4 time BIG 10 champ, 122-18-2

Agreed. Lost to some tough dudes in the finals. Gable said he is a top 20 all time guy that he coached. If you think about it, that’s quite the compliment.

 

[Inthecircle]

Brian Snyder Nebby
136-11
4/5/2/2
Lost both finals in SV.
Snyder had to have 30 second ride outs to win, against T.J. Williams and Luke Becker MInny

 

[pablow]

Ray Brinzer deserves a mention too. Lost in the finals to a couple of the most talented USA wrestlers ever - Gutches and Randleman. Bad luck or he's a two time champ.

 

[bman546]

Gable has already answered this question before. His response was Mike Deanna.

Who did the other guys mentioned lose to? Brinzer had Gutches who is an all time great... I would not call Randleman one of the best USA wrestlers ever... He was a great college wrestler but not an all-time great. However, Deanna lost to Chuerella, a 3x champ, and Mark Schultz a two time World Champ and a 1984 champ.

 

[BIG10MANIAC]

Zaputil

 

[MSU158]

Gable has already answered this question before. His response was Mike Deanna.

Who did the other guys mentioned lose to? Brinzer had Gutches who is an all time great... I would not call Randleman one of the best USA wrestlers ever... He was a great college wrestler but not an all-time great. However, Deanna lost to Chuerella, a 3x champ, and Mark Schultz a two time World Champ and a 1984 champ.

Zaputil lost to Prescott in 91. Zaputil beat Sammy Henson 12-1 in the semis in 91 only to get throttled by Prescott 14-0. Prescott decimated his bracket winning by Fall, Fall, 20-10, 5-0 and 14-0. Lou Rosselli was also in that bracket.

In 92, he again lost to Prescott, but closed the gap considerably, losing 2-0. Both guys scored bonus points in all their other matches at the tournament.

In 93, he was the #1 seed and lost a heartbreaker to Henson 3-2.

In 90, he sat behind Steve Martin. Martin would be a great trivia question since he made 2-3x Finalist sit the bench as freshmen. Both, Zaputil and Terry Brands were not even able to even try to become 4x AA's due to Mr. Martin!

 

[pumpdog20]

Gilman's NCAA losses were to Mosley (did nothing after that), Megaludis (4x finalist?), & Cruz (kina been meh after)... the fact it wasn't an all time great (though Mega certainly was top notch) probably doesn't put him as being the best to not win.

 

[UndercoverHawk]

Gilman's NCAA losses were to Mosley (did nothing after that), Megaludis (4x finalist?), & Cruz (kina been meh after)... the fact it wasn't an all time great (though Mega certainly was top notch) probably doesn't put him as being the best to not win.

Nico was only a 3 time. The year Clark was our 125 he took 3 or 4.

 

[so cal hawkfan]

I’ve told this story before but 20 or so years ago I started training at a submission wrestling academy in So Cal. Two of the head instructors were Rico Chiapparelli and Chad Zaputil. I weighed about 195 lbs at the time. Zap was about 140 and I think I got about 2 TDs to his 40. Unbelievably tough defensively and so hard to move. I remember trying to snap his head down with all the force I could muster, to no avail. Heck of a good dude as well.

 

[TarpHawk]

I’ve told this story before but 20 or so years ago I started training a submission wrestling academy in So Cal. Two of the head instructors were Rico Chiapparelli and Chad Zaputil. I weighed about 195 lbs at the time. Zap was about 140 and I think I got about 2 TDs to his 40. Unbelievably tough defensively and so hard to move. I remember trying to snap his head down with all the force I could muster, to no avail. Heck of good dude as well.

He was extremely strong, like Tom & Terry.

 

[Inspiteofourselves]

Gilman's NCAA losses were to Mosley (did nothing after that), Megaludis (4x finalist?), & Cruz (kina been meh after)... the fact it wasn't an all time great (though Mega certainly was top notch) probably doesn't put him as being the best to not win.

Alan Waters beat Gilman 8-4 for 4th in 2015

 

[HIWILLE]

Mike Mena

 

[TS568]

DeAnna is a good one but he was just before I started following as a kid. I’d maybe have to say Zadick because I’ve rarely been as shocked as I was when he lost at NCAAs senior year. It was to Jake Percival from Ohio but a loss to anyone by him would have floored me. On the other hand, not sure he had guys of Prescott or Henson’s caliber to deal with either.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Imma count Tony Ramos not getting the actual pin that was a pin over Streibler...........

 

[Boomhawk52]

Imma count Tony Ramos not getting the actual pin that was a pin over Streibler..........

agreed then he won one against Graff I think

 

[24 so far]

Zaputil lost to Prescott in 91. Zaputil beat Sammy Henson 12-1 in the semis in 91 only to get throttled by Prescott 14-0. Prescott decimated his bracket winning by Fall, Fall, 20-10, 5-0 and 14-0. Lou Rosselli was also in that bracket.

In 92, he again lost to Prescott, but closed the gap considerably, losing 2-0. Both guys scored bonus points in all their other matches at the tournament.

In 93, he was the #1 seed and lost a heartbreaker to Henson 3-2.

In 90, he sat behind Steve Martin. Martin would be a great trivia question since he made 2-3x Finalist sit the bench as freshmen. Both, Zaputil and Terry Brands were not even able to even try to become 4x AA's due to Mr. Martin!

What's crazier yet is the body transformation Steve Martin had to make in order to wrestle at Iowa after making Planes, Trains and Automobiles with John Candy in 87! That guy was a worker.......

 

[WSC72]

Ray Brinzer deserves a mention too. Lost in the finals to a couple of the most talented USA wrestlers ever - Gutches and Randleman. Bad luck or he's a two time champ.

And one really interesting dude

 

[nearfall2]

What's crazier yet is the body transformation Steve Martin had to make in order to wrestle at Iowa after making Planes, Trains and Automobiles with John Candy in 87! That guy was a worker.......

I thought he was a real “Jerk.”

 

[wneff]

Ray Brinzer deserves a mention too. Lost in the finals to a couple of the most talented USA wrestlers ever - Gutches and Randleman. Bad luck or he's a two time champ.

He lost in the semis to those guys. Never finished higher than third.

 

[pablow]

He lost in the semis to those guys. Never finished higher than third.

and?

 

[GG121AND2]

Earlier, I nominated Chad Zaputil, but I have to share something. In June, Mike DeAnna was inducted into the Glen Brand HOF at the Gable Museum. After his acceptance speech, Randy Lewis stood up and said that Mike's Big Ten finals match with Churella was the greatest wrestling match he'd ever seen. I know others feel the same way.

 

[24 so far]

and?

And? Really? Is wneff correct or not? Pretty simple.

 

[pablow]

And? Really? Is wneff correct or not? Pretty simple.

I thought he could have won a couple titles. I forgot he lost in the semis. Doesn't change my opinion.