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Favorite to watch

Don't go very far back with serious fandom but I would say
1. Spencer Lee
2. ADS
3. Sammy Brooks
4. Gilman
5. Brandon Sorenson (not fun to watch always but man did the kid leave it all on the mat quite a bit)
 
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No particular order- favorite wrestlers
Ironside
Tom and Terry
lincoln
Lee
Ads
Kem dawg
Metcalf

Favorite Iowa wrestling moments-
Ironside comeback vs Kolat
CC natty
Lee’s pin of Tomasello
Gilman’s comeback vs Lizak (I’ll never forget Gilman saying he tired Lizak out from bottom)
 
No particular order- favorite wrestlers
Ironside
Tom and Terry
lincoln
Lee
Ads
Kem dawg
Metcalf

Favorite Iowa wrestling moments-
Ironside comeback vs Kolat
CC natty
Lee’s pin of Tomasello
Gilman’s comeback vs Lizak (I’ll never forget Gilman saying he tired Lizak out from bottom)
You kind of need to add Kem Dawg beating Mark Hall in the dual meet to that list imo.
 
This one is impossible to answer.
In the late '70s Chris Campbell was amazing, and senior-year Bruce Kinseth was extremely fun to watch. Then early '80s had Ed Banach, Randy Lewis, Barry Davis and more. Jim Zalesky had some of the most exciting matches ever. Later in the '80s there were SO many fun ones, Royce Alger and Rico Chiapperelli being two that have to be mentioned. The Early '90s were even more exciting, with Chad Zaputil, the Brands and Steiner brothers, Mark Reiland, and Bart Chelsvig. That led into two of the best in Lincoln McIlravy and Joe Williams, not to mention Mike Mena Jeff McGinness, Mark Ironside Jessie Whitmer, and Lee Fullhart. Back up a hair to John Oostendorp, who would have been a 4-timer if college had a 230-pound class. After them came Jody Strittmatter and Eric Juergens and TJ Williams. A few years later came Brent Metcalf and Matt McDonough, Mark Perry, Montell Marion, Then Tony Ramos, Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark, Sammy Brooks, and Brandon Sorensen. Most Recently Spencer Lee, Austin Desanto, Alex Marianelli and Michael Kemerer.
This list leaves off so many great wrestlers.
I could make a top-ten list, but it would be very difficult and would leave off some very deserving wrestlers.
 
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In no particular order other than when they came to my mind - Chris Campbell, Spencer, Rico, Desanto, Barry Davis. Pretty hard to limit to five.
 
I would have to go with:
Randy Lewis
Tom Brands
Lincoln McIlravy
Brett Metcalf
Spencer Lee
But it is really impossible to limit to just these few. We have had so much great wrestling to watch over the years!
 
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Just for fun. Who are/were your five favorite Hawkeye wrestlers to watch.

MINE:
1. Randy Lewis
2. Spencer Lee
3. Mark Ironside
4. Barry Davis
5. Lincoln McIlravy
HM Ray Brinzer
I can't believe you have RL 1st!!! He was always my favorite as well.
It was gut-wrenching watching him dislocate his elbow. Pretty sure that meet was on a Friday night, and televised by PBS!
No arguments with your list at all, but sure did love watching both Banach brothers, et al!
 
I can't agree with any list that doesn't include Lee.
Loved watching Lee, and Kemerer is another favorite but not in MY top list. I also went to most home meets growing up, 70's & 80's, with my father and now that he is past on and me not living in Iowa any more and watching on TV, it is just not as exciting. So that's probably most of it. The "roaring" 80's with Gable and the Hawkeyes were just so much fun.

One of my all time most exciting matches was a Hawkeye loss. In 1982 I watch Mitch Shelton pin Lou Banach in the first period. Lou was so confident and strong while Mitch was 400 lbs. Lou came right out in a bear hug a belly to belly tossed Shelton but when Lou went to pop him over Mitch had settled his hips on top of Lou. I remember for what seemed like 5 minutes, Lou, who you could barely see, high bridging. My dad, brother and I couldn't believe what we were seeing. Lou eventually succumbed to the weight but the drama was amazing.
Iowa had won 55 in a row and they were getting ready to move into Carver.
The whole crowd was so stunned. The dual was back and forth all night and for an 11 year old boy it left quite an impression. So much drama, two DQ's from stalling that night. How often do you see that.
At the end of the dual I had my yellow Iowa 2 page program, with all the wrestlers head shots on it, and we went down to get autographs as always. Not many Iowa guys stayed around but most of the OSU wrestlers did. There was Kenny Monday and Mike Sheets and Mitch Shelton. They were all joking around and I remember Mitch being the biggest human I had ever seen. My dad asked him something about Banach and he had a funny punch line. When I asked for his autograph he said sure and signed the paper on top of my head. I always remembered how funny and kind he was.
The field house could really get rocking, as long as you didn't get stuck behind a pole in the upper seats.
 
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