BOB STEENLAGE CONTINUED...
State Title #4
As mentioned previously, Steenlage won his 4thstraight state title in 1962 at the 120lbs weight class in exciting fashion by defeating Steve Balsbaugh of Perry, a previous state qualifier who got knocked out of the tournament in the opening round the year before by Steenlage’s teammate and a 2x state champ himself – Larry Loyd.
The 4-T clinching finals match ended in the third period tied 2-2, but back in those days one of the tie-breaker criteria used to determine winners in a tie match was by a clock that logged the riding time advantage between wrestlers, similar to how college score tables track riding time today. This ultimately provided Steenlage with a criteria advantage and when the referee returned from the scorer’s table after about a 2 minute meeting, he raised the right arm of Bob Steenlage for the win, causing the crowd to erupt with excitement, thus crowning him as the “First 4 time State Champion” in Iowa wrestling history. The criteria time difference was by 1 second, as Steenlage had racked up a 61 seconds of riding time advantage. A point was given to a wrestler if they had more than a minute riding time over their opponent. The official score in the books would go down as 3-2 with the difference determined by “riding time”…
While that score doesn’t seem indicative of a dominating performance that would provide ammunition for considering Bob Steenlage as the GOAT in Iowa HS wrestling, maybe we should consider some facts regarding his senior year campaign…
Much of this information is chronicled in the documentary “
Wrestling with Iowa”, which includes footage of an interview of Bob Steenlage, who is now 76 years old, discussing his quest for 4 state titles and in particular his senior year.
During his senior year he faced and overcame some major hurdles, which began when his HS wrestling coach Kent Townley left before the season started. Steenlage has been candid about that event being devastating to him at the time – “He was like a father to me. It was devastating when he left because he was my workout partner, my mentor, and my teacher.”
Britt had brought in a new wrestling coach named Jim Craig, a former NCAA champion at Iowa in 1959. On the surface this all seemed to be a plus, but as it happened, during some drills where Steenlage and his new coach were working on takedowns, Steenlage injured his back. The pain was severe enough that it forced him to see a local doctor, who after x-rays, told Steenlage that he would never wrestle again! To paraphrase, the words of Lt. Aldo Rey – “That was news he could NOT abide!”
He didn’t accept that diagnosis so he sought help through a chiropractor across the street, who worked on him and helped him manage the pain while he worked at getting back on the mat. The injury left him unable to wrestle for weeks and was a nagging reminder throughout that season as it took much longer to recover than expected, with the pain preventing him from working out until 10 days before the district tournament started. Throughout this ordeal Steenlage’s confidence never wavered though – “I knew I could win because of 3 things… my mental outlook, the strong grip I had and the physical shape I was in!”
That belief and confidence carried Steenlage all the way to the state semifinals match against his fiercest rival and competitor – Ron Barker of Osage, who Steenlage recalls as being “built like an ox” and that match was refereed by none other than Dr. Harold Nichols – yes the legendary Dr. Harold Nichols… Steenlage’s only loss his senior year was to Barker during a regular season dual. The semi-finals match was highly competitive with Steenlage coming out on top by a score of 7-5, but that victory came at a high cost as he separated his right shoulder during the match, the seriousness or severity of which was not known till after the tournament was over!
“I knew I had to wrestle with one arm,” Steenlage said about preparing for that final match of his prep career. He persevered, while having no grip in right hand or much strength in his right arm throughout that finals match against Steve Balsbaugh of Perry. Miraculously, he was able to wrestle his opponent to a 2-2 draw when the referee’s whistle blew ending that match. And with the 1 point awarded by the scorer’s table for the just over a minute advantage in riding time, the wrestling gladiator Bob Steenlage became an Iowa wrestling legend and the first Four-Time wrestling state champion in Iowa history!
Like many that are reading this, we’re either not old enough to remember this historic event or weren’t even born yet… maybe for decades. But the truth is in the details.
Everything that I’ve read about it and even interviews of those involved or that did see this, portray it like a true life Rocky movie with a fairy tale ending, including the hero – a bruised and battered gladiator character like Rocky calling out “Yo Adrian, I DID IT!” atmosphere to it. Only in this case he won it for his coach and his teammates and the entire wrestling world (Iowa) that was watching!
So much interest and thought is spent discussing won-loss records, match ups, and wrestling era’s and trying to compare one against the other, but I think there is so much more to this sport than numbers when evaluating worth and excellence, plus there’s no statistic that measures a wrestlers desire, heart, and guts when competition is concerned. In the horse racing and breeding industry they can measure differences in heart size in relation to performance… (did I mention I love horses in one of my previous articles? well I digress) but the sports folks can’t quantify or measure will and the desire to win. We only see a partial measure based on results. Those are attributes required by those that achieve at the highest levels of competition.
We try to quantify individual attributes and contributions via statistics, which don’t get me wrong – they matter, especially today where colleges are using wrestling metrics to make training decisions and how analytics can be used to predict potential, reveal weaknesses, opportunities to improve, develop workout and training strategies and plans to streamline individual workouts as well as for improving team strengths and addressing team weakness. But like all data analytics, it’s only as good as the input data used in producing results. So where am I going with all this? Well I feel like it’s hard to give an elite and outstanding candidate like Bob Steelage a fair shake because I’ve never seen him wrestle or seen video of him wrestle to make any disqualifying decisions or impressions regarding his style… The only style I see in newspaper print and books that I’ve been fortunate enough to read and learn about him. And his style is he hates to lose and he’s a winner! There’s very little data available on older era athletes to make valid comparisons or draw realistic conclusions regarding older era wrestlers.
How does that help in evaluating who the GOAT is in Iowa HS wrestling? Did I help move the needle at all or did I just muddy the water? Regardless, there’s a great deal of uniqueness and level of excellence in the HS career of Bob Steenlage that all fans and competitors should value, recognize, and appreciate.
Winning four consecutive state high school titles was and still is a Mount Everest achievement in wrestling, and Steenlage is the Edmund Hillary figure in Iowa wrestling that conquered that summit! The fact that others have followed and made that climb to that same summit peak overlooking the vast wrestling horizons doesn’t diminish that great achievement in the least, and in my opinion, enhances it – just as it does for those others that have achieved that pinnacle moment in their histories!
Bob Steenlage is probably not the GOAT in Iowa HS wrestling if what you are measuring by is based on won loss record and points scored vs points allowed, or even quality of opponents. But I’d still put him up against anyone pound for pound at his relative age and weight class, given access to the same advantages of modern wrestling facilities, and training. He won 4 state titles at 4 different weight classes. Just like all the other 4 timers, he was a winner and a steely cold competitor that didn’t seem to have many weaknesses.
And he won his last state title with an arm that was basically useless (the proverbial “one arm tied behind his back”) – how many 4 time GOAT candidates can say that?
As far as breaking barriers in sports and wrestling in particular – Bob Steenlage ranks at the top of the sport. That’s why he has a place in the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum and an annual award named after him given to the top senior wrestler in the state of IOWA!
It doesn’t get any better than that…
And to quote the late great radio voice Paul Harvey – “And now you know – the Rest of the Story!”
