Why do you love Iowa wrestling?

[Gebmo]

Love the look back. For me it seems like my strongest memories in all sports are from my own school days. Though I have always followed PSU and Lock Haven (my Dad is from there) wrestling, two guys stand out to me above all others.

Strangely enough they are from Iowa. I will never forget the first time I saw Iowa at a tournament. Barry Davis' tenacity and motor (he seemed invincible), and Lou Banach being undersized and looking over-matched physically, but then punishing much bigger guys left a lasting impression.

To top it off, even back in the early 80's, Gable inspired a bit of awe in person to a college student like me.

 

[purescurve]

Back in the 70's people feared wrestling someone from Iowa. Didn't matter which school. Finally understood why the kid's would be so good when a friend took me to his hometown one weekend. The preferred form of entertainment started with a few beers and bongs, which led to friendly wrestling, which led to not so friendly wrestling, which turned into a free for all. Smiling all the while they wiped away the blood and started asking were the girls went...Basically they would rather fight than...IPTV also loved reading the results in the sunday sports section

 

[artradley]

Very true. Gable is phenomenal, but Kurdelmeier was the brains behind the dynasty and put the pieces in place. Gable certainly took the program to incredible heights, but Kurdelmeier often gets overlooked as the guy who assembled a national championship team and put the Iowa program on an upward trajectory before Gable took over.

Kurdelmeier's giant mat was the first thing that drew to me. Saw a picture of it in the Des Moines Register, read the story behind it, and I thought it was the greatest thing a coach had ever done.

 

[The Vak]

I started wrestling as a high school sophomore in Florida, quit because I was getting my ass kicked. I came back as a junior and was better, but not much so. By my senior year I was decent...for Florida, which I eventually found out was not that great as a wrestling state. I found this out by going to camps outside of Florida and just getting whupped over and over again.

Anyway, my high school coaches constantly preached "Iowa style" and about Dan Gable, so I eventually looked them up online and became a fan. When I started following college wrestling, I rooted for both Iowa and Lehigh (Lehigh had a few Florida kids I knew from my wrestling days, like David Craig), but eventually I gravitated away from them. I just liked watching Iowa, and especially Metcalf, more.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Dave Martin and his father were my teammates.

How long did it take for you to finish school?

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

My dad wrestled on the same team as Chuck Yagla at waterloo Columbus. Being an Iowa wrestling fan and loving the Iowa style was mandatory in my family.
I have a ton of great memories from the years so it is not a bad thing.

Ask your Dad who it was who beat Chuck in the state finals. I was always amazed that Chuck was never a state champion but became a 4 time AA and 2 time champion.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Other than being the 4th of 4 brothers who wrestled, the oldest actually wrestled Kurdlemeier in high school, it had to be Terry McCann. In the first Olympics in my memory, he won the gold medal. Big news in Iowa since he was an U of I wrestler. I also vaguely seem to remember he was on a Wheaties box.

 

[bbwretler]

Kurdelmeier's giant mat was the first thing that drew to me. Saw a picture of it in the Des Moines Register, read the story behind it, and I thought it was the greatest thing a coach had ever done.

I was there and it WAS pretty much the coolest thing ever. Just watching Okie St react was way cool in itself.

 

[OldDKL]

I grew up 16 miles south of Iowa City. My high school wrestling coach took us to watch an Iowa practice. Ed and Lou Banach got into a scuffle and Gable made them hit the heavy bag and run laps around the room until they cooled off. I remember thinking "those guys are the baddest dudes on the planet". I was born in the summer of 1963. From the time I turned 10 until I turned 37; Iowa won 20 national titles, placed 2nd 3 times, 3rd twice, 1 5th and 1 6th. But what I love about Iowa wrestling is the toughness. Randy Lewis becoming an All American as a senior after a bad injury. Guys like Brooks Simpson, Jesse Whitmer and Ryan Fulsaas who made it to the national finals against all odds. Wrestlers like Royce Alger, Daryl Weber, Cory Clark. These were wrestlers that were willing to do whatever it took to win. How could you not love Iowa wrestling?

 

[Mike_a_TetonValley]

How long did it take for you to finish school?

Forever!!!

 

[grapplefann]

I was there and it WAS pretty much the coolest thing ever. Just watching Okie St react was way cool in itself.

They could run, but they couldn't hide. Very cool indeed.

 

[CropDuster507]

I'm not going to act like I'm a huge Hawkeye fan, but a fun story, nonetheless. I've been vocal about my dislike of Iowa, but grown to understand and appreciate them, as I mature.

My HS coach and now best friend is a Hawk fan. Used to bring us to Iowa Team Camp, before it was held at Carver-Hawkeye. Hot, sweaty Cornell College. We're working out in hot as $&#* late June. Brands is in full sweats, vinyl jacket. Immediately, we were like, "This dude is really 'bout it."

But what really made a difference in my teammates and I, was watching the HWC practices that would go down during the "breaks". We were wrestling rats, so we always stayed to watch. So, it's still hot as $#*@, and the Hawks and Cornell guys are all scrapping at a practice. We're watching the Metcalf's, Mocco/Telford (think it was year before he started), and others. All of a sudden, during a live-go, Montell Marion and one of the Moore's (think it was Nate) start throwing bombs. We were in like, 10th grade. We hadn't really ever seen that. We all thought it was cool as hell, and talk about it still to this day, time to time. It gave us a real indicator of intensity in practice. Not that a fight has to break out every workout, but it was eye-opening for us, and gave us an appreciation we didn't have before. THAT was a level of intensity we could reach, and need to reach, if we wanted to get somewhere that we hadn't gotten, yet.

Anyways, that's my story. Montell is one of my favorite Hawks for that moment, alone. If my coach is reading this (sometimes he wades through this forum), I owe him one for that experience.