Favorite Cowboys that You Watched Wrestle and Possibly Knew

[legelegel]

Who are your favorite Cowboys that you watched wrestle and possibly knew?

I would have to include these four great 3 time Cowboy All-Americans when I was in college in the second half of the 1960s.

Yojiro Uetake at 130, who roomed across the hall from me in West Bennett his senior year.

Fred Fozzard at 177, who had an withered arm and had to stick out a leg before opponents would attempt a take down. He would nearly always counter it.

Dwayne Keller at 123-34, whose twin brother Darrell was also an All-American Cowboy wrestler.

Geoff Baum at 177-90-91, a fraternity brother.

I have saved my favorite wrestler for last. He is also a fraternity brother and the finest young man I have ever known and the most courageous. He is Ray Murphy Jr who wrestled at 137-45.

[BleedingOrange]

I wrestled John Smith ONCE.
To this day I swear that if the match had not been in Del City, the ref would have slapped the mat. Not that I was better than John, but I was good enough that when I caught him shooting on a weak single leg, I was able to counter him staight to his back. I had him on his back for 30-45 seconds until he squirmed off the edge.

[BleedingOrange]

Another time I was at Rodricks wrestling camp. Myron made a bold statement that if anyone could take his wrestler down, he's give them their money back. After several campers tried and failed, it was my turn. I was expecting to take on the same guy that had been out there (don't remember his name but he was the 134 pounder) since I was only about 115pounds myself. But NOOOOO, Myron pulls a switch, and has Rickey Stewart take his place. Well Rickey shot in a little carelessly, and I was countering with a good cross-face, and just about around behind him. Myron yells out at Rickey, "Rickey, if you lose it's coming out of your check." Neadless to say that Rickey, out weighing me by 40+ pounds and 6 years, made short work of correcting his mistake.

[legelegel]

I had a similar experience wrestling with Ray prior to a fast pitch softball practice. I did not wrestle in high school, but I thought with my superior strength and size I could hold my own with him. I was wrong.

[wrestlingjunkie]

bleedingorange:

Rickey Stewart was my youngest son's counselor for 3 years at Roderick's camp. 2 yrs in Stillwater and 1 yr up at Ponca City, during his Union Jr HS years. He never pulled weight, 125 in 7th, 145 in 8th, 165 in 9th. Rickey realy taught him upper body throws for back points or falls. He really became a takedown and pinner thru Jr Hi, during his 8th grade year he had 39 falls thru wrestling duals and tournaments season.

I allways make a point to visit with Rickey when ever we wrestle Oregon in duals or at tournaments

[MarkOSU]

Jimmy Jackson, a bear of a man. I worked with him at Pistol Patties, and for him at JJ's
He was very good to me, and a great wrestler

[JimBob]

Who are your favorite Cowboys that you watched wrestle and possibly knew?

I would have to include these four great 3 time Cowboy All-Americans when I was in college in the second half of the 1960s.

Yojiro Uetake at 130, who roomed across the hall from me in West Bennett his senior year.

Fred Fozzard at 177, who had an withered arm and had to stick out a leg before opponents would attempt a take down. He would nearly always counter it.

Dwayne Keller at 123-34, whose twin brother Darrell was also an All-American Cowboy wrestler.

Geoff Baum at 177-90-91, a fraternity brother.

I have saved my favorite wrestler for last. He is also a fraternity brother and the finest young man I have ever known and the most courageous. He is Ray Murphy Jr who wrestled at 137-45.

Good list; saw all of them wrestle at OSU.

[MemphisPoke]

YoJo was as someone put it on another thread......smooth as silk.

Loved watching Fred Fozzard wrestling. PM'ed back and forth with WrestlingJunkie about him just a month or so ago.

John Ward, Hwt. Had a class with him.....hell I got him through English, but that is another story. Not many people realized that besides playing football he also wrestled for OSU.

[frankeaton]

went to high school with Bob Stites, Jay Arneson and David Domique, Chesbro was coach

[jakeman]

I went to grade school, Jr Hi. & High School with the Stewart boys.

[MarkOSU]

John Ward, Hwt. Had a class with him.....hell I got him through English, but that is another story. Not many people realized that besides playing football he also wrestled for OSU.

I saw John this week at the Capitol, he is a very nice guy, just really outgoing and friendly

[jbug]

It has to be D. Monosmith...
One time was enough. He came through when he was needed the most and
he is one fine person. Last I heard he was somewhere in Colo.??

[wood911]

Mike Sheets was my favorite. He wasn't flashy but just sooo methodical. I'll never forget him riding David Shultz' ankle to a win when he was a freshman. Shultz was a legitimate 167 and Mark probably should have been at 150#. Leroy Smith was another guy that wrestled far better than his ability. He just seemed to be able to out-think guys. There are so many, it is hard to pick. Uetake is probably the best ever, but John Smith was really good. Kenny Monday was really good.

[mejake007]

Mike Sheets, Clar Anderson, John Smith, Ricky Stewart, Kendell Cross, Alan Fried

probably my fav was Kenny Monday


I am a little biased with these guys though...some were counselors at wrestling camps there at OSU when I went. I was just a little guy at Roderick's camps but I went to a couple of the Chesbro intensified wrestling camps as I got older - BRUTAL! Todd Chesbro was our floor counselor one year with another wrestler...Andy somebody? Anyways - they were mean as hell but fun.

[PlatteCoPoke]

Had a class my senior year with Johnny Hendricks, I think he was a freshman at the time. He told me that everyone hates him and he'd get booed all the time... I was like huh? He said "you'll see what I mean"

Went to high school with Mo Lawal. We played football together 10th grade. I quit before my junior year when I reliazed I sucked... but he was still a monster of a linebacker. Lost touch after graduating high school. Then one night the summer before my senior year at OSU I was partying at Joe's.. this big guy behind me yells at me and turnaround and before I recognized it was Mo my first thought was that I was dead... hadn't seen him in 4 years so it took a sec to recognize him. Him and Zack Esposito would stop by parties at my house on occassion. Mo was a good guy to know. He'd always have your back in a fight.

[Poke2000]

Skyler Holman (125; graduated in 2003) is my wife's cousin.

Jeff Ragan (125; graduated in 2000), now assistant coach at Citadel, was in several of my classes while at OSU.

[SeaOfOrange]

Skyler Holman (125; graduated in 2003) is my wife's cousin.


Wow, that's weird. I'm pretty good friends with Skyler's uncle Charlie Holman. We're in the same business, and I've referred a few Doctors to him. He's got stories upon stories about wrestling. He's got some great ones about Uetake. He (Charlie) came in as a freshman in either the late '60's or or early 70's. Blew out his knee and never wrestled again. His son, I'm told was even a better wrestler than Skyler, before he lost his eyesight. Of course, his dad's not biased or anything. :)

My dad was at OSU during the Uetake years. He said he never missed a dual and that Uetake was the greatest wrestler he ever saw.

[OSUFan]

I would say Yoshiro Fujita, Mike Sheets, Kenny Monday, John Smith and Ricky Stewart (who was in some of my classes in college) to name a few.

[Pokes4Life]

Back around '88-'89, forgot the specific season, but I was 8 or 9 years old, and my family would hang out at the OSU outdoor pool when it still existed.

Well one day I saw Kendell Cross at the pool, and I went up and started talking to him, and "hung out" with him for the day so to speak. He was really cool for letting this tolerating a young fan like myself at the time. This continues on for the entire pool season, and he remembers me anytime I'm there and is really cool about it all.

Well, going into wrestling season, I'm running around grabbing autographs of all the wrestlers, and when I get Kendell's, he writes "To my pool buddy" on the thing. I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world when I was younger, and it's probably why I'm such a strong wrestling fan today.

The one disappointing thing is that I lost the paper that I got all those autographs on (got lost in the disaster that usually encompasses a little boy's room).

[Lewis the Pike]

The only wrestler I knew was Reggie Wright, he was a little guy maybe 145 from Chicago. around 2000, we had a class togather, Geography of Sports.

He was a cool cat. I met another guy from the wrestling team. They were just like most wrestlers I knew from regular life. Short, freakishly athletic guys, kind of introverted, serious poker face most of the time.

It took him a while to get talking. Myself on the other hand....:D

[FutureMrsMayes76]

Well since I am about to be a sister-in-law to Derek Stevens (125 from 2002-2006) I would say he is the one I know the best. He lived with Daniel Frishkorn(sp?) and Brandon Mason which are also very good wrestlers. I attended Rusty Blackmon's wedding last summer....I pretty much have met all the wrestlers since 2005.

For the most part they are the most down to earth athletes but that might be because they are always hungry:)

[Alfred E Newman]

The only wrestler I knew was Reggie Wright, he was a little guy maybe 145 from Chicago. around 2000, we had a class togather, Geography of Sports.

He was a cool cat. I met another guy from the wrestling team. They were just like most wrestlers I knew from regular life. Short, freakishly athletic guys, kind of introverted, serious poker face most of the time.

It took him a while to get talking. Myself on the other hand....:D

Lewis -- I took that same class during the early 80's. Who was your P? Professor John Rooney taught it when I took it. Leslie O'Neal, Gary Kanwisher and Rae Rippetoe took it the same semester I did. It's good to hear the course has withstood the test of time.

My favorite wrestlers would be the following:

Sheets
Hendricks
John S (of course)
JJ
Eric Wais

[okstatefan]

Well I am kind of biased because I lived with 3 wrestlers my junior year. Kirk Mammen(Hwt) was a 4 time All-American, and just a great roommate and friend. A couple of back-up wrestlers, Kyle Rackley and Bruce Pierce were also there. We had a big house and pretty much the whole team was over at one time or another that season. Alan Fried, and Kendall Cross were two of the nicest guys you would want to know and were a couple of my favorites to watch. Can't wait till next wrestling season!!

[CanadianCowboy]

Way back when....late 60's-early 70's....I "wrestled" for the Stillwater YMCA in the winters and Stillwater City Leagues in the springs. One of the neat things our coaches would do is host the O-State and Stillwater High coaches & wrestlers at practices. Occasionally, our Y team would wrestle a dual on the O-State mat prior to an O-State dual, and get to sit matside during the O-State match.

I had autographs from John Ward, Geoff Baum, Yoshiro Fujita, Dwayne & Darrell Keller, Jay Arneson, Ray Stapp, Jim Shields, several Iowa State wrestlers, and Tommy Chesbro.

During one of those practices in the Stillwater Y gym, I remember Yoshiro Fujita wrestling each one of us (on the Y team) in succession, with no breaks in between. I think it took him about two minutes to pin every one of us...making some of us look ridiculously inept along the way.

Jay Arneson's dad was my family's insurance agent in Stillwater, and lived down the street from us about 7 or 8 houses. I remember Jay when he was in high school, and I also remember meeting him outside G-I Hall when the busses brought the team back from the NCAA tourney in 70 or 71.

When my brother & I had our insulation and commercial interiors business in Stillwater in the 80's, the Keller brothers were building houses in Stillwater and we did their insulation work. They were really great guys, and our Mom (who answered the phones & kept the books) was kept in stitches when one of them would come by because they could be hilariously funny.

When I got to Middle School & High School, I was classmates with Tommy Chesbro's son, Tommy. We played football and were about the same size, so when offseason conditioning PE went on, we both chose wrestling and would normally be paired off.

All that being said...one of my more distinct high school memories involved Myron Roderick's daughter, Tara. She was one of the cheerleaders, and I thought she was the hottest girl I had ever laid eyes on! Alas, she was a senior and I was but a freshman, but a guy could hope.....:music-smiley-019: Later, when No.1Son (OSUCoach) was playing kindergarten flag football, Tara's young son (I think his name was Tucker or Tanner?) was the same age and played on No.1Son's team. Tara or Myron were there for practice evenings and gamedays a lot.

[kworange]

Joe James, heavyweight, class of '64. Record was 51-3-2. All American each year and national champion in his senior year. Joe and I were rifle partners in ROTC. But he had something like a 48 inch chest (and a 30 inch waist, a la Tiger Woods), and we spent a lot of time adjusting the straps when we we switched from him shooting to me. We finally just adjusted the straps to my size and he could just fit them over his arms and biceps and shoot that way.

Joe did not like to wear his ROTC hat, as it messed up his beautiful Afro. He would carry it around, to somewhat comply with the regulations. The ROTC commandant, a sports fan, figured that a way to achieve compliance was to make Joe the flag carrier, and give him an excuse from wearing the hat, lest the wind blow the flag against his hat and knock it off.

[JimBob]

Joe James, heavyweight, class of '64. Record was 51-3-2. All American each year and national champion in his senior year. Joe and I were rifle partners in ROTC. But he had something like a 48 inch chest (and a 30 inch waist, a la Tiger Woods), and we spent a lot of time adjusting the straps when we we switched from him shooting to me. We finally just adjusted the straps to my size and he could just fit them over his arms and biceps and shoot that way.

Joe did not like to wear his ROTC hat, as it messed up his beautiful Afro. He would carry it around, to somewhat comply with the regulations. The ROTC commandant, a sports fan, figured that a way to achieve compliance was to make Joe the flag carrier, and give him an excuse from wearing the hat, lest the wind blow the flag against his hat and knock it off.

Welcome aboard!! Always good to have another mature adult to help educate the "snotties" what it was like back in the old days when we had fun!:D

[SeaOfOrange]

Welcome aboard!! Always good to have another mature adult to help educate the "snotties" what it was like back in the old days when we had fun!:D


Ease up there, Old-timer. Your dusty farts are clouding the room.:stupid::music-smiley-005:

[legelegel]

Joe James, heavyweight, class of '64. Record was 51-3-2. All American each year and national champion in his senior year. Joe and I were rifle partners in ROTC. But he had something like a 48 inch chest (and a 30 inch waist, a la Tiger Woods), and we spent a lot of time adjusting the straps when we we switched from him shooting to me. We finally just adjusted the straps to my size and he could just fit them over his arms and biceps and shoot that way.

Joe did not like to wear his ROTC hat, as it messed up his beautiful Afro. He would carry it around, to somewhat comply with the regulations. The ROTC commandant, a sports fan, figured that a way to achieve compliance was to make Joe the flag carrier, and give him an excuse from wearing the hat, lest the wind blow the flag against his hat and knock it off.

Welcome kworange.

That's funny. I was not aware of that particular special treatment for James. I know he was quite the lady's man even with some of his professors.

Can I assume that you too just fulfilled your Basic ROTC requirements?

[kworange]

Yes, re advanced ROTC. Not all that proud of that, since I lost some friends in Viet Nam. I used my Chemical Engineering degree and job in the oil industry for a critical skill deferment.

Re Joe and the ladies, there was little interracial dating in Stillwater in the early 60's. But when Joe would step onto the mat for his matches, he would stretch his arms and ripple his muscles, accompanied by shrieks from the coed crowd. One could feel the collective energy (lots of Cowboy spirit?). Then Joe would go out and demolish some tub of lard from the other squad who outweighed him by 50-100 pounds. I think I recall one match that lasted 19 seconds.

[legelegel]

Those were confusing times for our generation beginning in the late 1960s, kworange. A war was being fought on a peacetime economic like today, but it was very different with the draft. To this day it has split many of us, especially knowing now that leadership egos prolonged it. Agreements with dictatorships in far away countries got a lot of our generation killed. That line that was drawn in sand was indefensible in a limited war, but hopefully our long resolve there to protect a people from tyranny did not go unnoticed elsewhere.

I remember seeing Joe walk through the training room one day when I was getting my ankles wrapped for basketball practice. He wasn't wearing a shirt so you could see every muscle on muscle that he had. He was a great athlete and from what I was told he could stir the spirit in the women like you said. :D

[casdas]

I've been watching this thread, it's very interesting. Pics of some of the wrestlers named so far:

Joe James

http://members.cox.net/ousux/JoeJames.jpg

Yojiro Uetake

http://members.cox.net/casdas1/YojiroUetake3.jpg

Fred Fozzard

http://vmedia.rivals.com/UserMedia/FanPagesPhoto/Gallery/801/O68389.jpg

John Ward

http://vmedia.rivals.com/UserMedia/FanPagesPhoto/Gallery/801/O68390.jpg

Mike Sheets

http://members.cox.net/casdas1/MikeSheets.jpg

[legelegel]

Thanks casdas, for your excellent picture contribution. It adds much to my memories. I'm greatful that I was able to see them all wrestle.

[MustangPokeFan]

I was at school for most of JJ's tenure as heavyweight. JJ was so good that another State Champion Heavyweight from Tulsa, Jim Clark, never made the starting team with JJ in front of him.

My favorite Heavyweight of all time though was Tom Erickson. I can't believe nobody has mentioned him. His final match pin of the Penn State wrestler sometime around 1985-86 was a match of a lifetime. It was #1 vs #2 and we won with a Tom Erickson pin that we had to have to win.

[cowboys_X2]

I think that Mark Branch was my favorite wrestler of all-time at OSU. His story is amazing. Wins the title as a freshman after going to the NCAAs with a losing or near-losing record. Lost in the finals as a sophomore, had a devastating injury in the National Finals as a junior and came back and absolutely dominated his senior year and won the title again. He was unbelievable on the mat and was also a very smart guy and is still John's top assistant.

My favorites from the time I was at OSU 95-99

Mark Branch
Steven Schmidt (torn ACL cost him a national title)
Eric Guerrero
Teague Moore
Hardell Moore
Mark Smith
Jimmy Arias
Ben Lee

[kworange]

I was on the west coast for a job interview in late summer 1964. I happened to be sitting next to Uetake on the trip back. He had this box on his lap, which he seemed to handle with some reverence. The chatty stewardess noticed that, and asked him what he had in the box. He replied, with Oriental humility, "a medal". She said "What is the medal for?" He said, "It is an Olympic medal." She asked to see it. He opened the box and showed her his 1964 Olympic Freestyle wrestling medal. It was a special moment. It was the only Olympic medal I have ever seen.

[Deepfork]

Jimmy Jackson was a frat brother.  I had the pleasure of wrestling him in the snow one night after playing quarters with him and Billy Brock in the basement of the ATO house.  What a mountain of a man and always a gentlemen.