Profile From the Past: Bill Smith - Olympic Champion

Transcription

1 BY DON FRAZIER There are many levels of achievement that athletes strive to attain... whether it be a champion in conference, regional, national, or the ultimate-international. In the sport of wrestling, it would be a gold medalist in the Olympics. As deep and rich as UNI (or ISTC, SCI) is in wrestling tradition, or in any sport, there has been only one such person in the 132 years of the school s existence. And so it is for that honor and distinction that we feature as our Profile from the Past for this issue of the Notebook William Thomas Smith ( ). Smith was born in Portland, Oregon, on September 17, 1928 (and he s certainly not ashamed of his age). Actually, his father, J. Frank Smith, with a lumberjack background in the Oregon woods, said, Bill wasn t born. He was carved out of a block of wood. By his own admission, Smith wanted to earn a varsity letter in sports to impress his friends. Because he was fairly tall for his age, he thought he would try basketball when he was in ninth grade. Soon his dribbling and shooting skills revealed that he wasn t destined for stardom in the NBA. So when he heard that the wrestling team needed a 103 pounder (he was also very thin), he decided to try UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA WRESTLING NOTEBOOK UNI PANTHERS that sport in search of that magic letter. That s when in all started. This was at Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where the Smith family moved from Omaha where they had lived for a short time, having lived in Peabody, Kansas, prior to that. You could tell there was wrestling blood in the family because his father had always liked to box as well as wrestle. When Smith was 10 years old, he can Issue #9 - Spring 2009 Profile From the Past: Bill Smith - Olympic Champion In conjunction with the dual meet against Northern Illinois in the West Gym on Jan. 30, 2009, the UNI coaching staff and wrestlers sponsored a special night to honor all military personnel. All military personnel in attendance were admitted free and helped pay tribute to one of their fallen own 2nd Lieutenant Brian Gienau, a 2003 graduate of UNI who was killed Feb. 27, 2005, while on active duty. The UNI ROTC presented the colors prior to the match in honor of all our soldiers in the Bill Smith displays the Olympic gold medal he won at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. remember his father setting up a ring in the backyard and challenging people to test his skills. Smith was considered a multisport athlete in his early years too because, like his father, he also liked to box as well as wrestle. So when Smith was out for wrestling, he would complete his workout with the wrestling team and then rush over to the boxing facilities at the local YMCA, not even stopping to eat. But that got old in a armed forces. Recognition was given to Lieutenant Gienau during the intermission for his supreme sacrifice and as a special tribute to our military the UNI wrestlers wore camouflaged singlets. One of the singlets was given to Gienau s son who was in attendance. Following the meet the singlets were made available by means of an online auction on the UNI athletics web site and the proceeds went toward Gienau s memorial fund to build a fallen solider memorial to be placed on the UNI campus. hurry, so I decided to concentrate on wrestling. I still had that varsity letter thing in my mind, said Smith. Smith s high school varsity wrestling career started off on the wrong foot because he was pinned in his first match, but it was a lesson well learned. Soon, he was competing well and winning his fair share of matches. He was a four-year starter for Thomas Jefferson, and although he didn t win a state championship, he did help his high school team place fourth in 1944, placing third individually at 103 pounds (losing to Dick Hauser of West Waterloo and later Cornell College in the semifinals) and then runner-up at 123 pounds in 1946 (losing to Lewis Larsen of Eagle Grove). Smith was elected captain of the wrestling team his senior year. It was mentioned earlier that Smith was a multi-sport athlete (boxing and wrestling) when in fact he did quarterback the TJHS football team and played four years of American Legion baseball as a catcher, earning all-city honors. When asked how Smith happened to become an ISTC Tutor, he replied with a chuckle, you might say I was a tag-a-long. Coach Dave McCuskey was look- continued on page 6 Panthers Enjoyed Successful Military Appreciation Night

2 Editor s Note: Well wrestling fans the season rapidly came to a close. It was a good year with a winning dual meet record of 10-6, winning the regional title for the 24th straight year and crowning Moza Fay with his secondstraight All-America honor. Unfortunately it was also a season plagued with injuries some major, some minor. Starters Caleb Flores (125 lbs.), Charlie Ettelson (149 lbs.) and Nick Pickerell (157 lbs.) have seen little or no action, while others like national qualifier Trevor Kittleson (149 lbs.), Tyson Reiner (157 lbs.), Jarion Beets (174 lbs.) and national qualifier Christian Brantley (285 lbs.) sustained injures causing them to miss matches throughout the season. We will attempt to get one more issue of the Notebook/Newsletter out before we shut down for the summer. Our present plans are to feature current wrestler Tyson Reiner and profile Sandy Stevens in our next issue. If you are still receiving the newsletter via regular mail and wish to get it by , please sent that information to either Jose DeAnda (jose.deanda@ uni.edu) or Colin McDonough (colin. mcdonough@uni.edu) or call Any comments or suggestions as to any additional information or subjects you would like to have addressed may be done by notifying the above individuals by or phone at GO PANTHERS! Don Frazier Coach s Corner with UNI s Brad Penrith Dear UNI Wrestling Friends, I would like to thank our fans that made the trips to Greeley and St. Louis to support our guys at our NCAA Championship meets this season. We had another great season that saw senior Moza Fay wrap up his career with a second-straight All-American season at 165 pounds. I would also like to thank the UNI administration for extending a three-year contract and allowing me and my staff a chance to take this program to the next level. Brad 2 Gable Museum Back in Action After Flood Damage WATERLOO Taking a page from the hit baseball movie Field of Dreams, the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum held its Grand Re-Opening on Jan. 9 and the staff was delighted with the turnout. Build it and they will come, was the theme of the baseball movie shot in Dyersville, and the line has become a part of Hollywood folklore. We decided to re-build it, hoping they would come, and they did, said Mike Chapman, executive director, about the museum s big weekend. The museum had been virtually destroyed by the historic flood of June 10 and sat empty for nearly six months. But Jan. 9, the place was jumping! It was a great crowd, and we are very pleased with how it all turned out, said Kent Sesker, marketing director. We must have had over 600 people here. The museum received tremendous publicity. The local television station, KWWL, broadcast live from the museum three different times on the big day. In addition, radio station 1650 The Fan broadcast live for two entire hours, as did Wrestling 411, the new media network out of Minnesota. We had tremendous exposure the entire week leading up to the event, Sesker said. Mike and I were on about 12 radio shows between us and we got great newspaper coverage, as well. The museum was determined to re-open the weekend of the National Duals, to take advantage of the large crowds coming to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, just a 10-mintue drive from the museum. In order to attract attention outside the wrestling world, former stars from Major League Baseball, the NFL and NBA were invited to attend a special autograph event. Also appearing were Olympic champions Bill Smith (1952), Doug Blubaugh (1960), Dan Gable (1972), Ben Peterson (1972), Ed Banach (1984) and Randy Lewis (1984). Special guests were Chuck Yagla and Ben Askren, both Olympians and two-time Records of wrestlers not using a year of their collegiate eligibility do not count toward their overall record at UNI. If they did, freshman Blayne Beale (Davenport, Iowa/ Davenport West HS) would be well on NCAA champions, and pro wrestling legend Baron Von Raschke, who was a three-time AAU national champion and third in the World Championships as an amateur. The professional athletes were Marv Cook, an All-Pro tight end with the New England Patriots; Cal Eldred, who pitched 15 years in the majors; and Bobby Hansen, a veteran of nine years in the NBA. All had a great time, Sesker said. Gable went around and talked to all of them, and it was just great to see the comradery. Hansen told the crowd that in grade school he used to walk around the playground showing off The Claw hold that was the favorite move of Van Raschke, drawing a huge laugh from the fans. Cook, Eldred and Hansen were stars at the University of Iowa, where Gable coached the wrestling team to 15 NCAA team titles in his 21 seasons as head coach. Gable is currently an associate athletic director at Iowa. The event was co-sponsored by 1650 The Fan, which carries the museum s weekly live wrestling show On the Mat (Wednesdays at 5 p.m.), and by MATMAN, one of the nation s leading manufacturers of wrestling attire and equipment. The flood nearly wiped us out. It destroyed our entire gift shot inventory stored in the basement, along with much of the museum s archival information and lots of memorabilia, Chapman said. It also took out every wall in the display area up to the four-foot mark, and all of our carpeting and office furniture and equipment. It was a long, difficult fight to get back to where we were, but fans were amazed at what they saw. We had dozens tell us they would not have believed we ever had a drop of water here. The museum was created in Newton in 1997, where Chapman was serving as publisher of the daily newspaper. It moved to Waterloo in January 2007, to take advantage of the larger population base and the city s long connection with the sport. Unofficial Pinner - Blayne Beale Blayne Beale his way to placing his name in the season record book for pins. He finished one pin short of Dave Morkel s 14-pin total of , which would place Beale in 10thplace on the Panthers single-season falls list. Beale has recorded 13 pins in establishing a overall record this year while participating in open tournaments. Keep up the good work, Blayne!

3 UNI Grappler Profile: Freshman Christian Brantley BY DON FRAZIER We all know how misleading appearances can be, and that would be the first mistake that wrestling opponents could make when they look across the mat and see redshirt freshman Christian Brantley from Homewood, Ill., wrestling his first year at the varsity level for the UNI Panthers. Because after the handshake and the whistle blows, they may be in for the surprise of their life. Giving away in some cases, considerable height advantage, Brantley goes right after his opponent with an aggressive stand-up style. With a knee injury to last year s starter at heavyweight, Dustin Bauman, the door was opened for Brantley, and he certainly has filled that slot in an impressive manner. In a preseason interview, Coach Brad Penrith said, Brantley isn t an imposing presence, but opponents will be wrong to underestimate his tenacity as a wrestler. You look at him, and you are just going to shake your head. If you re that guy at heavyweight and see him, you are licking your lips and rubbing your hands, saying Boy, that is the guy I want to wrestle. But I m telling you this much, the kid can move, and he wrestles very hard. You are going to be surprised. Brantley s wrestling experience goes all the way back to when he was six years old. In an effort to convert him from a couch-potato to a more active person, his father enrolled him in a gymnastics program. Brantley said, That lasted only about two days. They were all girls, and when the guys found out about it they really gave me a bad time. He was then given two choices: football or wrestling. Since I didn t know anything about football, I chose wrestling, and that s when it all started, said Brantley. He was then given another choice he could either get started in the Calumet City school system where they lived at that time or join 3 Christian Brantley a club program called the Twisters. Choosing the latter, it was the start to an association that was to last for many years. I can remember the look I would get when I walked into the wrestling room. Wow, look at that big kid. I wasn t very tall for my age, but I was heavy, about 80 to 90 pounds. That s when coaches Alvin Foster and Al Long of the Twisters took me under their wing and taught me the underhook and how to pummel my opponent, always keeping pressure on them, said Brantley. You can see that style in Christian s approach to wrestling today. By his own admission, Brantley wasn t very good, but at the sixth and seventh grade level, another coach, Quintroy Harrel, actually scared Brantley into improving his skills and start winning. By now the family had moved to Homewood, Ill. (south of Chicago), and Brantley started to wrestle for Mount Carmel High School (an all-male school). But the lessons he had learned as a member of the Twisters had prepped Brantley well and prepared him for wrestling at the high school level. In the fall of his freshman year at Mount Carmel, Brantley played right guard on the football team and then started his first year of varsity competition at the 215 pound weight class, cutting down to that weight from 245 pounds while playing football. After compiling a respectable record his first year of varsity competition, Brantley came up one victory short of qualifying for the Illinois High School State Tournament in Champaign-Urbana. Consequently, he entered the freshman-sophomore state tournament which he won with a victory over a wrestler by the name of Luke Force who had won a state title when he was an eighth grader. Over half of my losses that year were to two guys five losses to one and three to another but I was learning, relates Brantley. Deciding to concentrate on wrestling his sophomore year, Brantley skipped football and competed again at the 215 pound level while compiling a 34-8 record and placing fourth at the state tournament. He was also selected as Most Improved Wrestler by his coaches for his second year of competition. His junior year was interrupted when he got a staph infection on his face and chest. Brantley was out of competition for almost a month. His first match back (he was not fully recovered) was against a wrestler who would become Brantley s arch-rival, Joe Fagiano of St. Patrick High School. They would meet each other three times during their careers. Brantley ended up on the losing end of the match by an 11-6 score. Two more matches were to eventually come. Still feeling the effects of the staph infection, Brantley managed to get to the state finals of the 215 weight class where he was again to meet Fagiano. After a scoreless first period and a 2-2 stalemate at the end of the second, Fagiano managed to get an escape in the final period for a 3-2 win and the Illinois state championship. Compiling an outstanding record of 40-5 and state runner-up, Brantley was also honored as team captain by his fellow teammates. One more year remained, his senior year as a varsity wrestler for the Mt. Carmel Caravan (whose motto was walking together for continued on page 4

4 Continued Current Panther Profile Brantley a hundred years ). Brantley chose to wrestle most of the year as a heavyweight (275 pounds), but with the state tournament less than a month away, he cut to the 215 weight class. Reaching the finals of the sectional, it was important that he win the tournament as it had a direct bearing on the seeds at the state contest. Standing in his way was a wrestler by the name of John Shoen of Marist High School. Brantley recalls, I have never wrestled anybody who shot as many times as he did. He was always on the move. But Brantley won 4-2 and was on his way to Champaign-Urbana for his last chance to become a state champion. Reaching the semifinals, Brantley won his match. While on the other side of the bracket, Fagiano beat Shoen in overtime, setting up a rematch of the finals from the previous year Brantley versus Fagiano. Here we go again! Could Brantley finally get a win in their third match? Fagiano built a 3-0 lead, but Brantley cut it to one point in the late stages of the third period. Brantley chuckled when he said, I hit him with every move I could think of in those last 30 seconds. The referee then called him for fleeing the mat to tie it up and go into overtime. After triple overtime I was able to win and become the 215 pound champion for the state of Illinois. It was the longest match of my life, said Brantley. And so his final year of wrestling for the Mt. Carmel Caravan ended on a high note with a record of 40-2 (with 172 take-downs), team captain, All-Conference and state champion. During his high school years, Brantley also achieved other honors state titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman, winner of the North Plains Open, and three-time All- American honors at the prestigious Cadet and Junior Nationals freestyle tournament at Fargo, N.D. (4th, 7th, and 8th). Brantley was certainly on the radar of wrestling interest coming out of high school with rankings of No. 5 by the Amateur Wrestling News, No. 9 by W.I.N. Magazine and No. 13 by Intermat in the 215 national rankings. A highly soughtafter recruit, Brantley received invitations from such notable schools as Iowa, Illinois, Central Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha to mention a few. But it was the good fortune of the University of Northern Iowa that Brantley chose to continue his 4 education and wrestling career as a Panther. Why did he choose UNI? It is just a great school! I liked the campus, and I connected with the coaches. I really could identify with Coach Penrith. He seemed very sincere and wasn t trying to sell me a bill of goods... very professional and down-to-earth. I guess you could sum up our meeting with two words respect and trust. He was a person who I could both give and receive respect and someone who certainly would never violate my trust. Brantley s first year in the UNI program was spent redshirted. He achieved an impressive 17-6 record participating in the open tournament portion of the season as an unattached wrestler. He captured honors in all five of the open tournaments in which he participated as a heavyweight, placing first at the Loras Open, second at the Kaufman Brand Open, fourth place at the Jim Fox Open, notched a third place effort at the Midwest Open and second place at the Duhawk Open. He then capped his first season representing the Panthers with placing at the FILA Junior Nationals 120 kg/264.5 pounds bracket, held at Las Vegas. Winning his first two matches over Luis Morales (3-0, 4-1) and Eddie Phillips (2-1, 1-0) before losing in the semi-finals to 2007 World Team member Dom Bradley. Recognizing his contributions in his first year of competition, Brantley was the recipient of the team s Redshirt Award at the year end banquet. What would the season bring about for Brantley? With Bauman recovering from his torn ACL surgery, Brantley took on the responsibility of representing the Panthers as heavyweight, and he certainly has responded well. Because of UNI s typically touch schedule, it would be a sure thing that he would meet highly-ranked wrestlers in his weight division. At the time this article is being written (mid-february), he has captured first place in the Loras Open, third place in the Kaufman-Brand Open, and a very impressive win over the highly-touted recruit Eric Thompson from Iowa State in the finals of the UNI Open to claim the championship. Competing in the always tough Midlands at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.), Brantley placed eighth along with fellow place-winners Charlie Ehelson (8th at 149), Tyson Reiner (8th at 157), and Moza Fay (3rd at 165). Currently sporting a record of 23-7, including 9-4 in dual meets, Brantley s losses have all come at the hands of wrestlers who were ranked nationally at the time that he wrestled them Berhow of Minnesota (20th), Massey of Wisconsin (11th), Ellis of Missouri (2nd), Zabriski of Iowa State (4th), Goff of Cleveland State (9th), and Rosholt of Oklahoma State (1st). Brantley has also recorded wins over nationally-ranked heavyweights Erekson of Iowa (8th), Massey of Wisconsin (11th), and Morrison of Ohio State (18th). This impressive record has gained recognition of Brantley in all of the wrestling publications 13th by Amateur Wrestling News, 10th by W.I.N. Magazine, 14th by InterMat continued on page 5

5 Continued Current Panther Profile Brantley NWCA, 14th by The Wrestling Report, and 16th by RevWrestling. com. Just when things were looking great with his 23 wins and three dual meets left and then regionals and a great opportunity to quality for the NCAA National Tournament in St. Louis. Then disaster struck. Brantley suffered a spinal fracture of his left hand in his overtime match with Zabriske of Iowa State (Feb. 6, 2009). I m not sure when it happened, but I began to feel pain in my hand during the tiebreaker period. I was able to escape, but when it came to riding, I couldn t hold on. It hurt too much. I couldn t grip, said Brantley. As a point of interest, the injury is very similar to what former stellar Panther wrestler Nick Baima ( ) suffered twice and limited him in his tournament appearances. Brantley s hand did heal and he captured the heavyweight title at the 2009 NCAA West Regional in Greeley, Colo. Brantley advanced to the NCAA Championships, where he posted a 1-2 mark. On the personal side, Brantley has always had a strong drive to excel in whatever he has chosen to do, and that desire has served as a motivation in his wrestling career. I like the challenge of competing against someone as talented or better than I am and possibly beating him. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment. If I lose, that also serves as a motivation to do better the next time. As I prepare for a match, I pray for no injuries, to myself as well as my opponent. Then I do some exercises to get my heart rate up, and I m ready to go, said Brantley. An article appeared in the newspaper recently about Brantley eating some almond nuts before one of his matches. When asked about it, Brantley said, It was before my match against Buffalo when I told Coach DeAnda that I didn t seem to have much energy, so he told me to eat some almonds which I did, and it seemed to really help. So now it s part of my prematch routine. Maybe it s psychological, but it seems to give me that extra little energy, said Brantley. When asked what he considers to be his strengths and weaknesses in wrestling, Brantley replied, My low center of gravity. Because I m shorter than most of my opponents, I m able to strand up straight while me opponents have to bend over, perhaps putting them a little off balance. And then I use my favorite early move, the underhook, to tie up my opponent, and it gives me a base to initiate other offensive moves and work for a takedown. I do feel more comfortable on my feet, and the coaches are working with me to get better on my escape and riding technique, said Brantley. He then said something that some may find strange. I look upon wrestling as a pleasure, not hard work. The most difficult thing about wrestling for me is weight control. I like to eat, and it s very easy to tip the scales over my heavyweight maximum of 285. Yes, cutting weight is really a challenge. Brantley has a number of hobbies: shopping, talking, eating... sports, girls, eating... games that challenge the mind like chess and sudoku... and eating. Coach Penrith said, We should include socializing also as a hobby because Christian really likes to be around people. Brantley likes to sing in the shower and thinks he might have been an opera star if they would allow showers at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Brantley s favorite book is the Bible, and the biggest influence in his life has been Jesus. As Brantley says, He (Jesus) survived the hardest challenge that was ever presented to mankind when he died on the cross, so that we could have eternal life. Brantley also has high regard for Jacob in the Bible. [Who] would grab an angel and wrestle with him all night, thinking he could beat the angel? Studies are important to Brantley. He was a three-year honor roll student when attending Mt. Carmel High School and a member of the National Honor Society his junior and senior years. He has declared psychology as his major at UNI and would like to be a counselor when he graduates. Coach Penrith feels he really has a diamond in the rough when it comes to Brantley as a wrestler. He just keeps getting better and better and better. We can see a very consistent improvement, but he has to learn to control his weight. We d like him to hit the scales about 280, but right now that s a problem, and it affects his ability to maintain a steady pace for a sustained period of time, said Penrith. When asked about Brantley s strengths in wrestling, Penrith was quick to answer, Attitude. He was a great attitude when it comes to wrestling and is very coachable. Christian is very good on his feet, but he knows and we know that he needs to improve on his riding and escape techniques. But we re getting there. We have very good coaches in the wrestling room, and if he cen get away from them, he can t get away from anybody. One of the greatest tributes that I can pay to Christian is that I would trust him with the care of my children, because I do. He babysits my three kids, Gabriel, Jacob and Grace Marie, and they love him. Christian is a very likeable young man with an easy smile and engaging personality. He gets along great with all the coaches and fellow teammates, adds Penrith. Brantley was asked what his teammates call him, and he said, Well, one of the nicest things they call me is Goofy. Brantley s parents are Francis and Tamara Brantley, and he has three siblings: Juan (22), Taylor (15) and Faraan (12). There is certainly wrestling blood lines in the family as Brantley s father Francis wrestled at Tilden High School and was coached by former ISTC All- American and national champion, Bill Weick ( ). And so the clock is ticking. Will this outstanding, personable newcomer to the Panther wrestling squad be able to continue his stellar performance? One thing is for sure, he has captured the hearts and attention of the UNI wrestling fans. When he steps on the mat, the cheers of let s go Christian ring out from the stands. Throughout the annuls of Panther wrestling there have been many outstanding heavyweights who have had their hands raised in victory names like Fred Stoeker (1950), Kent Osboe ( ), Mike McCready ( ), Randy Omvig ( ), John Kriebs ( ), Joel Greenlee ( ), Justin Greenlee ( ) and Paul Hynek ( ) all champions who proudly represented their alma mater. With continued good health, improvement and experience, don t be too surprised to see the name Christian Brantley added to this list. Brantley sites Dan Gable s quote, Once you ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy. Following this philosophy, there is every indication that this young man has a great future ahead of him. We wish him the very best, Christian Brantley, our UNI Grappler Profile for this issue of the UNI Wrestling Notebook.

6 Continued UNI Profile from the Past: Bill Smith ing for a high school 95 or 105 pounder to recruit and get ready for the Olympic weight of (they changed the NCAA weights in 1948 to coincide with the Olympic weights which were held that year). McCuskey had heard about our Council Bluffs wrestler Dick Lewis (2nd at 95 in 1946 and 3rd at 105 in 1947). So he came to Council Bluffs to see him work out and happened to see me working out at the same time. Coach Orville Orr (Thomas Jefferson) told me to go over and talk with McCuskey and before I knew it we were packing our bags for a return trip to Cedar Falls and become a Tutor. It was quite a sudden change because I had already accepted a scholarship to Nebraska, arranged by my father. This happened about the end of May. And so it was the good fortune of Iowa State Teachers College that Smith decided to continue his education and athletic career for the Purple and Gold. Under the direction and guidance of Coach Dave McCuskey, the practice room was full of outstanding wrestlers and great workout partners, which were instrumental in helping Smith develop his skills to the next level. To this day (and he thinks he also speaks for Keith Young), Smith feels that he would never have reached his athletic ability had it not been for Bill Koll in the practice room and working out with Koll the years they shared as teammates. Years later, Smith was quoted as saying, I believe that the basic difference between the winners and the losers were team spirit and the willingness to help fellow teammates. He gives considerable credit for his performance on the mat to the men he wrestled daily in the workout room... stars like Koll, Bill Nelson and Keith Young all three-time NCAA champions. You take a guy who has something in him, the potential to be good, and then put him in there with all those great champions, and they ll find a way to improve, said Smith fifty years later. I really didn t think about progress at that time. You just do what you have to do to survive. I was beating NCAA place-winners as a freshman, but didn t really think much about it. Dave always had a very hot practice room, and that kept our weight down as well as helping us from getting injured. He stressed endurance and conditioning, said Smith. An amusing incident happened soon after Bill arrived on campus and started working out. He wrote home to his father and complained that his coach, McCuskey, was kind of rough on him, to which the elder Smith sent back a terse reply. He s probably trying to make a wrestler out of you, wrote J. Frank Smith. Bill Smith started summer school right away (early June of 1947) and since ISTC was on a three-quarter school system, this was to impact Smith s eligibility down the road. Smith recalls that wrestling meets were very popular on the ISTC campus. It was located next door to Waterloo, long a hotbed of wrestling and schools that turned out many high school champions and future national winners. The Waterloo Courier devoted a great deal of space and attention to high school and college wrestling and helped make ISTC wrestling a bigtime sport. People were going to our wrestling meets because everyone on campus was talking about it, relates Smith. The West Gym could seat about two-thousand people, and it was always packed. Athletes in other sports looked up to us too. Other sports were competing for honors in our small conference, but our wrestling program was going against schools in the Big Ten and Big Seven, earning national honors. We were a big deal back then. When asked who was the toughest wrestler he ever faced, Smith was quick to respond. Bill Koll was the toughest person I ever wrestled. He would just chew you up. Nelson would also crunch you on the mat. It was either toughen up or get killed in that room. The room made me a collegiate champion, working every day with people like Nelson, Young and Fred Stoeker, our heavyweight. At the start of (Smith s first year), Smith was contending for a starting position at 155 with two other ISTC wrestlers, a returning letterman Dick Black and another first-year man by the name of Jerry Rohrer. With the dual meets under way, Smith and Rohrer shared the starting position at 155 for the first several matches. The Waterloo Courier was quoted as saying, Jerry Rohrer and Bill Smith have represented Teachers well. Both are undefeated in the matches they have wrestled so far. But from the Iowa State meet on, Smith was the regular starter at 155 and compiled an unbeaten record of 7-0 with six decisions and one pin. A notable match was against Leonard Marcotte of Oklahoma which Smith won by a convincing 9-2 score. Marcotte was a returning All-American who had placed third in the NCAA the previous year. Then in the last meet of the dual meet part of the season. Bill was to wrestle Roger Snook of Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, Iowa). Snook had lost to Bill Koll the previous year at 145, so he decided to move up to 155 to avoid Koll and instead wrestle that skinny freshman (Smith). Smith said, Koll was so mad at me, and yelled, you better beat him. The newspaper article described it this way. The grudge battle between Koll and Snook, runner-up to Koll in the NCAA finals last year, for which Panther fans were looking forward to, failed to materialize when Snook moved up to 155, but Smith took care of Snook there (at Cornell). The Panther freshman stayed undefeated with a 5-3 victory. The dual meet season for the team unfortunately started off with a loss to powerhouse Michigan State, breaking a sixteenmatch winning streak, but with the win over the next opponent Wheaton, until a loss to Oklahoma midway through the season, the Tutors compiled a winning streak of 32 victories. The team started this streak with eight straight dual meet wins after the Michigan State loss for an overall 8-1 record. On an individual basis, Smith, with his perfect record, contributed a total of 32 team points which was third behind Koll (41) and Nelson (36). The next level of competition was the State AAU Tournament held at Ft. Dodge, Iowa. Smith was not allowed to participate in the NCAA as a freshman, but did compete in the district Olympic tryouts held in Cedar Falls (April 2-3, 1948). Smith finished second behind teammate Nelson in the pound weight class and because of his runner-up position was able to continue to the final Olympic tryouts in Ames, Iowa, just missing making the team. The season bode well for the Teachers as they returned a solid nucleus of veterans to face another tough schedule. By this time their foes were well aware of the Murderer s Row (no disrespect intended) they would encounter in the likes of Keith Young (145), Bill Nelson (155) and Smith who was now filling the 165 pound slot. Bill Koll and Gerald Leeman had graduated, but other people remained in the program, fortifying the ranks Ross Bush (126) and LaVerne Klar (136) to mention a few. Smith warmed up for the dual meet part of the year by winning the preseason AAU tournament at the West Gym with a 6-0 win over Don Thomas of Iowa State at 175. He then compiled a dual meet record with six decisions, one pin and a tie with Herb Reese of Nebraska, 2-2. Highlights were wins over Gene Gibbons of Michigan State and, for the second year in a row, Roger Snook (8-3) before a capacity crowd of 2,000 at the West Gym. The ISTC team ran 6 continued on page 7

7 Continued UNI Profile from the Past: Bill Smith their consecutive dual meet record to 17 straight with nine victories, outscoring their opponents with 197 team points to only 60 for their opposition. They then prepared for the NCAA meet held at Colorado State in Ft. Collins, Colorado, the first tournament held in the Rocky Mountain area. Smith advanced to the finals of the 165 pound class where he met Melbourne Flesner of Oklahoma State. In a 6-1 victory, Smith scored all of his points in the third period by reversing Flesner and then added a takedown and riding time. Other Panther winners were Keith Young (145), Bill Nelson (155), while two others contributed to ISTC s second place team finish: Russ Bush (3rd at 128) and LaVerne Klar (3rd at 136). But the season wasn t over. Ahead was the 1949 National AAU Tournament at Coe College Fieldhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Navy was favored with their 22 entries, but ISTC was not to be denied as they captured the title, 37 to 32 for Cornell College. This win was the start of three consecutive AAU championships. The Panthers crowned five champions: John Harrison (121), Russ Bush (128), Keith Young (145), Bill Nelson (155), while Smith captured the 165 pound title. To add frosting to the cake, the Tutors also won the state AAU tournament in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, with a dominant performance that included five champions: Harrison (121), Bush (128), Young (145), Nelson (155), Smith (165) and Fred Stoeker (Hwt). Coach McCuskey had built an outstanding program at ISTC in the early post World War II era, but at the start of the season had still not captured the ultimate prize, a NCAA team championship. Since 1946 they had finished second three times and fourth once, crowning ten individual champions, three more than perennial powerhouse Oklahoma State. But with three defending NCAA champs in Young, Nelson and Smith, they were loaded to make a run. Other contenders that year were projected to be Oklahoma State and Cornell College. Entering the dual meet portion of the season and striving to 7 continue their unbeaten record of seventeen, the Panthers fielded a lineup of veterans and promising newcomers. They swept through eleven competitors, not allowing any team to score double digits (closest match was 17-9 over Cornell). Smith kept pace with the team s success by posting a perfect 11-0 record and averaged his tie of last year by scoring a 4-3 win over Reese of Nebraska. It was Reese s first loss in two years. Smith s eleven wins were almost evenly divided with six decisions and five pins. He led the squad with 43 team points. Next was the NCAA tournament, held that year on the home court, the West Gym in Cedar Falls. And the Purple and Gold certainly did not disappoint their fans when they romped their way to a convincing championship by a team score of 30 points over second-place Purdue with 16. ISTC had secured the title before the finals were even held. Smith captured the 165 pound crown with a 10-7 win over Jim LaRock of Ithaca College. Smith got behind in the first period by a 6-2 margin, but he fought back to tie it up in the second period. LaRock chose to take the up position to start the final period, but Smith got a double-leg drop with a minute left and then with two minutes of riding time, won by a 10-7 score. Other champions for the Panthers were Young (145) and Nelson (155) while Frank Altman (3rd at 121), LaVerne Klar (4th at 128), Floyd Oglesby (3rd at 136) and Fred Stoeker (2nd at Hwt), all contributing to the winning team total. It s interesting to note that a full session ticket cost $3.60 at the time while 2,000 cheering fans turned out for the finals! The Tutors didn t have much time to rest on their laurels since the National AAU meet at Hofstra College was next. The team continued their winning ways with a close title over rival Cornell College of Mt. Vernon, Iowa. First place champions were Smith (160.5) along with Harrison (114.5), Young (147.5), Nelson (155) and Stoeker (Hwt). Smith captured his title with a referee s decision over Gene Gibbons of Michigan State. Upon their return to Cedar Falls following the tournament, 2,000 students and well-wishers met the team at Waterloo s Illinois-Central Train Station and then a 200 car caravan escorted the victorious squad back to the campus. The fall of 1950 brought a change of sport activity for Bill Smith. Since he had wrestled as a freshman, he had used up his three years of eligibility and could not continue to participate under the rules of the NCAA. Some confusions did exist though because there was a B. Smith that was wrestling for ISTC that year, but that person was actually Bill s brother Cloyce Smith the who went by the nickname of Bud, consequently the letter B. So Bill turned to the second sport that he played in high school, football. He appeared as number 71, a tight end on Buck Starbeck s team. It was fun, but it sure didn t take the place of wrestling, he candidly admitted. Still, Smith stayed active in campus functions. His fraternity Lambda Gamma Nu nominated him for the Old Gold Popularity contest, and he won. Throughout the many articles that have featured Smith, he has been described in many different ways: tall, skinny, broad-shouldered, lean, agile, quick and an All-American boy look. So he was asked, How did you win that contest? to which he replied with a sparkle in his eye, Why? Because it was based on a great personality and good looks! Bill continued to work out while maintaining a busy schedule as a family man working at John Deere while he went to school. His wife Bonnie was also teaching school at that time. Although he couldn t compete in NCAA sanctioned events, he was still eligible for AAU competition. Smith won the state AAU tournament held at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, pinning Dick Bradfield of Wartburg in 5:58. Joining his ISTC teammates at the 1951 National AAU Tournament in Ithaca, New York, Smith won his third straight NAAU crown, again at pounds, with a pin over Bill Nardini of Cornell College in 2:22. Joined by fellow champions Gene Lybbert (125.5) and Keith Young, who defeated ISTC s Bill Weick at 155, the Tutors became the first team in the 61-year history to claim three NAAU titles in a row, scoring 32 points to second-place Case with 13. Smith was also named the Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament. Thus, Smith closed out his illustrious college career representing ISTC with a perfect dual meet record of , two NCAA championships, three NAAU titles, plus other tournament championships. But there was plenty more to come. The World Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, were on the horizon during the summer of 1952, and Smith had his eyes focused on representing his country. Earlier in his wrestling days, Smith had competed in exhibition matches in Turkey and Japan to help tone his experience at world-wide wrestling styles. But later in life Smith was quoted as saying, when I first started international competition, I didn t know much about the style. I d feel pretty silly now taking some of the stances I took on the mat then. But mentally and physically, no athlete could be better trained than he was at that time. Smith s father said, When Bill was young we had all the equipment...dumbells, mats and all the rest. We worked out together - Bill, Bud and Bob. We brought them up to be good, clean kids. His father credited diligent training and good living for Smith s success as a wrestler, adding, Bill and I have always given the Lord a great deal of credit. We know that Bill could not have accomplished what he did without Him. Smith also credits his summer (1952) workout partner Bill Weick (ISTC ) who had won the NCAA championship at 157 pounds that year. He (Weick) was unbelievable in helping me keep in shape. Back then, the coaches didn t know much about the international rules, and there weren t many guys around to work out with. Weick would work with me, and I developed a strategy whereas I would underhook guys and lift them up, then trip them backwards. Takedowns didn t count, but back points did. I scored all my victories in Helsinki by taking guys straight to their backs, said Smith. continued on page 8

8 Continued UNI Profile from the Past: Bill Smith 1949 National AAU Champions. Left to Right: Rush Bush, Bill Smith, coach Dave McCuskey, John Harrison, Keith Young and Bill Nelson Meeting his long-time nemesis Jim LaRock in the finals at Ames, Iowa, in the Olympic tryouts, Smith was victorious and on his way to train at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, representing the USA at pounds (welterweight - 73 kg.). LaRock was chosen as first alternate. Smith had competed in 17 matches in a twomonth period, getting ready for the big event which was to take place in late July. Olympic rules were different. Periods were minutes in length. A pin was by the back just touching the mat, not a twosecond time length, and scoring was by a bad-mark system. Five bad-marks, and you were out of the competition. How did you accumulate bad-marks? They were assessed by one bad-mark if you won your match by decision, three bad-marks if you lost your match, and zero bad-marks if you pinned your opponent. Confused? In Smith s first four matches he pinned Rusado (Mexico), decisioned Mohammed (Canada), decisioned Longarela (Argentina) and then pinned Moussa (Egypt) 8 to qualify for the round-robin finals. He then lost a scoreless, split referee s decision to the Swedish champion, Per Berlin, and then watched as the Iranian wrestler defeated Berlin. One last chance for Smith. He felt he needed to pin the Iranian for the gold medal. It s interesting to note that in the 35 total welterweight (160.5 pounds) matches contested, there were only seven pins, and Smith had two of those seven. When he was only able to decision the Iranian, he was resigned to accept third place. As he approached the podium and was about to step on the third place step, an Associated Press writer grabbed Smith and asked him how it felt to be an Olympic champion. I tried to explain the point system to him, but he hurried off to talk with the officials, and then he came back to insist that I had won! said Smith. His teammates carried him off in victory. It s reported that Smith was so nervous that he dropped his medal several times on the way back to his dressing room. Smith did not surrender a single point in any one of the six matches that he wrestled. We had a very good team. I think Tommy Evans should have won a gold medal too. He took his foe down seven times and never received a point for any of them, said Smith. Smith was the only champion for the United States, but Evans (147.5) and Henry Wittenberg (191.5) won silver medals while Josiah Henson (136.5) scored a bronze medal. Bill had a very unusual style and was very strong, even though he didn t look it, said Wittenberg, who won a gold medal in 1948 to go with his silver medal in Some guys had a style that made them very difficult to wrestle, and Bill was one of those. Bill was very tough, and very tough to score on, said Wittenberg. Although the press at times promoted a bad-blood attitude on the part of the Russians at the Olympics, Smith thought they were good athletes and good sportsmen. They were always among the first to congratulate us when we won a match. We couldn t speak to each other, so we just shook hands and smiled. The 1952 Olympics was a banner year for the entire USA team (all sports) as they garnered the most team points (614 to Russia s 553 ½ points and 41 gold medals to Russia with 23). While in Finland, Smith received many telegrams acknowledging his outstanding accomplishment, but perhaps the most poignant and touching was from his father which simply read, Congratulations. Love, Dad. Returning several days later in the evening to Cedar Falls (he had a layover in Chicago, and he talked his workout partner Bill Weick into making the flight the rest of the way to Cedar Falls and help him celebrate). Smith was greeted by his wife Bonnie and their sixteen-month-old son Jamie, along with hundreds of cheering friends and supporters. A caravan of cars a mile long accompanied Smith and his family to the McCuskey house for a victory celebration. Smith had a love for ice cream, and it s rumored that he consumed four large bowls at the open house. Then he proceeded onto Council Bluffs where he was honored by a crowd continued on page 9

9 Continued UNI Profile from the Past: Bill Smith of 5,000-6,000 fans, lining the parade route to the Smith residence. Smith s mother had cried tears of joy when she had first learned the good news from Bonnie right after the Olympics. One of the people in the parade route shouted out and asked Smith if he was considering a professional wrestling career to which Smith replied, I don t think so. I m not a good enough actor. Smith had very little time to relax and enjoy the feeling of being an Olympic champion before reporting in late August for his first teaching and coaching position at Rock Island, Ill., where he was an assistant football coach, head wrestling coach and driver s education instructor. Smith was to be paid a whopping salary of $4,000. Smith was asked if he would continue to aggressively pursue wrestling to which he answered, No, now I want to learn how to teach it. And learn it he did as his high school team at Rock Island won the state title in the season. Although Smith hadn t planned to return to competitive wrestling, his father had commented earlier with a dreamy look on his face, I would not be surprised if the boy tries for the next Olympics. He has wrestling in his blood. And sure enough, staying in shape by working out with his high school team, Smith decided to make a run for the 1956 Olympics to be held in Melboune, Australia. But balancing a heavy schedule of family duties, training, coaching and teaching didn t leave Smith too much time for fund-raising to cover his cost to participate in the Games the summer of Two weeks after advancing through the 174 pound division at the regional tryouts at Cornell College, Smith told reporters he wouldn t be able to wrestle in the finals because they were being held in Los Angeles, and he would have to pay his own expenses, including a two-way airplane ticket, room and board, and that he would have to forfeit his school teaching salary for the time he was gone. He was asked if he could go if expense money could be raised through a Bill Smith Wrestling Fund. Smith said he would, but he set a deadline because the trials were only a few days away, saying if funds couldn t 9 be raised by that time, he would have to scrap his plans. The fund started slowly but seemed to come to life when fans at a professional wrestling show donated $130 to be divided between Smith and Roy Macias from Davenport who was also trying to make the team. The effort died out again and by April 25 (three days before the trials in Hollywood), a grand total of $69 was in the coffers under Smith s name. All this time Smith had been working out, and since adequate competition wasn t available in the local area, he had been driving to Iowa City, at his own expense, to work out with Gary Kurdelmeier (a future NCAA champion at 177 pounds for Iowa in 1958), who also had a good chance to make the Olympic team. The deadline came and passed, and when informed of the amount of money in the fund ($69), Smith asked the reporters to thank those fans who donated money, but he just couldn t make it on that amount, so he would have to forget it. Then he took off for Iowa City again. He was asked why he continued to train since he wasn t able to go to the finals in L.A. Smith simply replied, I can at least help Kundelmeier who is in need of training partners at this time. Suddenly small amounts of cash started coming in from friends, faculty and students (Rock Island High School) and other sources. Dave McCuskey, now head coach at Iowa and the 1956 Olympic coach, was able to secure $100 from the Iowa State AAU to be divided between Smith and Macias. When Smith returned from his Iowa City workout that night, he was informed of what had taken place in his absence, to which he replied, I can t very well say no after what all those people have done for me. And so it was on to Hollywood and a subsequent match that has been talked about for years. Smith had lost a match to Don Vonk of Navy in the 1956 NAAU at 174, while a wrestler by the Bill Smith at the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum on Jan. 9, 2009, by his 1952 Olympic picture. name of Dan Hodge pinned Vonk to claim the title. Hodge had been a teammate of Smith on the 1952 Olympic team, winning two of his four matches and falling just short of a medal. During his college career at Oklahoma, Hodge had been quite successful, pinning almost eighty percent of his opponents, and in 1956 pinned his way through the NCAA and NAAU freestyle tournaments as well as the NAAU Greco-Roman tournament, winning three national titles with 13 consecutive pins. Advancing through the Olympic trials in Hollywood, Smith and Hodge were on a collision course to see who would represent the USA in the 174 pound division. To this point of this article, mention has not been made of what was Smith s stock in trade, his whizzer, which many considered a defensive move, but Smith made it a move wrestlers feared and became legendary by his tremendous application of it. Smith won his first five matches before dropping a decision in the round-robin to Wenzel Hubel of Army. Hodge roared through the trials without a blemish, defeating Hubel in the round-robin. Finally, Smith had one last chance. He needed a pin over the pinning sensation Hodge to make the Olympic squad for the second time. It was one of the most highly anticipated matches of all time, said the late Kundelmeier, who had lost twice to Hodge and had been working out with Smith, so he took great interest in the match. A lot of people thought Dan Hodge was absolutely unbeatable, said Kundelmeier. He was perhaps the strongest wrestler of all time, continued on page 10