America's Dairyland. The Green Bay Packers. Beer. Brats. Cheese. An outdoor paradise for hikers, hunters and fishermen.
For those outside Wisconsin, the sport of wrestling may not immediately come to mind. However, the state has a rich mat history, with a number of all-time great wrestlers and coaches whose careers were nurtured in the Dairy State, including Olympians John and Ben Peterson, Russ Hellickson, Lee Kemp, Dennis Hall, Jim Gruenwald, Garrett Lowney, and Ben Askren ... as well as NCAA champs such as Jim Jordan, Tim Hartung, and Cole Konrad.
Now there's a book that celebrates and shares that history: Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007, a 194-page book edited by the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Alumni Chapter.
Go-to source for Wisconsin high school history
The book is a mother lode of high school stats for prep wrestling in the state. Want to know who has the most career wins? Most takedowns in a career -- or within a season? Most pins (career and season)? Fastest falls? The names of wrestlers who secured at least 40 wins within a season? It's all in there.
There are even some neat bonus features, such as an "All in the Family" list of wrestling families who made names for themselves on the mats within the state of Wisconsin. Brother acts, as well as fathers and sons.
Beyond high school
Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007 isn't limited to high school wrestling. It also takes a look at the college wrestling scene within the Dairy State, with stats on career wins, career pins, career takedowns, fastest falls, and wins within a season, and other individual statistics. The book also lists three- and four-time national qualifiers.
The state of Wisconsin can also lay claim to a surprising number (at least to those of us outside the state) of wrestlers who competed for the U.S. at the Olympics. Two-time Olympic medalist Ben Peterson -- a native of Comstock, Wisconsin -- penned the chapter on the great mat Olympians who grew up in the state. Along the same lines, Larry Marchionda wrote a chapter about the history of Wisconsin's international wrestling experience beyond the Olympics.
Ben Peterson at the 1980 Olympic Team Trials (Photo/Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007 also honors the greats of the state, with its history of the George Martin Wrestling Hall of Fame, and photos of the hall's honorees. (Martin, known as the "father of Wisconsin wrestling," was long-time head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badger wrestling program.)
The history behind this historical book
The book describes itself as "perpetuating (Wisconsin wrestling) history and the vision of George Martin."
"We saw a need for a definitive book on wrestling in Wisconsin," according to Jim Stephenson, former high school wrestling coach in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Alumni Chair. "We wanted something that would settle arguments, and be a reference folks could turn to whenever they had a question about a wrestler or wrestling program within the state."
Cole Konrad, a native of Freedom, Wisconsin, was a two-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American at the University of Minnesota (Photo/The Guillotine)In his letter in the opening of Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007, Stephenson provides a quick sketch of how the book came about:
Four years ago, I received an email from Hall of Fame member Don Hartman. He asked if I and a few other retired coaches would assist in writing a history of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association. It was something we all discussed occasionally and decided to tackle the project ...
We set a course to organize Wisconsin's wrestling history ...
Luckily for the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Alumni Chapter, much of the groundwork had already been laid. "For years, Ken Manning would gather stats and put them into little annual booklets, sold at the state tournament," Jim Stephenson said in an interview with InterMat. "Then the Sages(the alumni coaches) decided to put it all together in one book."
"After we had gathered the stats, we recognized that we had other neat stories to tell -- girls' wrestling, Olympics, more. So we incorporated those into the book."
Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007 made its debut at the Wisconsin high school state tournament in March 2007. "We had to explain what it was about," Stephenson said. "It's hard for us to understand that the new generation isn't as interested in history, about how wrestling got started in Wisconsin.
In talking to InterMat about how the book came together, Stephenson made it clear that Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007 was very much a team effort of the Sages ... and definitely a labor of love. "The book came together over the course of 3-6 months on my computer. After we finished, I didn't want to look at another computer screen."
But Stephenson and the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Alumni Chapter are already working on a new edition of their book, which they hope to unveil in 2012. They already see ways to improve the 2007 book, with additional historical features ... a chapter on officiating ... coverage of university wrestling programs within the state ... coaches' stories ... and even a quiz on Wisconsin wrestling trivia. Also on the list of enhancements for the second edition: more photos and newspaper clippings, to help provide even more of a visual history of the sport.
As it is now, Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007 is a winning first effort. Chock-full of statistics, and sprinkled with interesting feature stories and historical photos, the book provides a valuable record of wrestling in the state of Wisconsin.
To learn more about Wisconsin Wrestling 1940-2007 -- or to purchase a copy -- visit the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Web site: http://wiwrestling.com/ads/wwca/indexwwca.htm
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