John Smith coaching with Eric Guerrero (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)John Smith remains undefeated as a wrestler at Gallagher-Iba Arena, as the former Cowboy mat champ and long-time head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State pinned Cowgirl softball coach Kenny Gajewski at the Homecoming & Hoops event in Stillwater Friday night.
The match -- held during the traditional scrimmage featuring Oklahoma State men's and women's basketball teams held during the school's annual Homecoming weekend -- was the product of a bet in which Gajewski would have to wrestle Smith, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, if his players were hit by 50 pitches during the season. The Cowgirls made it into the NCAA tournament, were hit by 55 pitches, and what was to be a private wrestling-room match between the two coaches became something much larger and more public.
Smith is now 52-0 at Gallagher-Iba, adding to his perfect record built in his collegiate mat career as a Cowboy in the team's storied arena from 1984-88, winning two NCAA Division I individual titles.
"It's always nice to win in Gallagher-Iba Arena," Smith told the Daily O'Collegian, the Oklahoma State student newspaper. "It's a good feeling. No matter what I feel like in the morning, I'm glad I got that feeling one more time."
The Mat vs Bat bout opened with some of the trappings of a big-time wrestling event. Smith and Gajewski each came out of smoke-filled tunnels on the opposite sides of the arena. Members of the Oklahoma State wrestling team, who were holding bats, accompanied Gajewski, wearing a black robe and headgear. Members of the softball team escorted Smith out of the other tunnel.
Women's basketball coach Jim Littell served as the referee of the match.
"Gajewski started out by shoving Smith to the mat," according to the Stillwater News-Press. "The arena roared in disbelief as David had knocked down Goliath. However, Smith wasn't fazed. The shove had caught him off-guard, but he knew Gajewski could be knocked back down a peg."
"When he pushed me that first time, I thought, 'This guy is serious,'" Smith told the Stillwater newspaper of his opponent and fellow coach, who admitted he had only one week of wrestling experience back in school. "You know I thought we were going to kind of play around a little bit, but it kind of woke me up and gave me a little bit of initiative to get going."
Referee Littell also got in on the action.
Midway through the match, Littell got down on all fours behind Smith's legs before Gajewski shoved Smith, forcing him to crash down to the mat, the O'Colly reported.
"Those guys teamed up against me," Smith said. "I don't know if they had that in the script. I didn't see that. I was a little bit shocked. I kinda wanted to grab ahold of Littell. In the end, two of them couldn't get it done."
"The two coaches exchanged blows over the course of the match, but Smith emerged victorious," according to the News-Press. "He recorded a couple takedowns of Gajewski before finally pinning him to end the match."
After Littell raised Smith's hand in victory, Gajewski said his debt to his team was paid. When asked if he would possibly consider making the same bet, he said he would have some different bets, but wrestling Smith would not be one of them.
"I'll pay bets, I have no problem there," Gajewski said. "If this helps our team, I'm all good. I'm really proud of them. This meant a lot to them and I want to be a coach they can trust. That's part of this.
… We'll have some more goals next year, but wrestling John will not be on my list, I've got that one done."
The Mat vs Bat event generated interest far beyond Gallagher-Iba Arena and the Oklahoma State campus. As of Saturday morning, the InterMat article announcing the John Smith vs. Kenny Gajewski match had been shared approximately 1,500 times.
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