The 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place at The Garden Thursday, March 17 through Saturday, March 19 ... welcoming 330 top collegiate wrestlers and their coaches, along with thousands of fans, and (hopefully) plenty of press coverage in what has been declared the media capital of the world, New York City.
It is the first time that an NCAA championship in any sport will be held at Madison Square Garden in more than sixty years. The last: the 1950 NCAA Basketball Final Four.
InterMat thought it would be fun to take a look at Madison Square Garden and its storied history.
142 years, four facilities, one name
The Madison Square Garden that will host the 2016 NCAAs is the fourth facility to bear that name in New York City. The first was built in 1874 by none other than P.T. Barnum of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Located appropriately enough on Madison Avenue and 26th Street, the first Garden was a roofless structure with 28-foot high walls that hosted various outdoor events. The facility was originally called "Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome"; it acquired the name Madison Square Garden in 1879 when multimillionaire George Vanderbilt purchased the facility. It was torn down in 1889.
The second-generation Madison Square Garden was constructed on the site of the original structure in 1890 at a cost of $1.5 million. It included an 8,000-seat arena, 1,500-seat concert hall, 1,200-seat theater, and the world's largest indoor swimming pool. It hosted countless sports events -- including tons of boxing and wrestling -- along with the 1924 Democratic National Convention. It closed in May 1925.
The third Madison Square Garden was located at 49th Street and Eighth Avenue. Built at a cost of $5.6 million in 1925, its arena could seat 18,000 fans for just about every sporting event imaginable, along with an annual visit from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. MSG Three closed with the Westminster Dog Show in February 1968. The Worldwide Plaza office tower now occupies this spot.
Today's Madison Square Garden -- Generation Four -- is located in the block between 31st and 33rd Streets, and Seventh and Eighth Avenues. It was built atop the Pennsylvania Station, a major commuter and intercity rail facility. The arena opened February 1968 with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby headlining "The Night of the Century" tribute to the USO; the New York Rangers held their first hockey game in the facility a few days later. At the heart of the facility: an arean with a seating capacity of 19,000-20,000, depending on type of event.
In 2013, a massive three-year renovation of Madison Square Garden was completed. New features include a larger entrance with interactive kiosks, retail, climate controlled space, and broadcast studio ... larger concourses ... new lighting and LED video systems with HDTV ... new seating ... two new pedestrian walkways suspended from the ceiling to allow fans to look directly down onto the games being played below ... new dining options ... and improved dressing rooms, locker rooms, green rooms, upgraded roof, and production offices.
It was in 2013 that the NCAA announced that the newly-upgraded Madison Square Garden would host its 2016 Division I Wrestling Championships. In a 2013 audio interview conducted by Takedown Wrestling's Scott Casber, wrestling journalist Jason Bryant cited MSG's ability to accommodate eight mats, excellent video and sound systems, and accessibility via public transit as positives for the venue hosting the event. (Sponsoring school for the 2016 NCAAs at Madison Square Garden will be Hofstra University.)
Pro rasslin' to amateur wrestling
Say "Madison Square Garden" and "wrestling" in the same sentence, and most folks will immediately think of guys in trunks (or flamboyant costumes) body-slamming each other in a roped-off ring. That's only natural, as the Garden has hosted professional wrestling events in all four facilities of that name, starting with late 1800s strongman/wrestler William "the Solid Man" Muldoon at the first Madison Square Garden, and including all-time pro wrestling greats such as Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Jim Londos, Gorgeous George, Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Hulk Hogan ... as well as collegiate champs-turned-pro stars Bob Backlund (North Dakota State), Tim Woods (Tim Woodin, Michigan State), Jack Brisco (Oklahoma State), and Verne Gagne and Brock Lesnar (University of Minnesota), among others.
Wrestling fans curious to see what pro wrestling was like at Madison Square Garden nearly a century ago can watch old newsreel footage online of a January 1920 World Heavyweight Championship at the second-generation Garden between two Midwestern farm boys and World War I heroes -- Earl Caddock of Iowa, a protégé of the legendary Frank Gotch, and Nebraska native Joe Stecher. The film is highly edited -- about 25 minutes in length, for a match that took over two hours -- and not in the best condition. While pro wrestling historians argue as to whether Caddock-Stecher what they would call a "work" (with a predetermined outcome, as with today's WWE matches) or an honest wrestling match, a number of amateur wrestlers and historians who have viewed the film have noted that it more resembles a typical amateur wrestling match, completely lacking the theatrics and showbiz elements that most of us think of with pro wrestling today.
(The Caddock-Stecher film had long believed to have been the oldest surviving footage of a wrestling match; more recently, a 1913 film featuring European wrestlers Gustav Fristensky vs. Josef Smejkal has surfaced and posted online.)
By contrast to the more than a century of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden, amateur wrestling does not have the same long, colorful history at the arena ... but that has changed in the new millennium. The Garden was slated to host the 2001 World Wrestling Championships in late September that year ... but the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 forced that event to be relocated to other countries. However, two years later, Madison Square Garden played host to the 2003 World Wrestling Championships, welcoming participants and fans from all over the world.
In December 2012, Madison Square Garden welcomed college wrestlers and their fans by hosting its first Grapple at the Garden event. Just over 9,000 fans witnessed this inaugural event that brought together fourteen college programs in a two-session, dual-meet format, including (then) top-ten ranked Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Iowa, Missouri and Cornell University. The following year, Grapple at the Garden 2 expanded its format to incorporate a 16-team dual meet event ... and added two individual matches, one featuring former Penn State teammates, Bubba Jenkins taking on Frank Molinaro which had a tense weigh-in ceremony and pre- and post-match trash-talk that seemed like something out of a prizefight or big-time MMA event.
Grapple at the Garden 3 built on the college dual-meet tournament format of past Grapple events, with more elements which grabbed media and fan attention, including a wrestling dual meet featuring wrestlers and mixed martial arts fighters organized into Team Joe Warren vs. Team Renzo Gracie (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend and MMA champ). If that weren't enough, Grapple 3 showcased two bouts for the newly formed Global Wrestling Championships' professional wrestling venture, one a freestyle match where Tervel Dlagnev (two-time NCAA Division II heavyweight champ for Nebraska-Kearney) defeated Olympic champion and five-time World champion Khadjimurad Gatsalov of Russia ... the other, a Greco-Roman bout where Kyle Dake, a four-time NCAA champ for Cornell who is now competing in freestyle, stepped out of his comfort zone to wrestle 2014 Greco World champion Arsen Julfalakyan of Armenia.
Last November, Madison Square Garden hosted its fourth Grapple at the Garden event, which has now become an early-season staple on a number of college wrestling programs' schedules. The 2015 edition welcomed 22 colleges and universities representing all levels of competition, including NCAA Division I, II and III programs as well as a trio of school-affiliated wrestling clubs.
All these amateur wrestling events could be considered something of a dress rehearsal for hosting the 2016 NCAAs.
Beyond wrestling
Wrestling -- on the mat, or in a ring -- isn't the only game in town for Madison Square Garden over its long and illustrious history.
The Garden is the home of the New York Knicks of the NBA (National Basketball Association), and the New York Liberty of the (WNBA) Women's National Basketball Association, as well as home ice for the NHL (National Hockey League) New York Rangers. In addition, Madison Square Garden is also host to selected home games for the St. John men's college basketball, as well as the Big East Men's Basketball Conference Tournament and the finals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
Madison Square Garden is also the venue for the Millrose Games track and field event, major tennis events, and the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series event. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has been held at the Garden for decades.
As for musical entertainment ... the current Madison Square Garden has been the site for some truly memorable concerts, including George Harrison's Concern for Bangladesh, the Concert for New York City following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, John Lennon's final concert appearance (at an Elton John concert on Thanksgiving Night, 1974) before his murder in 1980, and Elvis Presley, who gave four sold-out performances in 1972, his first and last ever in New York City.
In addition, the Garden hosted the Grammy Awards in 1972, 1997 and 2003, as well as the Latin Grammy Awards in 2006. The 2005 Country Music Association Awards -- normally held in Nashville -- were held at Madison Square Garden.
It's not all entertainment at Madison Square Garden. The New York Police Academy, Baruch College/CUNY, and Yeshiva University all hold their annual graduation ceremonies at the midtown arena.
In addition, the iconic facility has welcomed a number of Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The third-generation Garden was the venue where Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. On a more spiritual note, Madison Square Garden hosted a Pope John Paul II youth event in 1979, and a nearly two-week Billy Graham revival in 1957.
Now Madison Square Garden can add "2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships" to its impressive resume of hosted events.
Thanks to Dylan Wanagiel and Larry Torres of Madison Square Garden for providing much of the information in this article. For more info about the facility and upcoming events -- including a WWE event less than a week after the NCAA championships -- visit TheGarden.com.
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