Kyle Snyder looks to become just the fifth three-time heavyweight champ (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Ohio State's Kyle Snyder has the opportunity to make history this weekend at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Cleveland.
If he wins the 285-pound title Saturday night, he will become only the fifth heavyweight to win three national titles since the very first NCAAs in 1928 ... and the first to do it in nearly three decades.
The Buckeye big guy could join an incredibly rare club of three-time D1 heavyweight champs which includes three Oklahoma State big men -- Earl McCready in the late 1920s ... Dick Hutton in the late 1940s ... Jimmy Jackson in the late 1970s -- and Carlton Haselrig of University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, in the late 1980s.
Just how rare, by the numbers
What's the big deal about Kyle Snyder possibly joining the three-time heavyweight champs club?
For starters, it appears that the heavyweight weight class has the fewest three-time NCAA Division I champs of all collegiate weight classes, with the four mentioned previously.
Let's provide additional perspective.
By our calculations, 58 men have won at least one NCAA heavyweight title since the inaugural Nationals 90 years ago. Approximately two-thirds of those men have one heavyweight title on their resumes. Nineteen have been crowned heavyweight champ twice (including Kyle Snyder); Minnesota's Verne Gagne won two NCAA crowns -- one at 191 pounds in 1948, and one at what was then called "unlimited" (because there was no top weight limit until the mid-1980s) in 1949.
Now, let's look at the number of times wrestlers who eventually became NCAA Division I heavyweight champs made it to the finals.
Twenty-five of the champs won their titles with just one appearance in the finals ... while 21 champs were two-time finalists. Thirteen titlewinners wrestled in the finals three times, with three of those becoming three-time champs. One of the three-timers -- Bruce Baumgartner, who wrestled for Indiana State in the early 1980s -- was a two-time runner-up before winning the heavyweight title in 1982.
In the past two decades, there are a number of two-time heavyweight champs who made three appearances in the finals. Some lost on their first attempt but came out winners in their second and third finals, including Stephen Neal of Cal State Bakersfield (back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999 after losing to Penn State's Kerry McCoy in the 1997 finals) ... Ohio State's Tommy Rowlands (champ in 2002, 2004 after losing to Illinois' John Lockhart in the 2001 title bout) ... and Minnesota's Cole Konrad (2006 and 2007 champ after falling to Steve Mocco in the 2005 finals).
Some thrice finalists were two-time champs unable to successfully hold onto their crowns for a third title. These include Tony Nelson of Minnesota (2012, 2013 champ who lot to North Carolina State's Nick Gwiazdowski in 2014)… and Gwiaz (champ in 2014 and 2015, who lost to Kyle Snyder in his attempt to become a three-time heavyweight titlist at the 2017 NCAAs).
To our knowledge, just two men made it to the NCAA Division I finals four times.
One -- Steve Mocco -- was a two-time champ. Wrestling for the University of Iowa, Mocco lost to Tommy Rowlands at the 2002 NCAAs... then won his first title by defeating Kevin Hoy of Air Force at the 2003 NCAA finals. Mocco then transferred to Oklahoma State, where he beat Minnesota's Cole Konrad in the 2005 NCAA finals to claim his second heavyweight crown... only to lose to the Gopher big man in the 285-pound title bout at the 2006 NCAAs.
The other four-time finalist, Dick Hutton, was a three-time champ seventy years ago.
Meet the four 3x NCAA D1 heavyweight champs
Earl McCready, Oklahoma State (1928-1930): Earl Gray McCready earns the distinction of being the first three-time NCAA champ at ANY weight ... and the first foreign-born national titlewinner (McCready was from Canada). Nicknamed "Moose", McCready stood 5'11" and weighed 238 pounds in college. McCready was undefeated in his three years as the Oklahoma State heavyweight; in fact, he won all but three of his matches by fall.
You could say McCready pinned his way to his three NCAA titles. At the very first NCAA championships in 1928, McCready pinned Ralph Freese of the University of Kansas in just nineteen seconds -- still the fastest pins in an NCAA finals bout. The next year, the Cowboy big guy won his second title by fall -- this time, his victim was Ohio State's Russ Fairall, pinned at 1:25. In the heavyweight finals at the 1930 NCAAs, different opponent, same outcome: Illinois' Lloyd Burdick had his shoulders put to the mat at 2:17. (McCready is one of only two three-time champs to win all three finals bouts by pin; the other is Dan Hodge, 177-pound champ for University of Oklahoma 1955-57.)
While at Oklahoma State, Earl McCready represented Canada in international competition. He was the flagbearer for his native country at the 1928 Olympics and wrestled heavyweight, but did not place. Two years later, he won the freestyle heavyweight title at the British Empire Games (now called the Commonwealth Games). After graduating from Oklahoma State, Earl McCready entered the world of professional wrestling, where he had a nearly thirty-year career.
Dick Hutton, Oklahoma State (1947-1948, 1950): Richard Heron Avis Hutton was born in Amarillo, Texas in 1923, but moved to Red Fork, Oklahoma as a kid. He took up wrestling in junior high after being cut from the basketball team. After high school at Tulsa Webster (where he was a state runner-up), Hutton served in the U.S. Army for five years, then enrolled at Oklahoma State where he was the heavyweight starter all four years at Stillwater. A big bear of a man -- standing 5'10" and weighing in at about 245 pounds -- Hutton lost only one match and was tied once in his college career.
Hutton won back-to-back heavyweight titles at the 1947 and 1948 NCAAs, and wrestled for the U.S. freestyle team at the 1948 London Olympics where he placed fifth in heavyweight competition.
Dick Hutton was the top seed -- and favorite -- to earn his third title at the 1949 NCAAs. However, a referee's call in the final seconds of the championship match gave the title to Verne Gagne of Minnesota. (This was before there was overtime; tie scores were left to a referee decision.) The following year, Hutton won that elusive third title at the 1950 NCAAs… but, had things gone differently in 1949, Hutton would have been the first four-time NCAA champ.
After graduation from Oklahoma State, Dick Hutton entered the professional wrestling ring, with a pro career that lasted more than a decade, culminating in a world championship in the late 1950s.
Jimmy Jackson, Oklahoma State (1976-1978): Notice a pattern here? Yep, three of the four three-time NCAA heavyweight champs were Cowboys.
Jimmy Jackson was by far the biggest of the Oklahoma State big men. The Michigan native was 6'6" and weighed 370 pounds. (Today's 285-pound top limit was put in place in the mid 1980s.) At the 1976 NCAAs, the fifth-seeded Cowboy defeated Oregon's Greg Gibson to win his first national title. The next year, Jackson got a referee's decision over 1975 champ Larry Bielenberg of Oregon State in overtime, based on a four-second riding time advantage, to win his second championship. At the 1978 NCAAs, Jackson pinned John Sefter of Princeton about a minute into the finals to earn his third title, concluding a collegiate career with an 88-9-2 record ... and a place in the history books as a three-time NCAA Div. I heavyweight mat champ.
Carlton Haselrig, Pitt-Johnstown (1987-1989): As heavyweight at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, Carlton Haselrig holds the distinction of being the only individual to win six NCAA titles in wrestling, claiming three championships in NCAA Division II (where Pitt-Johnstown normally competed) in 1987-1989, then three times in Division I those same years. (Back then, Division II and III champs qualified to compete at the Division I championships that same year.)
Haselrig won his three Division II title matches in dominant fashion -- two by fall, one by major decision. At the 1987 NCAA Div. I heavyweight finals, Haselrig got a 4-2 decision over Edinboro's Dean Hall. The next year, Haselrig defeated Oregon State's Dave Orndorff, 12-2 in the finals ... while at the 1989 NCAA D1 finals, Haselrig edged Northern Iowa's Joel Greenlee, 1-0 to win his third Division I title ... and his sixth Nationals title.
Haselrig compiled a career record of 143-2-1 at UPJ, including an NCAA record of 122 consecutive matches without a loss. In 2005, Haselrig was one of fifteen named to the NCAA 75th Anniversary as one of the greatest college wrestlers since 1928, joining other greats such as Dan Hodge, Dan Gable, John Smith and Cael Sanderson.
Unlike other heavyweight champs who became professional wrestlers, Haselrig made a name for himself on the gridiron -- despite not having played football in college -- as an offensive guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers for four years, then one season for the New York Jets before retiring. About a decade ago, Haselrig competed as a professional mixed martial arts fighter, compiling a 3-2 record during a career that lasted just over a year.
UPDATE 3/17/18: Kyle Snyder is now a member of the exclusive "three-time NCAA Division I heavyweight champs club" with his 3-2 win over Michigan's Adam Coon in the finals at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena Saturday, March 17.
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