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    Mark Palmer •

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    Marshalltown High School wrestling room to be named after gold medalist Morrison

    Ninety years after winning an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling -- and a half-century after his passing -- Allie Morrison's name will grace the new wrestling room at his high school alma mater.

    The new facility, now under construction at Marshalltown High School in central Iowa, will be officially named the "Allie Morrison Wrestling Training Room" after the Marshalltown School Board approved the honor Monday night, the Marshalltown Times-Republican reported Wednesday.

    Allie Morrison
    Alvin Roy "Allie" Morrison, who was born in Marshalltown in June 1904, attended Marshalltown High from 1922-26. While at the school, Morrison won two Iowa state wrestling championships ... and, as a senior, served as de facto head wrestling coach when the man hired for the job -- Adolph Rupp, fresh from college and years before becoming legendary college basketball coach at University of Kentucky -- pretty much handed the responsibilities over to Morrison.

    Morrison wrestled at the University of Illinois, where he earned three AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) national titles. While at Illinois, Morrison won three Big 10 conference titles ... along with the gold medal in freestyle at the 1928 Olympics in Paris, the only American wrestler to earn gold at the Games, and becoming the first Iowan to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling.

    A serious neck injury ended Morrison's on-the-mat career. However, he served as a high school wrestling coach in Omaha for a number of years. Morrison also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

    Morrison died in April 1966 at age 62.

    The new wrestling room named in Allie Morrison's honor is expected to be up and running in early Dec. 2018.

    Want to know more about Allie Morrison? Check out the 2012 InterMat Rewind historical feature on the first Iowan to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling.
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