1957 and 2023

[Wrestleknownothing]

Why these two years? In 2023 we will crown two new 100%ers (I refuse to contemplate otherwise). The last time that happened was 1957.

With Spencer Lee and Yianni Diakomihalis 100% guaranteed (guaran-damn-teed, some may say) to finish their careers having won 100% of the NCAA titles they are eligible for, I decided to see how often this has happened. There have been four other occasions where two wrestlers completed perfect NCAA tournament careers.

In 1931, Conrad Caldwell and Jack van Bebber did the deed. Followed by Rex Peery and Ross Flood in 1935. In 1939, it was Joe McDaniel's and Stanley Henson's turn. Finally, in 1957 Ed Peery and Dan Hodge each won their third consecutive title.

The 1930's was a whole other animal when it came to the NCAA tournament. The tournaments were much smaller than they are today. Participation was almost always fewer than 100 wrestlers across seven or eight weights. Travel was a big issue so there were generally fewer than 30 teams and almost all of those came from the center and eastern two thirds of the country.

In 1957, Ed Peery won an 18 man bracket at 123, going 4-0 as the #1 seed. He won the final by unanimous referee's decision in overtime (I always find these referee's decisions to be odd). That was also the Peery family's unprecedented ninth title as his father and brother were also 100%ers in their day. I wonder what ever happened to the third generation.

Dan Hodge won a 24 man bracket at 177, pinning 4 of his 5 opponents (2 in under a minute). In his three tournaments Hodge pinned eleven of his thirteen opponents. Only Don Wem and John Dustin were able to go the distance in those three years.

The 1957 tournament was the largest up to that date with 213 wrestlers (that total would not regularly be eclipsed until 1963) from 62 teams. 

 

[Wrestleknownothing]

And I love this about Peery from the EIWA Bio page:

But at NCAAs at 123 Peery surged late, as he did to win all three finals.  In 1955, he reversed and pinned with 0:30 seconds left. In ’56, he was taken down twice by Harmon Leslie (NCAA 2,2) but won, 7-5. In his final bout at home in Pittsburgh, Ed again trailed Harmon, 7-3 in the third. But an escape, takedown and riding time forced overtime where Ed earned a unanimous referees’ decision, 7-7,2-2.

[Idaho]

The main difference is that we just need more guys who can crush an apple with their bare hand. 

[Antitroll2828]

3 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Why these two years? In 2023 we will crown two new 100%ers (I refuse to contemplate otherwise). The last time that happened was 1957.

With Spencer Lee and Yianni Diakomihalis 100% guaranteed (guaran-damn-teed, some may say) to finish their careers having won 100% of the NCAA titles they are eligible for, I decided to see how often this has happened. There have been four other occasions where two wrestlers completed perfect NCAA tournament careers.

In 1931, Conrad Caldwell and Jack van Bebber did the deed. Followed by Rex Peery and Ross Flood in 1935. In 1939, it was Joe McDaniel's and Stanley Henson's turn. Finally, in 1957 Ed Peery and Dan Hodge each won their third consecutive title.

The 1930's was a whole other animal when it came to the NCAA tournament. The tournaments were much smaller than they are today. Participation was almost always fewer than 100 wrestlers across seven or eight weights. Travel was a big issue so there were generally fewer than 30 teams and almost all of those came from the center and eastern two thirds of the country.

In 1957, Ed Peery won an 18 man bracket at 123, going 4-0 as the #1 seed. He won the final by unanimous referee's decision in overtime (I always find these referee's decisions to be odd). That was also the Peery family's unprecedented ninth title as his father and brother were also 100%ers in their day. I wonder what ever happened to the third generation.

Dan Hodge won a 24 man bracket at 177, pinning 4 of his 5 opponents (2 in under a minute). In his three tournaments Hodge pinned eleven of his thirteen opponents. Only Don Wem and John Dustin were able to go the distance in those three years.

The 1957 tournament was the largest up to that date with 213 wrestlers (that total would not regularly be eclipsed until 1963) from 62 teams. 

 

Appreciate the optimism that we are gonna witness history , but spencer has wrestled twice maybe in 12 months and yianni already lost one match and went to OT in another and seems like he’s over the whole college/ folk style thing , I believe that if yianni didn’t have a chance at being a 4xer he wouldn’t have even come back this year combine that with a very hungry and pretty deep weight guess we ll see how it goes …..

 

fun fact about Dan  hodge sometime in the early 80s he ran into a group of recon marines in a bar/ restaurant type place while on vacation , a few of the guys wrestled themselves, so they knew who he was and went and talked to him , shook his hand, but the biggest of the group was a guy about 6’4 270 pounds , he instantly challenged hodge to a wrestling match , hodge laughed it off and said no but the guy persisted and eventually later on  hodge agrees but tells the guy he’s not going to hold back , long story short they wrestled for about 10 seconds and hodge doubled him so hard the guy chipped his elbow on the ground and broke 2 ribs and instantly gave up , add insult to injury the big guy got disciplined by the marines for what they considered an injury sustained in a bar fight 

[Gus]

31 minutes ago, Idaho said:

The main difference is that we just need more guys who can crush an apple with their bare hand. 

I watched Hodge crush an apple at Tulsa when I was 9 years old. That was cool to see

[11986]

3 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Why these two years? In 2023 we  That was also the Peery family's unprecedented ninth title as his father and brother were also 100%ers in their day. I wonder what ever happened to the third generation.

 

 

I had vague recall of a younger Peery that wrestled in the Dapper Dan event. Searched and verified the relationship, but sadly Greg Peery. passed away at a relatively young age in 2017.  Sorry, on phone and can’t get the link to work. 
 

 

[Wrestleknownothing]

34 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Appreciate the optimism that we are gonna witness history , but spencer has wrestled twice maybe in 12 months and yianni already lost one match and went to OT in another and seems like he’s over the whole college/ folk style thing , I believe that if yianni didn’t have a chance at being a 4xer he wouldn’t have even come back this year combine that with a very hungry and pretty deep weight guess we ll see how it goes …..

 

fun fact about Dan  hodge sometime in the early 80s he ran into a group of recon marines in a bar/ restaurant type place while on vacation , a few of the guys wrestled themselves, so they knew who he was and went and talked to him , shook his hand, but the biggest of the group was a guy about 6’4 270 pounds , he instantly challenged hodge to a wrestling match , hodge laughed it off and said no but the guy persisted and eventually later on  hodge agrees but tells the guy he’s not going to hold back , long story short they wrestled for about 10 seconds and hodge doubled him so hard the guy chipped his elbow on the ground and broke 2 ribs and instantly gave up , add insult to injury the big guy got disciplined by the marines for what they considered an injury sustained in a bar fight 

I agree that Diakomihalis probably would not come back if not for a shot at four. And the same is probably true for Lee. This is year six of what they thought was a four year journey. It has to be hard to motivate at this point, but I also think they will be very motivated by the time the tourney rolls around.

[CementMixer]

4 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Why these two years? In 2023 we will crown two new 100%ers (I refuse to contemplate otherwise). The last time that happened was 1957.

With Spencer Lee and Yianni Diakomihalis 100% guaranteed (guaran-damn-teed, some may say) to finish their careers having won 100% of the NCAA titles they are eligible for, I decided to see how often this has happened. There have been four other occasions where two wrestlers completed perfect NCAA tournament careers.

In 1931, Conrad Caldwell and Jack van Bebber did the deed. Followed by Rex Peery and Ross Flood in 1935. In 1939, it was Joe McDaniel's and Stanley Henson's turn. Finally, in 1957 Ed Peery and Dan Hodge each won their third consecutive title.

The 1930's was a whole other animal when it came to the NCAA tournament. The tournaments were much smaller than they are today. Participation was almost always fewer than 100 wrestlers across seven or eight weights. Travel was a big issue so there were generally fewer than 30 teams and almost all of those came from the center and eastern two thirds of the country.

In 1957, Ed Peery won an 18 man bracket at 123, going 4-0 as the #1 seed. He won the final by unanimous referee's decision in overtime (I always find these referee's decisions to be odd). That was also the Peery family's unprecedented ninth title as his father and brother were also 100%ers in their day. I wonder what ever happened to the third generation.

Dan Hodge won a 24 man bracket at 177, pinning 4 of his 5 opponents (2 in under a minute). In his three tournaments Hodge pinned eleven of his thirteen opponents. Only Don Wem and John Dustin were able to go the distance in those three years.

The 1957 tournament was the largest up to that date with 213 wrestlers (that total would not regularly be eclipsed until 1963) from 62 teams. 

 

Spencer Lee won't be wrestling in March.

[Wrestleknownothing]

6 minutes ago, CementMixer said:

Spencer Lee won't be wrestling in March.

You probably keep a kids ball when it comes in your yard, too, don't ya?

[Idaho]

36 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

You probably keep a kids ball when it comes in your yard, too, don't ya?

I make them mow my lawn before they can get it back. Consequences. 

[bnwtwg]

1 hour ago, CementMixer said:

Spencer Lee won't be wrestling in March.

Because he’s getting ready for April?

[ionel]

Thought this was going to be a thread about how Wkn was/will be alive both years.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

19 hours ago, ionel said:

Thought this was going to be a thread about how Wkn was/will be alive both years.  

I only feel that old.

[MPhillips]

19 hours ago, ionel said:

Thought this was going to be a thread about how Wkn was/will be alive both years.  

You're both just kids...

[AKHUNTER]

On 12/24/2022 at 9:04 AM, MPhillips said:

You're both just kids...

yup.. they are still ........wet behind their ears

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, AKHUNTER said:

yup.. they are still ........wet behind their ears

All of us swimmers are.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

On 12/23/2022 at 2:31 PM, Antitroll2828 said:

fun fact about Dan  hodge sometime in the early 80s he ran into a group of recon marines in a bar/ restaurant type place while on vacation , a few of the guys wrestled themselves, so they knew who he was and went and talked to him , shook his hand, but the biggest of the group was a guy about 6’4 270 pounds , he instantly challenged hodge to a wrestling match , hodge laughed it off and said no but the guy persisted and eventually later on  hodge agrees but tells the guy he’s not going to hold back , long story short they wrestled for about 10 seconds and hodge doubled him so hard the guy chipped his elbow on the ground and broke 2 ribs and instantly gave up , add insult to injury the big guy got disciplined by the marines for what they considered an injury sustained in a bar fight 

Cool story... but is it true? Not claiming it isn't, but the 'wet behind the ears' folks believe most anything.

[ionel]

8 minutes ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

Cool story... but is it true? Not claiming it isn't, but the 'wet behind the ears' folks believe most anything.

Hodge was once in the same bar as Cuck Norris.  Chuck took one look at Dan and ran away.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

6 minutes ago, ionel said:

Hodge was once in the same bar as Cuck Norris.  Chuck took one look at Dan and ran away.

... that rumor isn't true. It was actually "Cluck Norris" a chicken that had a chiseled jaw and rough beard.

Weird for a chicken, but he was a weird chicken to be sure. 

He did run away from Dan... mostly because he was a chicken.

[ionel]

Hodge once crushed the trunk of an apple tree with his bare hand.  He then realized if he kept it up there wouldn't be any apples so he resorted to crushing apples with his bare hand.  And now you know the rest of the story.

[Ban Basketball]

I remember expressing some cynicism regarding Hodge several years ago. As one could imagine,  I spent a LONG time fighting off the Villagers with the,  "how dare you question rasslin royalty" idiocy.

Questions about Gable will get a similar reaction. 

Tread lightly,  friends. 

[Fadzaev2]

On 12/23/2022 at 4:34 PM, Wrestleknownothing said:

You probably keep a kids ball when it comes in your yard, too, don't ya?

GOOD ONE...LOL

[Fadzaev2]

On 12/27/2022 at 11:28 PM, ionel said:

Hodge once crushed the trunk of an apple tree with his bare hand.  He then realized if he kept it up there wouldn't be any apples so he resorted to crushing apples with his bare hand.  And now you know the rest of the story.

And if you believe that, I can show you where Jimmy Hoffa's body ended up.

[ionel]

10 minutes ago, Fadzaev2 said:

And if you believe that, I can show you where Jimmy Hoffa's body ended up.

It might've been an oak tree. 

[Fadzaev2]

29 minutes ago, ionel said:

It might've been an oak tree.