I'm not exactly sure when the first Southeastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament was held. It may have very well been 1948, as that is the first one that I can find. What I do know is that it is said that Auburn won 25 SEIWA team titles. I've read that numerous times when reading articles on the history of Arnold "Swede" Umbach, Tom Milkovich and the Tiger wrestling program. I've found all the years Auburn won those 25 titles. As well as the handful of times another team came in and won the title as well.
To my knowledge and I'm more than happy to be corrected if wrong, the last SEIWA tournament was held in 1978. I have no idea why it ended but would love to know if you have information regarding the tournament.
SEIWA Titles Won by Schools that No Longer Have Wrestling
Alabama (1) 1948
Auburn (25) 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970,1971,1972,1973,1974, 1975
Georgia Tech (1) 1966
Louisiana State (1) 1971
Tennessee (2) 1977, 1978
UPDATE:
ReplyDeleteFormer UT-Chattanooga wrestler George McIntyre informed me that he has records of SEIWA tournaments from 1976, 1977 & 1978.
Tennessee won the 1978 SEIWA tournament.
McIntyre believes that 1978 was the last SEIWA tournament.
Auburn did not win the SEIWA in 1970 or 1971. LSU won in 1970. I was one of the two champions from Auburn that year. Because Auburn was to host the NCAA Championship, we did not enter the SEIWA Championship that year, instead we competed in the District Qualifier for the NCAA Championship that included all schools in the Southeast. Auburn qualified the most wrestlers for the NCAA D1 in the District 3 NCAA Qualifier.
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