On September 12th, 2020 I posted all of the teams that I had came up with so far that had discontinued wrestling. At that time I was at 365 teams. A far cry away from the 670 that we have allegedly lost. In the past month I've discovered & written about eleven more teams.
McGill & British Columbia in Canada.
Claremont Mudd Scripps & San Bernardino Valley (As if I really needed to add any teams to California)
Hampden-Sydney & Eastern Mennonite in Virginia
Southwestern Oklahoma State
Pomona-Pitzer (Sheesh, does it ever end in California?)
Bismark State in North Dakota
Concordia (Illinois)
And I'm embarrassed to say that I had completely forgotten to write about Boise State even though I've had it prepared to write for the past 10 months.
That brings the number up to to 376 teams. Still a far cry from 670 but closer than it was before.
How about those teams that I know had wrestling, but I was unable to find anything about their wrestlers? Believe it or not there are quite a few teams that make that list.
Here they are
TUFTS (Medford/Somerville, Massachusetts)
Winners of the 1932 & 1935 New England Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, the Jumbos had wrestling for quite a long period of time. I believe it began in the 1920's and lasted through the early to mid 1970's.
SAMPSON (New York)
Sampson was a short lived college that only lasted from 1946-1947 through 1948-1949. They had wrestling every season & posted dual records for each.
VANDERBILT (Nashville, Tennessee)
From what I have been able to find, the Commodores had wrestling for a short period of time post World War II
EMORY (Atlanta, Georgia)
The Eagles were quite competitive during their time on the mat. They produced a number of top three Southeastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (SEIWA) place-winners & they finished runner-up to Swede Umbach's Auburn a number of times as a team as well. From what I've been able to gather wrestling lasted from 1950-1951 through 1965-1966.
SANTA CLARA (Santa Clara, California)
Throughout the history of both the Pacific Coast Conference & the Western Regional you'll find results for Santa Clara.
WAKE FOREST (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
A little tricky here on the history of Demon-Deacon wrestling. There was a time when they didn't field a wrestling program, but one of their football players entered and won a ACC title anyway. I do believe they actually fielded a varsity team for a short time too.
KENYON (Gambier, Ohio)
Per records I have found of school athletics, Lords wrestling lasted from 1957-1958 through 1969-1970
ANTELOPE VALLEY (Lancaster, California)
You know there are almost as many discontinued wrestling programs in the state of California as their are total number of current Division I teams? I've found Antelope Valley in dual records for other CCCAA teams.
BIRMINGHAM SOUTHERN (Birmingham, Alabama)
Records for Panther wrestling exist throughout various SEIWA tournaments in the late 60's & early 70's.
PARSONS (Fairfield, Iowa)
I grew up a little less than an hour from where Parsons College used to be. A half day in the local library going through old year books led me to a conclusion that wrestling was started in 1959-1960 and lasted through 1967-1968. No idea why it was discontinued. The school shut down in 1973.
RICKS aka BRIGHAM YOUNG-IDAHO (Rexburg, Idaho)
I get asked about this one a lot. You'd think that being the home of Rulon Gardner, the two time Olympic medalist who upended the unstoppable, unbeatable Karelin would have information on their wrestling team. Maybe it is out there somewhere, but I've been unsuccessful in tracking it down.
Hell I can remember when Cael Sanderson won his fourth NCAA title looking up into the stands and seeing a guy wearing a Ricks College Wrestling sweatshirt. Yet other than coming across the fact that Brett Bingham of Boise State started his career off there, Gardner is all I can find.
DIXIE STATE (St. George, Utah)
Results in NJCAA history show that the Trailblazers at one time had wrestling
UTAH STATE-EASTERN (Price, Utah)
If you ever run across Carbon College, same thing.
PACIFIC COLLEGE (Costa Mesa, California)
For the longest time whenever I ran across Pacific in my studies I always assumed that it meant Pacific as in Forest Grove, Oregon, which still has a wrestling team. It wasn't until I ran across a dual meet actually held in Costa Mesa that I realized it was something different.
FLORIDA STATE (Tallahassee, Florida)
Now this one I'm still unsure about. From the 1961-1962 through the 1964-1965 season you can find Florida State competing at both the SEIWA tournament and the Chattanooga invitational. However, I've never seen any results for duals & I've never seen any results from Qualifiers for the NCAA tournament. Even with photographs I've found of Florida State wrestling, I'm still not sold on the fact that this was ever a varsity team. I think it may have been club status only. I'd love to know more about this history here, but that's what I've found thus far.
CHARLESTON (Charleston, West Virginia)
At one time the school was known as Morris Harvey. During that time (or at least at some time during that time) the Golden Eagles had wrestling.
EMERSON (Boston, Massachusetts)
Famed coach Jim Peckham has listed among his many accomplishments that he started a wrestling program here.
COVENANT (Lookout Mountain, Georgia)
UT-Chattanooga had something to do with the school trying out wrestling for a while
BRYAN (Dayton, Tennessee)
I believe UT-Chattanooga had something to do with Bryan also trying out wrestling for a while
BRANDEIS (Waltham, Massachusetts)
The judges competed in many NEIWA tournaments
GEORGE FOX (Newburg, Oregon)
Frank Furtado who coached at Seattle-Pacific also coached here for a short while
GONZAGA (Spokane, Washington)
You can find results of Bulldog wrestling from Pacific Coast Conference tournaments
TROY STATE (Troy, Alabama)
Competed in SEIWA tournaments, as well as the Chattanooga Invitational. George McIntyre has promised to provide information he has on the team, but as busy as he is with telling the world how much he hates Donald Trump on an hourly basis, he has yet to find the time.
SOUTHWESTERN (Georgetown, Texas)
I wrote about Southwestern (California) earlier in "Gone, Lost & Forgotten" but based on the Chattanooga Invitational & a tournament based in Texas, I believe what I have found is referring to the Pirates.
SOUTH FLORIDA (Tampa, Florida)
One can find South Florida in dual results vs Florida, Central Florida & Miami-Dade.
BROWARD (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
In Dual records Vs Miami-Dade
UC-RIVERSIDE (Riverside, California)
Can find in various tournaments throughout California through the years
CAIRN (Langhorne Manor, Pennsylvania)
Both Donald Hawk & James Hertzler who were both baseball & soccer stars while at Cairn have that they were also members of the wrestling team while there.
CALVIN (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Have found Calvin in dual records against other Michigan colleges/universities
RICHARD DALEY (Chicago, Illinois)
Have found "Mayor Daley" in results throughout various opens in Illinois. I think this is what it is referring to.
LUZERNE (Nanticoke, Pennsylvania)
Found against other Northeastern NJCAA teams in dual records
SANTA FE (Gainesville, Florida)
In dual results for Miami-Dade
RICHMOND (Richmond, Virginia)
You can find results of Richmond competing in the Southern Conference
SOUTHERN POLYTECHNIC STATE (Marietta, Georgia)
Can find results of Southern Tech in SEIWA tournaments as well as the Chattanooga Invitational
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY (Hampden-Sydney, Virginia)
Results from MEAC tournaments
BENEDICTINE (Lisle, Illinois)
The Benedictine in Kansas still has a wrestling team but considering where I've found Benedictine (in tournaments featuring all other Illinois teams) I believe they're referring to this school
NAVARRO (Corsicanna, Texas)
Richland Community College at one time had an official NJCAA team & they wrestled Navarro in duals during some of this time. Was Navarro NJCAA or just a club? Not 100% positive.
HAWAII (Manoa, Hawaii)
Throughout the 1930's through the 1950's you can find dual results as well as various tournaments on the West Coast that Hawaii participated in. They disappear again up until the 70's. Then you can find dual results & Hawaii competing in the PAC-12. They always finished in last place & usually with 0 points, although sometimes they'd score a couple. Into the late 70's you can find them at the Western Regional. Most years where there are dual results, it was never more than 5 per year.
TEXAS CHRISTIAN (Fort Worth, Texas)
Here's another one like Florida State I'm not sure if they were ever officially varsity or not. In Texas every year throughout a period in the 70's there was a tournament held. Many of these programs were club or intramural like North Texas, Texas Tech, Stephen F Austin & West Texas. However a few like Richland & Texas-El Paso had varsity programs. What makes me question TCU is that like Texas-El Paso they had duals for two of these seasons, against varsity programs. I've never seen TCU at a qualifier, but that doesn't always mean anything either.
It can get rather confusing at times. I've found Southern California competing at the PAC-12 tournament, including having a champion at HWT. Yet the champion did NOT compete at the NCAA tournament & the 2nd & 3rd place wrestlers did. Love to know the story on htat.
MEMPHIS STATE (Memphis, Tennessee)
Found Memphis State in results Vs Chattanooga. Another one of those that George McIntyre has promised to provide information on & probably will once he finds time in his schedule aside from chastising people on facebook for not being exactly like him.
GEORGETOWN (Georgetown, Kentucky)
I've always thought every time I ran across Georgetown in old wrestling results it was referring to the Hoyas in Washington D.C. However seeing them in SEIWA tournaments, I thought to myself why in the Hell would they go all the way down their to wrestle? I then through further research discovered that it was actually referring to the Tigers. Georgetown Hoyas for the record, DID have a wrestling team at one time too.
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE (Orangeburg, South Carolina)
Here's the thing. I think when SCSU had a wrestling team, I'm pretty sure that they were pretty good. Matter of fact, I know that they won the MEAC title in 1979, 1980, 1981 & 1982. Yet there is NOTHING on their website that I've been able to find about the wrestlers or the team.
KENNESAW STATE (Kennesaw, Georgia)
Can be found in SEIWA tournaments
HARTWICK (Oneonta, New York)
Listed in Dual results
MARIST (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Listed in Dual results
EMPORIA STATE (Emporia, Kansas)
Found in MIAA tournaments
LOUISANA-MONROE (Monroe, Louisiana)
Found in the 1972-1973 school year to have duals against both Louisiana-Lafayette & Louisiana State
HUSSON (Bangor, Maine)
Found in tournaments
CANISIUS (Buffalo, New York)
Found in dual records of Buffalo State
DREW (Madison, New Jersey)
Found Vs various other teams in Jersey
FORDHAM (Bronx, New York)
Found in various tournaments/duals throughout New York
So with these teams added I'm now up to 427.
Closer to that # of 670.
UPDATE: Since writing this, I got up to 462 discontinued wrestling programs that are a part of "Gone, Lost & Forgotten." Sad to report that I've even added more as of 9-6-2024. Some get there own write up, but some unfortunately don't. There just isn't enough information.
UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND PHARMACY
I felt this program was doomed from the beginning. A university with very specific and unique degrees, was going to have a difficult time fielding a full roster wrestling team. As time would tell, they had a difficult time getting more than a few wrestlers on their team. I appreciated the effort & thought it was cool that such a small school would even try wrestling. It just wasn't meant to be, I guess.
ARKANSAS BAPTIST
I thought I'd be able to gather some information, but I was unable to find much.
Count is now at 478
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