1978 was a great year in film as both SUPERMAN one of the greatest superhero films ever made & HALLOWEEN the greatest horror film ever made both came out in the same year. It was also a significant year in collegiate wrestling as Michigan's Mark Churella, Wisconsin's Lee Kemp and Oklahoma State's Jimmy Jackson all won their third NCAA titles.
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| 1978 Champion 118 Andy Daniels of Ohio |
Life was quite a journey for Andy Daniels as he was born in Mobile, Alabama, then moving to Chicago, and finally to Ohio during his youth. From the time he was a small boy, being involved in law enforcement was his destination, and along the way he found wrestling. Although a three time MAC champion, Daniels did not seem likely to be an NCAA champion or to win the title in the dominating fashion that he did. Going 0-1 at the 1976 championships as a sophomore, he finished one match shy of All American status in 1977 as a junior. In 1978, he entered the tournament unseeded. Yet he found himself in the semi-finals, where he took it to #3 seed Gene Mills of Syracuse 15-7. IF that weren't impressive enough, Daniels then took all of thirty seconds to pin CSU-Bakersfield's John Azevedo. Post college he continued to follow his dream, becoming a Chief investigator in Prichard, Alabama.
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| 1978 Champion 126 Mike Land of Iowa State |
A State champion of West Des Moines Valley, Land was a junior when he won the NCAA title for the Cyclones. He then finished as the NCAA runner-up in 1979.
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| 1978 Champion 134 Ken Mallory of Montclair State |
Ken Mallory's high school didn't even have a wrestling team. Yes, you read that right. His high school didn't even have wrestling. It's one thing to read a story like this in the 30's and 40's, but this was 1978. Mallory learned wrestling at a club ran by Jim Peckham. Despite this disadvantage, Mallory was still able to capture NCAA Division III titles in 1977, 1978 and 1979. Winning the 1978 DI NCAA title, he did something that only one other wrestler was ever able to do. He is one of two DIII wrestlers to ever win an NCAA DI title.
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| 1978 Champion 142 Dan Hicks of Oregon State |
A two time State champion out of North Douglas high school, Hicks was one match shy of placing in 1977 before winning back to back NCAA titles in 1978 and 1979. He later became the head coach at CSU-Fullerton.
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| 1978 Champion 167 Keith Stearns of Oklahoma |
Placing 5th in 1977 as a junior, Stearns won the NCAA title as a senior.
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| 1978 Champion 177 Mark Lieberman of Lehigh |
Brother of NCAA champion Mike Lieberman, Mark is one of the best wrestlers that ever came out of Lehigh. Winning four EIWA titles, he pinned 12 of 16 opponents he faced throughout the championships. At the NCAA level, finishing as the 1977 runner-up, he won back to back titles in 1978 and 1979. During his collegiate career Lieberman found success internationally as well. A Pan-American gold medalist in 1977, he won gold at the 1978 World Cup and silver at the 1979 World Cup. To illustrate the level of talent that Lieberman had victories during his career include names like John Peterson, Wade Schalles, Chris Campbell and Ed Banach.
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| 1978 Champion 190 Ron Jeidy of Wisconsin |
Wrestling for Fennimore High school, Jeidy only qualified for the high school state championships his senior year. He did not place. His only goal when he decided that he was going to walk on to the Badger wrestling team was to prove to himself that before his career was said and over, that he could crack the varsity lineup. Seeing how hard he worked, how determined he was and how coachable he was, head Coach Russ Hellickson thought he could do a lot more than just simply make the team. Placing fourth at the BIG 10's as a sophomore in 1976, Jeidy was a BIG 10 runner-up in 1977. He went 0-1 at both the 1976 and 1977 NCAA tournaments. Perfecting the foot-sweep he won both the BIG 10 and NCAA title as a senior in 1978.
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Churella, Kemp and Jackson previously mentioned
Hicks and Lieberman would both repeat as champions.
Land and Mallory (speaking specifically to DI) did not repeat
Daniels, Stearns and Jeidy both seniors
Great writing. Love these history lessons. Keep it up brother.
ReplyDeleteHow difficult is that actually? Having so much NCAA success and not even having a high school wrestling program- that's the definition of "Putting in work when nobody is watching".
I think it goes to show that club wrestling can be very effective. I know here in Iowa we have no gymnastics at the high school level. A girl broke her neck & sued back in the 80's. That was the end of girl's gymnastics in Iowa. Yet we have club teams all over & girls go on to compete at the Collegiate level from these club teams. I imagine in some ways wrestling could have similar results.
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