Collegiate Wrestling In Florida

 A ton of collegiate wrestling takes place in the sunshine state tomorrow & I think there are a few facts about college wrestling in Florida that fans are well aware of & a few that fans are not so aware of.  What we do know is that for the longest time there was no college varsity wrestling in Florida & that we finally have three varsity programs today. 

Although the state of Florida is rich in NCWA wrestling programs, when Southeastern started a program back in 2015 it was the first varsity program in Florida in close to 30 years.  Southeastern has done a tremendous job being a powerhouse in NAIA wrestling producing All Americans & finishing 7th in the nation last year with a lineup featuring 12 wrestlers from Florida and 7 from nearby Georgia.  Southeastern is currently ranked #2 in the Mid-South Conference, a conference with 12 teams. 

Both St. Thomas and Keiser are in their infancies as new varsity programs but both have bright futures ahead in the NAIA.  The Bobcats in their second season have 35 members of the roster from Florida.  The Seahawks have 12 from Florida on their roster in their first year of wrestling. 












It's obvious with these programs and the amount of in state talent that all three have, that Florida produces some great talent and they want to wrestle at home. If you go through the rosters of DI, DII, DIII & NAIA programs throughout the country you'll find wrestlers from Florida on more teams than you would think. 

Truth is, Florida has had good high school wrestling since the 1960's. Florida has been producing some great talent for a long time.  It may not be Ohio or Pennsylvania but all things considered, Florida has more than proven itself as a wrestling state. 

I think thus far, I've said what is already known. 

What you may not know though, is that at one time there was a ton of college varsity wrestling in Florida. A lot of the schools had programs. 

Tampa had a pretty respectable NCAA Division II program at one time. It didn't last a real long time and the history behind why the program started & why it ended is unique in to itself.  To read more about the Spartan program, click here https://johnnythompsonnum1.blogspot.com/2020/05/gone-lost-forgotten-their-best-tampa.html


Note that while the Spartans had a program, Eddie Graham of Championship Wrestling from Florida put up a yearly scholarship of $500 for a member of the wrestling team. This is 1970's money, not today's. 

The varsity program at the University of Florida was short lived, but from 1969-1970 through 1978-1979, the Gators won an SEC team title & finished as the SEC runner-ups on four occasions. Not bad for a program that was only around for 10 seasons. Multiple NCAA qualifiers and an All American.  To read more about the Gator wrestling program click here https://johnnythompsonnum1.blogspot.com/2020/05/gone-lost-forgotten-their-best-florida.html

Note that Eddie Graham owner/promoter of Championship Wrestling From Florida, gave $10,000 at the start of Gator wrestling that went to building the wrestling room.  $10K in 1969 would be about $70,000 today -/+. 

I wasn't able to find out a whole lot about the Florida A&M wrestling program, but I can tell you that they had varsity wrestling at one point in their history.  Ronald Frazier was one of their head coaches & Harold and Carroll Roberts better known for their talents on the football field, were both members of the wrestling program. 

Like Florida A&M the records are scarce and the history is virtually non-existent but there is still enough there to know that the Panthers had varsity wrestling at one point. Gerald Gergley is who I believe started the program at Florida Tech.  They produced two All Americans in the late 70's. Haruki Kawamukai & Roy Barker who both took 5th in 1977 & 1978 respectively. 

Today and for quite sometime Central Florida has had one of the top NCWA teams in the nation. Ask them, and they'll tell you all about it. They also at one time had a very respectable NCAA Division II team & was dropped after moving up to DI after the 1985-1986 season.  Talking multiple NCAA DII qualifiers, 5 All Americans and 108 dual victories. To read about the varsity team at DII/DI click here https://johnnythompsonnum1.blogspot.com/2020/05/gone-lost-forgotten-their-best-central.html

 Another program that didn't last very long, Florida International wrestling was started by Sid Huitema in the 1973-1974 season. It didn't last much longer. I think only 5-7 years, but they were able to produce one All American.  

I haven't been able to find out a lot about the Miami-Dade program, but I know they had varsity wrestling because I have found them in NJCAA dual meet records in the past.  Some say that both Miami-Dade North and Miami-Dade South had programs.  Haven't found that out yet, but know that there was varsity wrestling here at some point. 

This is one of those stories that warms & breaks your heart at the exact same time.  John Hauser was a student at Stetson who wanted to start a varsity wrestling program. After numerous meetings, fundraisers and pleading, in his sophomore season the Hatters had a varsity wrestling program.  1984-1985 was the start of that season & Hatter wrestling only lasted through Hauser's senior year of 1986-1987.  They had a wrestler finish one match shy, one point to be specific of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. 

Records of Hurricane wrestling can be found in year books from the 1920's into the early 1930's.  From what I have been able to gather WWII put an end to varsity wrestling at the University of Miami and it never made its way back. 

I have confirmed with Sam Hazewinkle that indeed Pensacola Christian College had a varsity wrestling program at one point and his family members (believe Uncles???) were the coaches there.  Have no idea when it started or when it ended. 

This is the only photographical evidence I have ever been able to find of Florida State having a wrestling program. This along with only one tournament, The Southern Open of Seminole wrestlers competing. This picture I believe is from 1965. In it you'll notice three wrestlers wearing warmups with FSU written in the school colors of Florida State.  What I have been able to gather this team lasted from the 1963-1964 season through the 1965-1966 season.  What I have NOT be able to figure out yet is if this was an actual varsity program or if it was the equivalent of what would be the NCWA today.  Either way, with three champs here, they were obviously pretty good.  


The point in posting this is to illustrate that Florida didn't just suddenly get good out of nowhere. It wasn't like Florida all of a sudden became a respectable wrestling state. It's been a wrestling state for 50+ years. It's just unfortunately had to deal with the balderdash of seeing a lot of its varsity collegiate programs dropped.  With three varsity programs started up within recent times, & some of the top NCWA schools in the nation, wrestling at the collegiate level in Florida is looking up.  I think within due time we'll see some NJCAA programs pop up, some more NAIA programs, some DII programs and maybe even a DI program or two.  


Tons of teams are going to Florida tomorrow to dual one another, so it's obvious that we like being in Florida during the winter.  Be awesome to see some of these programs restored!