Years ago I sat down and thought to myself was there anyone that could have ever stopped Cael Sanderson in his 159-0 quest of four NCAA DI titles? The only answer I came up with that even seemed remotely viable was if Ohio State's Mitch Clark would have had one more year of eligibility Sanderson's freshman year. He is the only person during Sanderson's era that I could have seen beating him in a varsity College match. (Well aware of the redshirt 8-6 loss to Paul Jenn at the UNI Open.)
As good as Sanderson was, I don't think I was the only one that was a bit in shock when he did get beat in the international style. I remember the first time I saw him get beat was against Les Gutches a former Oregon State standout. Then I actually watched him get beaten person by Lee Fullhart. He had a few other losses, some that really surprised me. I'll always believe that he's a better wrestler than Yoel Romero but it's Romero who owns a winning record against him.
Overall I never thought I would see someone even come close to matching Sanderson on the mat. I never thought in a million years I would see someone surpass him.
Now is it fair or accurate to say that Steveson surpassed Sanderson? That's up for debate. The -2 in the loss column of Steveson as well as the fact that his career will most likely end 3-1-1-1 will forever haunt the Golden Gopher in terms of being referred to as the all time greatest, but let's consider a few things. He was a 17 year old freshman & both of his losses were to Anthony Cassar of Penn State who won the national title that season. In essence I think this very fact alone gets to the root of why so many wrestling fans have such a vendetta against wrestlers receiving a 5th year of varsity eligibility. They have dreams of incoming freshmen being the next Cael Sandersons & Gable Stevesons and know with so many returning who would have otherwise graduated, it lessens the chances of that vision becoming a reality. Some may also point out that Steveson isn't the only wrestler to completely dominate the competition either. Danny Hodge of Oklahoma for example, completely annihilated the competition. 46-0, 36 falls. I'll make the argument for Steveson here for two reasons. One, Steveson wrestled 38 matches his freshman year. That's nearly as many matches as Hodge wrestled his entire career. Secondly, the competition today is far more fierce than what it was then.
My argument for Steveson is that I've never seen someone as dominant against the level of competition as what he has been. Even Sanderson's senior season when he was majoring, tech'ing & pinning everybody, he was still given a 6-1 match when he wrestled Jon Trenge of Lehigh the first time. There is no equivalent to Jon Trenge for Steveson this season. No one has came within more than 8 points of Steveson this season.
Now one could argue that when it's all said and done Gable's final year of collegiate wrestling ends 18-0, Vs Sanderson who was 40-0 as a senior. I argue that we could have added another 22 matches to Steveson's season & he still would have no less than majored everyone he got on the mat with.
In the end, as to "Best college wrestler" or "Most dominant collegiate wrestler" or whatever particular distinction one would want to argue, who deserves the top honor & what order to rank our best will always be up for debate. What isn't up for debate, is the fact that while Gable Steveson may not be the very, very best of all time in these categories, he belongs in the discussion.
Which leads me to the question that centers around the heart of this article. What if I were taxed with finding someone to beat Gable Steveson? What if that were my job? Well if time constraints weren't an issue & I got full use of Doc Brown's DeLorean, I have 10 guys that I'd like to test against Steveson and here they are.
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| Chris Taylor Iowa State |
This is actually a match I think Steveson would win. The real question here is, how would Steveson handle a guy like Taylor? Steveson has never wrestled anyone even remotely close to the size of Taylor. With the 285 lbs limit, even at his smallest Taylor outweighed the biggest opponents Steveson has faced by 125 lbs. On top of it, Taylor wasn't just a big fat heavyweight either. He was agile, quick & surprisingly technical for a man his size. If that weren't enough, immensely strong. I think Steveson would use his phenomenal speed & mobility to wear the big man out, as he patiently waited for him to run out of gas, & then strike once he was sure he was on empty. This wouldn't be a match where Steveson was hitting blast doubles left & right, but I do think he'd walk away with the W.
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| Steve Mocco Iowa/Oklahoma State |
I've been debating whether "The Bear" could give Steveson a match or not. A part of me thinks that his unorthodox footsweep might come into play & another part of me thinks that Steveson's athleticism might be too much for the four time national finalist. If you look back at Mocco's career, he struggled with opponents who were bigger & stronger than him. That's why Cole Konrad gave him fits when he was in college & why Tolly Thompson gave him fits when he started trying to make World & Olympic teams. He also struggled with opponents who were extremely athletic, hence Tommy Rowlands & Leonce Crump. I take nothing away from Mocco, one of the greatest HWT's of all time & I do think he'd give Steveson a match, but I don't think he'd beat him.
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| Cole Konrad Minnesota |
Senior Cole Konrad Vs Steveson? Now I think we have a match on our hands. By the time Konrad was a senior at Minnesota he was as big, fat, strong, & just plain good as he could be. By this time he had learned how to use his strength, his size & his weight to maximum capacity & he made himself impossible to score on. It was like watching a wrestler Vs a bear or a gorilla. It just didn't seem fair as he'd manhandle his opponents on the mat. I think he'd give Steveson a real struggle. I really do because he'd be difficult to take down & I'm going to say he'd be impossible for Steveson to keep down. There's no way Steveson would earn riding time against Konrad. I'd put money on that. Konrad WOULD escape from Steveson. I also think Steveson would escape from Konrad too though. This is a match I think would come down to the tiebreakers & Steveson's phenomenal gas tank could very well be the difference maker.
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| Tommy Rowlands Ohio State |
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| Carlton Haselrig Pittsburgh-Johnstown |
He didn't always win by large margins. Matter of fact going through the three Division I titles he won in 87, 88 & 89 (he also won three DII titles & placed 3rd in DII's in 1986) some of his matches were very close. Yet at the end of the day whether he won 12-2 or 1-0, a W is a W & Haselrig's collegiate career had a lot of W's. Yet, so does Steveson's. I think Haselrig's strategy against the Golden Gopher would be to try and shut down his ability to score & I don't know if that game plan would work on Steveson. Minus the two 4-3 losses to Cassar, Steveson has won 85 career matches & the lowest score he ever had was against Arizona State's Tanner Hall in a 3-1 S.V. match, again when he was only 17 years old. I don't know if Haselrig would be able to score offensively on Steveson or if he could keep Steveson from scoring offensively on him. It'd be a match worth seeing though.
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| Stephen Neal Cal State Bakersfield |
A senior Stephen Neal would be someone I'm almost positive could give Gable Steveson a match. A lot of the problem with Steveson is matching him in the categories & as far as I'm concerned Neal matches up with him pretty good. Strength, conditioning, technique, mat awareness, pace, athleticism, you name it I think the Roadrunner is even with the Golden Gopher. A for sure win? No, not saying that, but I do think in this particular case, we're looking at a tossup.
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| Kerry McCoy Penn State |
I'd give a senior Kerry McCoy a bit of an edge over Stephen Neal's chances against Steveson for the fact that McCoy seemed more comfortable in situational wrestling than what Neal did. In fact, I think this is what led McCoy to defeat Neal in their 1997 NCAA championship match. I also think it would help McCoy against Steveson in the fact that with Steveson their is often action, reaction, counter, recounter situations & McCoy was always very comfortable in those situations. He often won those positions too. Again, not calling any guarantees, but I think McCoy would give Steveson fits that he hasn't experienced much in his collegiate career.
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| Bruce Baumgartner U.S. Olympian |
If you feel like I've been kissing Steveson's rear this whole article, things are about to change. A top of his game, at the height of his international career Baumgartner? Sorry, I don't think Steveson at this moment in time could beat him. I really don't. I know Steveson is an Olympic Gold Medalist himself & he's been more successful at an earlier age than Baumgartner, but Baumgartner when he was at his very best was one of the best wrestlers the United States has ever produced. If someone held a gun to my head & said, "find us someone to beat Gable Steveson" an at his very best Bruce Baumgartner would be one of my first picks.
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| Aleksandr Karelin U.S.S.R./Russian Olympian |
Is this even fair? I don't know, but what it is, is fun to think about! Obviously we'd have to go Greco-Roman rules & that highly favors the Russian. Yet it makes you wonder doesn't? Steveson highly trained in G.R. Vs an at the top of his game Karelin. How would Steveson do? Up until Karelin was upset at the 2000 Olympics, the very idea of him getting beat seemed unfeasible. It was like looking at a mathematical equation that only a genius could figure out. We just couldn't wrap our head around it. Could Steveson match that? Could he hang with the Russian?
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| Aleksandr Medved U.S.S.R. Olympian |
Time periods can make a world of difference, but there are some athletes who stand the test of time & would be superstars no matter what era you put them in. They're physical specimens that had something within in them, inherent ability, natural talent, whatever you want to call it, that made them the larger than life superstars they turned out to be. I've heard more than once wrestler say that they feel Aleksandr Medved was the greatest wrestler to ever live. Take Medved at his prime, say 1964 & put him in a freestyle match against Steveson. Oh, that'd be a sight to see. Even at 84 years old, I'd still say he'd be a force to be reckoned with if he were to step on the mat today.
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There you have it. Don't take this too seriously. This was just a little before the start of the NCAA's article for fun. Something to ponder. Something to wonder about. I'm sure there are other HWT's to wonder about to & how they'd do against Steveson.
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